12Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.
13No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
14Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
15I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say.
16The cup of blessing which we bless, isn’t it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ?
17Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread.
18Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
19What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
20But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons.
21You can’t both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.
22Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
2 Timothy 2.1-10
(Epistle, St Panteleimon)
1You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
3You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
4No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.
5Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules.
6The farmer who labors must be the first to get a share of the crops.
7Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
8Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the offspring of David, according to my Good News,
9in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.
10Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Matthew 16.20-24 (Gospel)
20Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.
21From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.
22Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”
23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
John 15.17-16.2
(Gospel, St Panteleimon)
17“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
18If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20Remember the word that I said to 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 also keep yours.
21But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.
22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23He who hates me, hates my Father also.
24If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.
25But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26“When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.
27You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
1“I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.
2They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.
Commemorations
Holy Great-martyr and Healer Panteleimon (305)
He was born in Nicomedia; his father was a pagan, his mother a Christian. Through her he was taught the Christian Faith and baptized by St Hermolaus (July 26). He became a physician, and practiced his art with compassion and generosity, healing many more through his prayers as by his medicines. His parents had named him Pantoleon (“in all things a lion”), but because of his great compassion he was re-named Panteleimon (“all- merciful”). He once healed a man of blindness by calling on Christ, which led the once-blind man to embrace the Faith. When asked how he came to be healed he named Panteleimon as his healer and proclaimed his newfound faith in Christ. For this the pagans executed him, then arrested Panteleimon, who after many tortures was beheaded in 305. He is counted as the foremost of the Unmercenary Physicians.
St Clement, Archbishop of Ochrid (916)
He was a disciple of Saints Methodius and Cyril, working with them in their missionary labors in Moravia. After the death of St Methodius, Clement and many others of their mission were driven out of Moravia by the Germans, and traveled south. Clement, with his companions Gorazd, Nahum, Sava and Angelarius, crossed the Danube, stayed for a time with King Boris Michael, and settled in near Ochrid (in what is now Kosova, Yugoslavia). He founded a monastery at Belica, then moved to Ochrid, where he built a church dedicated to St Panteleimon. There he continued the work of Sts Cyril and Methodius, producing many books in the new Slavonic script for the help of the Slavic Orthodox people. Saint Clement performed miracles in his own lifetime and after his repose: his wonder-working relics are still venerated in a church dedicated to him. He reposed in peace.
Commemoration of the canonization (1970) 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.