Sunday, 27 July 2025

Greatmartyr and Healer Panteleimon

7th Sunday after Pentecost

98 days after Pascha · Tone 6 · Black squigg (6-stich typikon symbol) · No Fast

Saints commemorated

★ Holy great-martyr and healer Panteleimon

Saint Panteleimon, originally called Pantoleon, was born around 275 in Nicomedia of Bithynia, the son of a noble pagan father, Eustorgius, and a Christian mother, Eubula, who reposed while he was still a child. His father set him to study medicine under Euphrosynus, the most celebrated physician of the city, and the youth made such progress that he was presented to the emperor Maximian and chosen as a court physician. About this time he met the holy presbyter Hermolaus, who was hidden with two other priests in a small house, and was instructed by him in the faith. The Lord confirmed his teaching when Pantoleon, walking alone, found a child dead from the bite of a viper; calling on the name of Christ, he raised the child and slew the serpent.

He was baptised and renamed Panteleimon, "all-merciful," and from that hour gave himself to the healing of the sick without payment, casting out demons and curing every kind of disease in the name of Christ. He restored sight to a man who had been blind from birth, won his pagan father to the faith and inherited his estate, which he distributed to the poor and to prisoners. The other physicians, envying his success, denounced him to the emperor. He confessed Christ openly, was tortured by various means, cast to wild beasts who became gentle before him, fastened to a wheel which broke at his prayer, and bound to an olive tree to be beheaded. The tree blossomed at the moment of his death and bore fruit, and milk flowed from his wound instead of blood. He suffered around 305. The Church honours him as one of the holy unmercenary physicians and as one of her great healers, second only to Saint Demetrius and Saint George among warriors and martyrs in the affection of the faithful.

★ Saint Clement, equal-of-the-apostles, archbishop of Ochrid

Saint Clement was one of the most distinguished of the disciples of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, equals-of-the-apostles and enlighteners of the Slavs. Of South Slavic origin, born around 840, he accompanied his teachers on their mission to Great Moravia in the 860s and shared in the labour of translating the Scriptures and the services of the Church into the Slavonic tongue. After the death of Saint Methodius and the violent expulsion of his disciples by the Latin clergy of Moravia, Clement and his companions Naum, Angelarius and Gorazd made their way to Bulgaria, where they were welcomed by Prince Boris-Michael in 886.

Sent into the western provinces of the Bulgarian kingdom, Clement settled at Ochrid in Macedonia, where he founded one of the great schools of Slavic letters. He trained over three thousand five hundred disciples, established churches and monasteries, and spread the use of the Slavonic books from the surrounding mountains to the sea. In 893 he was consecrated bishop of Velika, the first hierarch of Slavic blood and tongue. He composed services, lives of saints, homilies and catechetical writings, many of which are still in use. He reposed on 27 July 916 and was buried in his own monastery of Saint Panteleimon at Ochrid, where his relics work miracles to this day. The Slavic Church honours him as the founder and patron of Slavic Orthodoxy in the Balkans.

Saint Manuel the confessor of Crete

Saint Manuel was a Cretan Christian who suffered for the faith during the long Ottoman occupation of his island. According to the local synaxaria, he was a young man of noble bearing and devout life, well known in his town for his almsgiving. Through the malice of certain Muslim neighbours he was falsely accused of having insulted Islam, and was brought before the local cadi. Refusing the demand that he renounce Christ and embrace the religion of the conquerors, he made a clear and reasoned confession of the Gospel, drawing upon the Scriptures and the witness of the saints. He endured imprisonment and severe beatings without compromise, and at last received the crown of martyrdom by the sword. The faithful reverently took up his body and buried it, and his memory was preserved by the local Church among the new-martyrs of Crete. He is honoured on 27 July together with the great-martyr and healer Saint Panteleimon and Saint Clement of Ochrid.

Saint Nicholas Cabasilas of Thessalonica

Saint Nicholas Cabasilas was a layman, theologian, and statesman of fourteenth-century Byzantium. Born about 1322 in Thessalonica into a distinguished family, the nephew of Nilus Cabasilas archbishop of Thessalonica, he was educated in classical letters and the sacred sciences and was at home in the imperial court. In the civil wars of his time he served as a counsellor of the emperor John VI Cantacuzenus, and he played a prominent part in the controversy over the divine energies on the side of Saint Gregory Palamas, defending the hesychast theology against the Latinising scholars of the day. Withdrawing from public affairs, he gave himself to prayer, the writing of treatises, and the spiritual instruction of monks and laity. His Commentary on the Divine Liturgy and his Life in Christ are reckoned among the supreme works of Orthodox theology. In them he sets forth, with great clarity and warmth, that the whole Christian life is a participation in Christ, given through the holy mysteries of baptism, chrismation and the eucharist, and that this participation is open to every believer in the world, not only to those who have withdrawn to the desert. He reposed in peace about 1392. He was numbered among the saints of the Church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the Greek calendar keeps his memory on 20 June; in some local calendars he is also remembered on 27 July with his fellow Thessalonicans.

Venerable Anthousa of Mantineum

Saint Anthousa was abbess of a women's monastery near the village of Mantineum in Paphlagonia in the eighth century. From her youth she was drawn to the monastic life, and after entering the community she advanced quickly through every degree of obedience until, on the death of her predecessor, she was chosen by the sisterhood to govern. She ruled the monastery, which grew to over nine hundred nuns, with great wisdom, severity towards herself and gentleness towards others. In the iconoclast persecution of the emperor Constantine V Copronymus, Anthousa boldly defended the holy icons and refused to surrender them to the imperial commissioners. She was seized, beaten and tortured, but neither threats nor blandishments could turn her from the orthodox faith. Tradition relates that she was at length set free through the prayers of the empress Eudocia, whom she had earlier helped through a difficult childbirth, and that she was permitted to return to her monastery, where she shepherded her community to her holy repose around the year 808. She is held up among the great women confessors of the seventh ecumenical council.

Commemoration of the canonization of St Herman of Alaska

1837

His feast day is December 12. Due to the severity of the Alaskan climate, the annual pilgrimage to his relics in Kodiak, Alaska, is in the Summer, around this date.

Daily readings

7th Matins Gospel

John — John 20.1-10

¹The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

¹Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb. ²Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. ²She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him. ³Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. ³Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. ⁴So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. ⁴And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; ⁵and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. ⁵And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. ⁶Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, ⁶Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, ⁷and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁷And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. ⁸Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. ⁸Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. ⁹For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. ⁹For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. ¹⁰So the disciples went away again unto their own home.

Epistle

weekly cycle

Romans — Romans 15.1-7

¹We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

¹Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ²Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. ²Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. ³For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. ³For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me. ⁴For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. ⁴For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. ⁵Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: ⁵Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of the same mind one with another according to Christ Jesus: ⁶That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁶that with one accord ye may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. ⁷Wherefore receive ye one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God.

Epistle

— St Panteleimon

2 Timothy — 2 Timothy 2.1-10

¹Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

¹Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ²And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. ²And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. ³Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ³Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. ⁴No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. ⁵And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned, except he have contended lawfully. ⁵And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. ⁶The husbandman that laboreth must be the first to partake of the fruits. ⁶The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. ⁷Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. ⁷Consider what I say; for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all things. ⁸Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel: ⁸Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: ⁹Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. ⁹wherein I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a malefactor; but the word of God is not bound. ¹⁰Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. ¹⁰Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Gospel

weekly cycle

Matthew — Matthew 9.27-35

²⁷And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.

²⁷And as Jesus passed by from thence, two blind men followed him, crying out, and saying, Have mercy on us, thou son of David. ²⁸And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. ²⁸And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. ²⁹Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. ²⁹Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it done unto you. ³⁰And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. ³⁰And their eyes were opened. And Jesus strictly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. ³¹But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. ³¹But they went forth, and spread abroad his fame in all that land.

³²And as they went forth, behold, there was brought to him a dumb man possessed with a demon.

³²As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. ³³And when the demon was cast out, the dumb man spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. ³³And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. ³⁴But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. ³⁴But the Pharisees said, By the prince of the demons casteth he out demons. ³⁵And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

³⁵And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness.

Gospel

— St Panteleimon

John — John 15.17-16.2

¹⁷These things I command you, that ye love one another. ¹⁷These things I command you, that ye may love one another. ¹⁸If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁸If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. ¹⁹If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. ²⁰Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. ²⁰Remember the word that I said unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. ²¹But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. ²¹But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. ²²If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²²If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. ²³He that hateth me hateth my Father also. ²³He that hateth me hateth my Father also. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁴If I had not done among them the works which none other did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. ²⁵But this cometh to pass, that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. ²⁶But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me: ²⁶But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: ²⁷and ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. ²⁷And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

¹These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

¹These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be caused to stumble. ²They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God. ²They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.