35This I say for your own benefit, not that I may ensnare you, but for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord without distraction.
36But if any man thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn’t sin. Let them marry.
37But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no urgency, but has power over his own will, and has determined in his own heart to keep his own virgin, does well.
38So then both he who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and he who doesn’t give her in marriage does better.
39A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord.
40But she is happier if she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I also have God’s Spirit.
1Now concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
2But if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.
3But anyone who loves God is known by him.
4Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
5For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth—as there are many “gods” and many “lords”—
6yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.
7However, that knowledge isn’t in all men. But some, with consciousness of an idol until now, eat as of a thing sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
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 15.29-31 (Gospel)
29Jesus departed from there and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up on the mountain and sat there.
30Great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them,
31so that the multitude wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the injured healed, the lame walking, and the blind seeing—and they glorified the God of Israel.
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.