Weekly Diocesan Bulletin - Sunday, August 9th, 2015
10th Sunday after Pentecost:
The Holy Great-martyr & Healer Panteleimon;
Saint Clement of Ochrid 
RESURRECTIONAL TROPARION - TONE ONE: When the stone had been sealed by the Jews; while the soldiers were guarding Your most pure Body; You arose on the third day, O Savior, granting life to the world. The powers of heaven therefore cried to You, O Giver of Life: Glory to Your Resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Your Kingdom! Glory to Your dispensation, O You who loves mankind.
TROPARION TO HOLD GREAT-MARTYR PANTELEIMON - TONE THREE: O holy passion-bearer and healer Panteleimon, entreat the merciful God, to grant our souls forgiveness of transgressions.
RESURRECTIONAL KONTAKION - TONE ONE: As God, You arose from the tomb in glory, raising the world with Yourself. Human nature praises You as God, for death has vanished. Adam exults, O Master! Eve rejoices, for she is freed from bondage, and cries to You: You are the giver of resurrection to all, O Christ!
KONTAKION TO HOLY GREAT-MARTYR PENTELEIMON - TONE FIVE: You emulated the merciful One, and received from Him the grace of healing, O passion-bearer and healer Panteleimon; by your prayers heal our spiritual diseases and continually drive away the temptations of the enemy from those who cry out in faith: ‘save us, O Lord!’
HYMN TO THE MOTHER OF GOD - TONE SIX: Steadfast Protectress of Christians and constant advocate before the Creator, do not despise the cry of us sinners; but in your goodness come speedily to help us who call on you in faith. Hasten to hear our petition and to intercede for us, O Theotokos, for you always protect those who honor you!
EPISTLE READING
The Prokimenon in the 1st Tone: Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us as we have set our hope on You!
10th after Pentecost: 1 Corinthians 4: 9-16
Brethren, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed, beaten, and homeless; and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled we bless, when persecuted we endure, when slandered we try to conciliate. We have been made as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
The Alleluia Verses: God gives vengeance to me and subdues people under me; He magnifies the salvation of the king, and deals mercifully with His Christ, with David and his seed forever.
GOSPEL READING
10th after Pentecost: Matthew 17: 14-23
At that time, a man came to Jesus, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.
Spiritual Articles
From The Prologue for July 27/August 9 by
St. Nikolai Velimirovic:
The Holy Great-martyr Panteleimon
Panteleimon was born in Nicomedia of a Christian mother and a pagan father. His mother was named Eubula and his father Eustorgius. As a young man, he studied the science of medicine. The priest Hermolaus befriended him, taught him the Christian Faith and baptized him. Panteleimon miraculously cured a blind man whom other doctors had treated in vain; he healed him by the name of Christ and baptized him. The doctors, full of envy, accused Panteleimon as a Christian, and he went before the Emperor Maximian to stand trial. “He stood before the earthly king in body but in mind he stood before the heavenly King.” He freely declared to the emperor that he was a Christian, and in his presence healed a paralytic of his long-standing illness. This miracle drew many pagans to the Christian Faith. The emperor subjected Panteleimon to torture, but the Lord appeared to him on several occasions, and delivered him whole and unharmed. Then St. Hermolaus, along with Hermippas and Hermocrates suffered. Sentenced to death, St. Panteleimon knelt in prayer. At that moment, the executioner struck him on the neck with the sword, but it broke as though made of wax. The executioner was unable to execute Panteleimon until the saint completed his prayer and gave him permission to do so. His relics possess the ability to heal. Panteleimon was executed under an olive tree which was thereafter adorned with much fruit. “Panteleimon” means “all-merciful,” or “all-compassionate.” The All-merciful God received his righteous soul and glorified him among His great saints. This wonderful martyr suffered honorably for Christ in his youth, on July 27, 304. St. Panteleimon is invoked during the prayers of the Blessing of Waters and in the Sacrament of Holy Unction, together with St. Hermolaus and the other unmercenary and wonderworking saints. A most beautiful church dedicated to this saint is located on the Holy Mountain.
Saint Clement, Archbishop of Ohrid
Clement was a disciple of Saints Methodius and Cyril. After the death of St. Methodius, Clement, under pressure from the Germans, traveled southward from Moravia. Clement and his companions—Gorazd, Nahum, Sava, and Angelarius (together, they were called “The Five”)—crossed the Danube River, where they were guests of Emperor Boris Michael. Following this they came to the region of Ohrid. They first founded a monastery in Belica, where Clement’s first episcopal see was located. Afterward, he moved to Ohrid, and from there developed his great archpastoral and illuminating activity for the entire region. In Ohrid St. Clement erected a church to St. Panteleimon. He had many disciples, who copied books in the Slavonic script for the Slavic peoples. St. Nahum especially assisted him in this work. He worked miracles during his life, and his relics manifest a healing power to the present day. Following great labors and faithful service to God, he reposed peacefully in Ohrid, in the year 916. His wonderworking relics repose in a church formerly dedicated to the Holy Theotokos, which was re-dedicated to St. Clement.
Blessed Nicholas, the Fool-for-Christ
Nicholas was from Novgorod, and was the son of wealthy parents. He left his wealth, and ran through the streets as a fool-for-Christ, instructing men through his foolishness. His companion in the same ascesis was Blessed Theodore. Once, in the presence of witnesses, they both ran across a river on the surface of the water. Nicholas reposed in the Lord in 1392.
The Venerable Anthusa
After a long solitary ascetic life Anthusa founded a convent of ninety sisters. During the iconoclastic controversy under Emperor Constantine Copronymus, all ninety nuns were slain, after which the Venerable Anthusa herself died, in the year 759.
The 153 Martyrs
They were drowned in the sea in Thrace.
HYMN OF PRAISE:
The Five Saints
(Clement, Nahum, Angelarius, Sava and Gorazd)
The Five God-pleasers,
Diligent bearers of the honey of the Gospel,
Spread the Faith throughout the wide world,
Until they settled on the blue lake—
But from there they labored with greater effort
To sweeten, with the Lord, the bitter life of men.
Clement the hierarch, God’s true servant,
Who endured much pain and mockery,
Became Christ’s banner at Ohrid.
And with him, Saints Nahum, Angelarius and Sava,
And blessed Gorazd, five in number;
All were men of God, His laborers.
For a thousand years they have lived in heaven;
For a thousand years they have amazed mankind.
They spared no labor in baptizing the people,
And were crowned with glory, for they loved God.
Ohrid preserves the glory of the Five,
As the boast and glory of the Slavs.
REFLECTION
If you give alms to the poor, know that inasmuch as you do good works for your neighbor, so much and more do you do for yourself. St. Anthony says: “Both life and death come to us from our neighbor.” St. Peter Damascene writes: “As the poor should give thanks to God and love the rich who do them good, even more should the rich give thanks to God and love the poor; for they are saved by the providence of God, both now and in the future age, because of their alms. For without the poor, they not only cannot attain the salvation of their souls, but they also cannot avoid the temptations of wealth.” Alms which are given out of vanity or with disdain are of no benefit. In earlier times, the wealthy would bring gold to the hermits and beg them to accept it. It was a rare occurrence for the hermits to accept alms gladly, and when they did, it was out of compassion for the rich. The most destitute of men received alms out of compassion!
CONTEMPLATION
Contemplate the miraculous deliverance of the Israelites from Sisera and his forces (Judges 4):
1. How the Lord showed mercy on the enslaved Israelites, hearing their cries, and granted them victory over Sisera;
2. How the prophetess Deborah sent a small force to Mount Tabor against Sisera, who had nine hundred chariots of iron and an enormous army;
3. How the forces of Sisera were scattered, and Sisera himself perished.
HOMILY on the prophesied scoffers of holy things
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts (II Peter 3:3).
Does the mirror change and warp when a scoffer stands before it, laughing and scoffing at it? No, the mirror does not change and warp, but remains the same as it was. Brethren, neither does God change or warp when scoffers laugh and scoff at Him. The unchanging and All-pure God knows that the scoffer scoffs at himself. By his scoffing at the holy things of God, the scoffer warps and deforms himself, while the holy things of God remain intact. Oh, how many scoffers there already are in our own time! Many—too many—but their multitudes are weaker than the One and Only. What is a mass of dust to a strong wind? You have only to wait, armed with patience, until a strong wind blows. Far too many scoffers have come, who scoff at God’s word. They offer their own words in place of God’s word; they offer the unholy in place of the holy, the putrid in place of the healthy and the death-dealing in place of the life-creating. The word of God is like a strong wind, and their words are like dust. The scoffers are already here—far too many—that scoff at God’s works, and still many more will arrive. They praise their works above God’s works, and say that the works of their hands are better and wiser that the works of God. Their works are thievery; for everything good that they have built, they have built from God’s materials, and according to the likeness of God’s creations. All the evil that they have built, they have built from the devil’s materials, and according to the likeness of the devil’s creations. Therefore, of what will the dust boast? In what will the scoffers boast today or tomorrow, when wild asses will trample over their graves with their hooves? O All-pure Lord, Thy words are holy and powerful as a strong wind, and Thy works are holy, and they are numberless and measureless. O All-pure Lord, save our tongues from scoffing, and save our lives from scoffers. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
Source: Western American Diocese
