Elder Ephraim of Arizona: "If we had a pure heart, we would not be offended even if people insulted and derided us."

(source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

St. Ephraim the Syrian: "Virtues are formed by prayer..."

St. Ephraim the Syrian (source)

  
"Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.”
-St. Ephraim the Syrian

(source)
  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes on St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr

St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Unmercenary (source)

  
Metropolitan Avgoustinos Kantiotes on St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr: He was cast out due to jealousy
"For he knew that for envy they had delivered him" (Matthew 27:18)

My beloved, we are honoring the holy memory of the Great Martyr Panteleimon. Our topic will be the question: What was the reason that St. Panteleimon was persecuted? To this we will give a short response.

St. Panteleimon lived and struggled during the era of persecutions, when the Roman Emperor was Diocletian. He was born in Nicomedia of Asia Minor. His father was an idolater, but his mother was from the women who planted deeply into the heart of their children their faith in Christ. Therefore, she taught St. Panteleimon the truths of the faith.

He was well-sown. He had a call towards learning. He studied medicine near noted scientists. He became an exemplary physician. There were many physicians then, like there are today. However, it is rare today to find a Christian physician. The majority are faithless, materialists. And these have no worth; may God protect you from falling into their hands.

St. Panteleimon differed from them. In what way did he differ? He differed in three ways.

First, regarding money. They were lovers of money. They charged their patients a lot and became rich. St. Panteleimon was unique, a man of ideology. He used science as a mission. He was seen at night visiting huts [of the poor and sick] like an angel. While the others went only to the houses of the great ones, he went to the houses of the poor and served the sick.

And a second way in which he differed from the others. As a famous Greek university professor once said, physicians frequently study medicine like veterinary medicine, and many doctors act like veterinarians. They don't see anything else beyond veins, bones, flesh, ribs, hearts and lungs. Man of course is these, but behind this is something invisible. There is a "little motor", which moves the biological body, and there is the existence of man. And the doctor, when he doesn't see this "little motor", is blind, and is not in the position to perform his work. This "little motor" is the spiritual factor, the soul of man. A multitude of experiments and observations have shown that the soul with the passions, feelings, conscience and impulse greatly impacts the body. There is an interconnectedness between body and soul. This is what our Church chants during the 15-days of August, and which is scientifically correct: "From the great multitude of my sins, ill am I in body, ill am I also in soul..." (from the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos). And both are sick but the root of evil is sin. Therefore, St. Panteleimon made the correct diagnosis. He saw that, when the soul is freed from guilt, the body is given life, and man breathes deeply. Many illnesses (apoplexies, heart attacks, cancer) have as their cause the spiritual world. Some bitterness from remorse or from slander or from divisiveness or from injustice or anxiety waters the body with poison.
  

St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Unmercenary (source)

  
So he differed first for not taking money, secondly because he saw man as a psychosomatic whole, and thirdly, for besides the other medicines which the other physicians had, St. Panteleimon had a rare and unique medicine, and this was the faith. He believed deeply. Because of this, together with medicines from herbs from the earth that he gathered, he knelt next to the pillow of the sick, praying, and--let the faithless disbelieve it, we believe it--the sick man was healed. And to this day, we see the sign of the Cross in clinics, hospitals and healing centers. How truly awesome a thing is the power of faith, a medicine of healing for bodily and spiritual illnesses.

This was St. Panteleimon. And because of this, his healing center was marked every day with a line of sick people, while they did not go to the other physicians of Nicomedia anymore. This being passed over, however, enflamed the hearts of his colleagues with the yellow lamp of jealousy. They were jealous of him, they hated him. They saw that, as long as he was a physician in Nicomedia, they would have to change careers because everyone was hastening to St. Panteleimon. And the sick, who themselves were loosing hope, found their healing near him. Behold therefore the cause of jealousy. Because of this they cast him out. They hated him from the beginning. With what slander did they do so? As an unmercenary? As one taking advantage of people? As an adulterer? As a fornicator? As a dangerous person? As a criminal? None of these things. If they condemned him with these during that decadent regime, it wouldn't work. They condemned him with a condemnation that took hold. Isn't that how it is, that the slanders of the faithful change in every age? Sometimes they use slander A, other times B, other times C. I will not dwell on this, I will just mention that, from the time...with various slanders, with foolish things the jealous attack the worthy men to discredit them--though at the heart of the matter, they don't believe the slanders--and people are no longer judged according to proper and steadfast criteria (ethically), but according to other criteria (politics).

They condemned him therefore with the condemnation of that era that was so devastating: that he was a Christian. And this condemnation led man to dash him to pieces. He was seized, led before rulers, confessed his faith with boldness, suffered all kinds of martyrdom, and thus, his holy soul flew to the heavens like a wholly-white dove to dwell in the heavenly mansions, in order to rejoice together with the Holy Angels and Archangels.

Behold, my beloved, the cause of the persecution and the martyrdom of St. Panteleimon: jealousy.

O jealousy, a great and abyss of a passion! It is a worm and viper that consumes the bowels of he who is jealous, but is also the grave of great men. Terrible are its consequences. If we open the holy stories, we will see that, from the beginning, this was the destruction of the human race. "Out of the jealousy of the devil", says Solomon, "death entered into the world" (Wisdom of Solomon 2:24). Satan was jealous of the magnificence of man, and was filled with wrath against him. Because of this was the first blood spilled upon the earth, due to jealousy. Cain was jealous of his brother Abel and he murdered him "in the field" (Genesis 4:8). From jealousy Esau persecuted Jacob (ibid 27:41), the eleven children of Jacob persecuted Joseph the All-comely (ibid 37), King Saul persecuted David (I Kings 19:10), and a long line of holy men were snuffed out.

And we have examples from our own national history. Great men were snuffed out like the righteous Aristides in antiquity, Socrates who drank the poison, and in later years, Harilaos Trikoubes, etc.

But why do we need other examples? Cast your eye on the Praetorium and to Golgotha. "Which of these two do you wish that I release?" asked Pilate, "Barabbas or Jesus?" Everyone cried out together: "Barabbas". And the Evangelist notes psychologically: "This he did", Pilate, in other words, "for they delivered Him up out of envy." (Matthew 27:18) The envy of the Scribes and Pharisees, which were like fireflies quenched before the great sun that is Christ, led our Lord to Golgotha. Therefore, my brethren, it is a general rule. If there ever appears some person, some worthy personality, who would perform their duty, he will elicit envy and rouse up persecution. Meaningless people do not bother, those who offer help and give their lives to those around them, they are the ones persecuted. St. Paul said this: "All those who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (II Timothy 3:12). All those who believe in Christ will be persecuted, along with all those seek to live according to His commandments. It is their fate. All those living, either through his word or through his example, bring about an earthquake. However, this is an earthquake of salvation. Blessed are the communities who have such men, either in science or in the military or in politics or in the holy clergy, for they become the agents of the proper way.

Pray, my brethren, that the sickness of envy might be healed, that it might abandon you. And may our Lord, through the intercessions of St. Panteleimon, transform all our hearts, and may we go forth with virtue and love, to the glory of God. Amen.

+Bishop Avgoustinos

(Homily of Metropolitan of Florina Avgoustinos Kantiotes, delivered in the Holy Church of St. Panteleimon, Florina, 7/27/1976) (source)

  

St. Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Unmercenary (source)

  

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!

Excerpt from the Commentary on the Healing of the Paralytic, by St. John Chrysostom, Part II

Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Christ healing the Paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda (source)

   

Homily XXXVII.

John v. 6, 7

“Jesus saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered Him, Yea, Sir, but I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool.”

[1.] Great is the profit of the divine Scriptures, and all-sufficient is the aid which comes from them. And Paul declared this when he said, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written aforetime for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” ( Rom. xv. 4, 1 Cor. x. 11.) For the divine oracles are a treasury of all manner of medicines, so that whether it be needful to quench pride, to lull desire to sleep, to tread under foot the love of money, to despise pain, to inspire confidence, to gain patience, from them one may find abundant resource. For what man of those who struggle with long poverty or who are nailed to a grievous disease, will not, when he reads the passage before us, receive much comfort? Since this man who had been paralytic for thirty and eight years, and who saw each year others delivered, and himself bound by his disease, not even so fell back and despaired, though in truth not merely despondency for the past, but also hopelessness for the future, was sufficient to over-strain him. Hear now what he says, and learn the greatness of his sufferings. For when Christ had said, “Wilt thou be made whole?” “Yea, Lord,” he saith, “but I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool.” What can be more pitiable than these words? What more sad than these circumstances? Seest thou a heart crushed through long sickness? Seest thou all violence subdued? He uttered no blasphemous word, nor such as we hear the many use in reverses, he cursed not his day, he was not angry at the question, nor did he say, “Art Thou come to make a mock and a jest of us, that Thou asketh whether I desire to be made whole?” but replied gently, and with great mildness, “Yea, Lord”; yet he knew not who it was that asked him, nor that He would heal him, but still he mildly relates all the circumstances and asks nothing further, as though he were speaking to a physician, and desired merely to tell the story of his sufferings. Perhaps he hoped that Christ might be so far useful to him as to put him into the water, and desired to attract Him by these words. What then saith Jesus?

Ver. 8. “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”

Now some suppose that this is the man in Matthew who was “lying on a bed” ( Matt. ix. 2 ); but it is not so, as is clear in many ways. First, from his wanting persons to stand forward for him. That man had many to care for and to carry him, this man not a single one; wherefore he said, “I have no man.” Secondly, from the manner of answering; the other uttered no word, but this man relates his whole case. Thirdly, from the season and the time; this man was healed at a feast, and on the Sabbath, that other on a different day. The places too were different; one was cured in a house, the other by the pool. The manner also of the cure was altered; there Christ said, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” but here He braced the body first, and then cared for the soul. In that case there was remission of sins, (for He saith, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,”) but in this, warning and threats to strengthen the man for the future; “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” ( Ver. 14.) The charges also of the Jews are different; here they object to Jesus, His working on the Sabbath, there they charge Him with blasphemy.

Consider now, I pray you, the exceeding wisdom of God. He raised not up the man at once, but first maketh him familiar by questioning, making way for the coming faith; nor doth He only raise, but biddeth him “take up his bed,” so as to confirm the miracle that had been wrought, and that none might suppose what was done to be illusion or a piece of acting. For he would not, unless his limbs had been firmly and thoroughly compacted, have been able to carry his bed. And this Christ often doth, effectually silencing those who would fain be insolent. So in the case of the loaves, that no one might assert that the men had been merely satisfied, and that what was done was an illusion, He caused that there should be many relics of the loaves. So to the leper that was cleansed He said, “Go, show thyself to the priest” ( Matt. viii. 4 ); at once providing most certain proof of the cleansing, and stopping the shameless mouths of those who asserted that He was legislating in opposition to God. This also He did in like manner in the case of the wine; for He did not merely show it to them, but also caused it to be borne to the governor of the feast, in order that one who knew nothing of what had been done, by his confession might bear to Him unsuspected testimony; wherefore the Evangelist saith, that the ruler of the feast “knew not whence it was,” thus showing the impartiality of his testimony. And in another place, when He raised the dead, He said, “Give ye him to eat”; supplying this proof of a real resurrection, and by these means persuading even the foolish that He was no deceiver, no dealer in illusions, but that He had come for the salvation of the common nature of mankind.

[2.] But why did not Jesus require faith of this man, as He did in the case of others, saying, “Believest thou that I am able to do this?” It was because the man did not yet clearly know who He was; and it is not before, but after the working of miracles that He is seen so doing. For persons who had beheld His power exerted on others would reasonably have this said to them, while of those who had not yet learned who He was, but who were to know afterwards by means of signs, it is after the miracles that faith is required. And therefore Matthew doth not introduce Christ as having said this at the beginning of His miracles, but when He had healed many, to the two blind men only.

Observe however in this way the faith of the paralytic. When he had heard, “Take up thy bed and walk,” he did not mock, nor say, “What can this mean? An Angel cometh down and troubleth the water, and healeth only one, and dost Thou, a man, by a bare command and word hope to be able to do greater things than Angels? This is mere vanity, boasting, mockery.” But he neither said nor imagined anything like this, but at once he heard and arose, and becoming whole, was not disobedient to Him that gave the command; for immediately he was made whole, and “took up his bed, and walked.” What followed was even far more admirable. That he believed at first, when no one troubled him, was not so marvelous, but that afterwards, when the Jews were full of madness and pressed upon him on all sides, accusing and besieging him and saying, “It is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed,” that then he gave no heed to their madness, but most boldly in the midst of the assembly proclaimed his Benefactor and silenced their shameless tongues, this, I say, was an act of great courage. For when the Jews arose against him, and said in a reproachful and insolent manner to him,

Ver. 10. “It is the Sabbath day, it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed”; hear what he saith:

Ver. 11. “He that made me whole, the Same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.”

All but saying, “Ye are silly and mad who bid me not to take Him for my Teacher who has delivered me from a long and grievous malady, and not to obey whatever He may command.” Had he chosen to act in an unfair manner, he might have spoke differently, as thus, “I do not this of my own will, but at the bidding of another; if this be a matter of blame, blame him who gave the order, and I will set down the bed.” And he might have concealed the cure, for he well knew that they were vexed not so much at the breaking of the Sabbath, as at the curing of his infirmity. Yet he neither concealed this, nor said that, nor asked for pardon, but with loud voice confessed and proclaimed the benefit. Thus did the paralytic; but consider how unfairly they acted. For they said not, “Who is it that hath made thee whole?” on this point they were silent, but kept on bringing forward the seeming transgression.

Ver. 12, 13. “What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed Himself away, a multitude being in that place.”

And why did Jesus conceal Himself? First, that while He was absent, the testimony of the man might be unsuspected, for he who now felt himself whole was a credible witness of the benefit. And in the next place, that He might not cause the fury of the Jews to be yet more inflamed, for the very sight of one whom they envy is wont to kindle not a small spark in malicious persons. On this account He retired, and left the deed by itself to plead its cause among them, that He might not say anything in person respecting Himself, but that they might do so who had been healed, and with them also the accusers. Even these last for a while testify to the miracle, for they said not, “Wherefore hast thou commanded these things to be done on the Sabbath day?” but, “Wherefore doest thou these things on the Sabbath day?” not being displeased at the transgression, but envious at the restoration of the paralytic. Yet in respect of human labor, what the paralytic did was rather a work, for the other was a saying and a word. Here then He commandeth another to break the Sabbath, but elsewhere He doth the same Himself, mixing clay and anointing a man’s eyes ( c. 9 ); yet He doth these things not transgressing, but going beyond the Law. And on this we shall hereafter speak. For He doth not, when accused by the Jews respecting the Sabbath, always defend Himself in the same terms, and this we must carefully observe.

[3.] But let us consider awhile how great an evil is envy, how it disables the eyes of the soul to the endangering his salvation who is possessed by it. For as madmen often thrust their swords against their own bodies, so also malicious persons looking only to one thing, the injury of him they envy, care not for their own salvation. Men like these are worse than wild beasts; they when wanting food, or having first been provoked by us, arm themselves against us; but these men when they have received kindness, have often repaid their benefactors as though they had wronged them. Worse than wild beasts are they, like the devils, or perhaps worse than even those; for they against us indeed have unceasing hostility, but do not plot against those of their own nature, (and so by this Jesus silenced the Jews when they said that He cast out devils by Beelzebub,) but these men neither respect their common nature, nor spare their own selves. For before they vex those whom they envy they vex their own souls, filling them with all manner of trouble and despondency, fruitlessly and in vain. For wherefore grievest thou, O man, at the prosperity of thy neighbor? We ought to grieve at the ills we suffer, not because we see others in good repute. Wherefore this sin is stripped of all excuse. The fornicator may allege his lust, the thief his poverty, the man-slayer his passion, frigid excuses and unreasonable, still they have these to allege. But what reason, tell me, wilt thou name? None other at all, but that of intense wickedness. If we are commanded to love our enemies, what punishment shall we suffer if we hate our very friends? And if he who loveth those that love him will be in no better a state than the heathen, what excuse, what palliation shall he have who injures those that have done him no wrong? Hear Paul, what he saith, “Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” ( 1 Cor. xiii. 3 ); now it is clear to every one that where envy and malice are, there charity is not. This feeling is worse than fornication and adultery, for these go no farther than him who doeth them, but the tyranny of envy hath overturned entire Churches, and hath destroyed the whole world. Envy is the mother of murder. Through this Cain slew Abel his brother; through this Esau (would have slain) Jacob, and his brethren Joseph, through this the devil all mankind. Thou indeed now killest not, but thou dost many things worse than murder, desiring that thy brother may act unseemly, laying snares for him on all sides, paralyzing his labors on the side of virtue, grieving that he pleaseth the Master of the world. Yet thou warrest not with thy brother, but with Him whom he serves, Him thou insultest when thou preferest thy glory to His. And what is in truth worst of all, is that this sin seems to be an unimportant one, while in fact it is more grievous than any other; for though thou showest mercy and watchest and fastest, thou art more accursed than any if thou enviest thy brother. As is clear from this circumstance also. A man of the Corinthians was once guilty of adultery, yet he was charged with his sin and soon restored to righteousness; Cain envied Abel; but he was not healed, and although God Himself continually charmed the wound, he became more pained and wave-tossed, and was hurried on to murder. Thus this passion is worse than that other, and doth not easily permit itself to be cured except we give heed. Let us then by all means tear it up by the roots, considering this, that as we offend God when we waste with envy at other men’s blessings, so when we rejoice with them we are well pleasing to Him, and render ourselves partakers of the good things laid up for the righteous. Therefore Paul exhorteth us to “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep” ( Rom. xii. 15 ), that on either hand we may reap great profit.

Considering then that even when we labor not, by rejoicing with him that laboreth, we become sharers of his crown, let us cast aside all envy, and implant charity in our souls, that by applauding those of our brethren who are well pleasing unto God, we may obtain both present and future good things, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom, to the Father and the Holy [Spirit], be glory, now and ever, world without end. Amen.

   

(non-Orthodox source)

   

Christ healing the Paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda (source)

   

Christ is risen from the dead, by death trampling down upon death, and to those in the tombs, bestowing life!

Truly the Lord is risen!