July: Day 27: Teaching 1: Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon

 

July: Day 27: Teaching 1:
Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon
 
(Do We Know What the Essence of our Faith Is and Do We Live By Faith?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon, celebrated today, was born in the city of Nicomedia in the third century. At birth he was called "Pantoleon," which means "all-lion." Subsequently, the first name was replaced by another, "Panteleimon," which means "all-merciful." .We will call him by this last name, which explains the virtues by which the Holy Martyr was especially famous. Indeed, the Church venerates Saint Panteleimon as an unmercenary physician, a compassionate healer of both spiritual and physical ailments.

Panteleimon was brought up in the Christian faith from childhood, for his mother was a Christian; she explained the commandments of the Lord to the child and tried to instill in him an aversion to paganism. But, unfortunately, the pious mother died when Panteleimon was still a child, and his father was a zealous pagan. He began to take care of his son, took him to the temple of idols, and the lessons of the good mother were apparently erased from the child's memory.

Panteleimon's father, Eustorgios, sent his son to school, and then entrusted him to the famous physician Euphrosynos, so that he would learn the art of medicine from him. The youth was very clever and quick-witted, and the teacher soon became so fond of him that he took him everywhere with him. He also visited the palace with him, for Euphrosynos was the royal physician. The Emperor Maximian liked the handsome and clever youth and ordered Euphrosynos to take care of him with all possible diligence, because he wanted to have Panteleimon with him in the future. Under the guidance of the famous teacher, the youth made rapid progress in science and soon surpassed all his companions. Panteleimon went every day to his teacher. The road went past a poor house in which lived an elderly Christian priest named Hermolaos. Some other Christians also lived with him, hiding from the pagans, because at that time Christians were being persecuted. The holy elder came to love Panteleimon and the Lord placed in his heart a good desire to enlighten the young man with the light of true faith. He once invited him to come into his house and then entered into conversation with him.

In his first conversation with Panteleimon, Saint Hermolaos conveyed to him briefly the Christian teaching, at the same time awakening in him memories of his childhood, how his deceased mother, a former Christian, had once told him the same thing, and how she often prayed and called upon Christ. From that day on, Panteleimon would go to Hermolaos every day to enjoy his God-inspired conversations. Once, walking from his spiritual teacher, Panteleimon saw a child lying on the road, dead from the bite of a viper, and the viper itself lying nearby. Panteleimon called out to Jesus Christ with a prayer that He would show His power – and the child immediately came to life, and the viper became dead. By this manifestation of the power of God, Panteleimon was finally confirmed in the Christian faith, and Saint Hermolaos immediately baptized him and initiated him in the Holy Mysteries. After receiving holy baptism, Panteleimon stayed with Hermolaos for seven days. When he came home and his father asked him where he had been for so long, Panteleimon told him that he had been in the royal chamber and there, together with his teacher, they were treating a sick person, beloved by the emperor, and they did not want to leave him until he recovered. Saint Panteleimon spoke this figuratively, meaning his stay in the house of Saint Hermolaos for the healing of his soul, which is of great value before God, the Heavenly King. He explained his absence to his teacher in a similar way.

Having become a Christian, Saint Panteleimon convinced his father, a pagan, to accept Christianity and destroy the idols in his house. When his father died and Panteleimon became the heir to a rich estate, he immediately set all his slaves free and used his inherited wealth for charitable works. He especially tried to help suffering Christians, visited them in prison and generally provided medical assistance to everyone free of charge and healed not so much with medicines as by invoking the name of Jesus Christ. The entire city turned to him and everyone glorified the all-merciful and unmercenary doctor, especially after he healed a blind man in the name of Jesus Christ. This aroused envy among the doctors. The envious reported to the emperor about Panteleimon's acceptance of Christianity and about his promulgation of the name of Christ the Savior among the people. The emperor ordered Panteleimon to be summoned and indeed heard from him a bold answer that he believed in Christ and rejected soulless idols. 

Panteleimon was subjected to the most cruel tortures: his body was scraped with iron nails, he was put in a cauldron of melted tin, he was thrown into water with a stone on his neck, and he was given to be eaten by wild beasts. But each time the Lord appeared to him in the form of Saint Hermolaos and gave him such miraculous help that neither fire, nor pitch, nor drowning, nor wild beasts could take the life of the Holy Passion-Bearer. The emperor attributed all this to magic and, having learned that Panteleimon's teacher was Hermolaos, a priest, he ordered him to be brought to him. Saint Hermolaos had already had a revelation from God that he must suffer for the faith. He appeared before the emperor together with his fellow servants Hermippos and Hermokrates. The emperor promised Hermolaos great favors if he would convince Panteleimon to return to his former faith, but Hermolaos rejected all the emperor's promises and put the soulless idols to shame. During this interrogation, the Savior Himself appeared to the Holy Confessors and an earthquake occurred. The emperor, in order to influence them, said that the gods were angry with you and were shaking the earth. Saint Hermolaos answered the emperor that this earthquake was intended to destroy your gods. And indeed, a messenger who immediately arrived announced that all the idols in the temple had fallen and were crushed to dust. This was attributed to the sorcery of Hermolaos and he, Hermippos and Hermokrates were killed with the sword. Soon after, Saint Panteleimon was also beheaded, whom the wicked emperor vainly tried to turn away from Christ.

II. The Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon, having received instruction in the fundamental truths of the Christian faith from his mother and the holy elder-presbyter Hermolaos, then steadfastly followed the teaching given to him until the end of his life, through which he received salvation.

Do we know the essence of our faith and follow it in our lives? Only then can we hope that we are on the right path to achieving eternal life.

a) This is the essence of Christian teaching. All of us, whoever we may be, fallen creatures, who, having been created innocent, adorned with the image of God, placed in the paradise of sweetness, destined for immortality and eternal blessedness, did not know how to stand at the heights of godlikeness, obeyed the advice of the serpent, voluntarily fell into the abyss of disobedience and sin, crumbled to dust and lost everything that we had and could have.

To restore us from this terrible fall, to raise us up from the abyss of sin and corruption, the Son of God Himself came down to earth; He clothed Himself in our flesh, lived like us, endured all kinds of poverty and reproach, died for us on the cross, descended into hades, and then, having risen from the dead, ascended to heaven, so that from the throne of glory He might rule the whole world for our salvation.

This beloved Redeemer of ours, having ascended into heaven, sent us in His place another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, so that He might abide with us forever, guide us into all truth, and comfort us in every sorrow.

This all-good Spirit enlightens us in the Prophets and Apostles, sanctifies and heals in the Mysteries of the church, and dwells by His grace in every soul that does not drive Him out of itself through its impurity and impenitence.

We all have a common mother, given by God Himself, the Church of Christ, which gives birth to us all by water and Spirit in the Mystery of Baptism, feeds us all with the word of God and the Body and Blood of Christ in the Mystery of Communion, heals souls and consciences in repentance and confession, accompanies us to the very doors of the grave with her absolution and prayers; whatever is bound or loosened by her ministers is bound or loosened at the same time in heaven, and anyone who opposes the holy statutes of the Church, by this very fact, is worse than a publican and a pagan.

We are all here on earth for a short time, we all face death and judgment; the time will come when all that is visible will pass away, all the dead will rise to receive their due, and then the truly repentant will receive endless blessedness, and the unrepentant will be subjected to eternal torment in hell.

This is the essence of our holy faith! It is lofty and at the same time open to everyone, like the vault of heaven; deep, inexhaustible and at the same time accessible to everyone, like the sea; unsearchable in essence and at the same time beneficial for everyone and everywhere, like the sun. Preserve this holy faith: for it the martyrs shed all their blood; to it the holy ascetics dedicated their whole lives; for it those wandered “in the mountains and abysses of the earth,” of whom, according to the word of the Apostle, “the whole world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:38). It will be a shame and a sin for us if we do not preserve this holy faith now, when nothing turns us away from it, but everything encourages us to keep it intact.

b) Keeping the true faith, do you, brethren, try to live according to the rules of this holy faith? You know what it requires of us - that we do not love the world, nor the things in the world, that we avoid "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life," that we lead our lives in chastity, piety and truth, that we are merciful, meek, magnanimous, that we think and fulfill, according to the word of the Apostle, all things, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is praiseworthy, if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise” (Phil. 4:8). Is this your life, beloved?

The most merciful Lord, knowing the full weakness of our being, has given us the most effective means for erasing our very falls into sin - I mean “repentance and confession.” Do you use this precious means as you should? And does it produce in you what it should? Do you use it? We wash our faces and hands daily; we consider it necessary to clean our clothes, shoes, and the inside of our houses: how can we not wash our souls and hearts with tears of repentance at least once a year? Can we not cleanse our conscience with confession? But repentance is only effective when it is accompanied by true remorse for sins; confession is strong only when we do not return again to those sins for which we have received absolution. So, do you try to avoid those dark and slippery precipices in which your virtue fell and was crushed? Do you take all measures to ensure that the tender shoot of innocence arising in the Mystery of Repentance is protected and preserved from new storms, from new drought and hardening of sin, from new flooding by streams of sensuality? Without this, you will rise only to fall again and even deeper, until you are plunged into that depth of evil and wickedness from which there is no escape.

III. Through the prayers of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon, may the Lord strengthen us in faith and good life. Amen.

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.