In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.

There is anxiety in our society today: Is it proper, is it wise, is it righteous to be kind? There is, in fact, a strong argument—one that I've seen even among Orthodox Christians—that, actually, kindness is foolish and perhaps destructive: somehow undermining the Gospel.

We have to understand that this is not coming out of nowhere. It's not simply a piece of insanity, because on the one hand there are those who would politicize kindness, make it into sort of a cudgel with which to impose a particular way. They say to be kind means to do things according to this particular understanding. To be kind is essentially to agree with us. And to say anything that someone profoundly disagrees with is to be unkind. To do something that is necessary for someone's good—if they actually don't want it but it is somehow absolutely necessary—is unkind.

Some things should not be permitted, and that obviously gets into certain matters of judgment calls, and so on. But we as Christians can certainly understand that there's a problem there with that understanding of kindness, where you simply say and do nothing while someone causes great harm to others and to themselves, for example.

But there is another line of thinking right now which is that kindness is a mug's game—something that actually should be actively trampled upon to make a point, that wants to make a certain statement, a certain display out of cruelty and rudeness and disregard for the hearts of others and their lives. This argues that kindness, compassion, understanding another person is somehow not a worthy pursuit, somehow is not Christian.

But we, at least as Orthodox Christians—I can't speak for anyone else—for Orthodox Christians, we don't get to have this kind of debate. There is a clear teaching in our Gospel that is unmistakable in these regards. Unmistakable.

We follow God who proclaims, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you love me, follow my commandments." He is a righteous God, a powerful God, who comes to judge the world, and the Day is coming—it is a dread Day.

But also we follow  God who tells us very clearly that he is kind and patient and long-suffering, humble and meek, full of mercy. How many times during the service just until now—if you just think back until this moment—how many times have we invoked the mercy of God? We who follow him are called to be merciful as our God is merciful.

Today we celebrate the memory of one of the greats in heaven: the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon the wonderworker and healer. Panteleimon—his name given in baptism means "all merciful," as our God is all merciful. But it's worth knowing that his given name—he was baptized as a young man—his given name was Pantoleon, "a lion in everything."

And that is also a very important part of the story: that he found the way to be a lion in everything while also in everything showing God in all his mercy.

Brothers and sisters, God mercifully answered Panteleimon's prayer for a little boy and revived him. And because of this miracle that Panteleimon was so gladdened by and transformed by, this led to his baptism and converted his whole way of life into one of prayer and service in the name of God for all those around him.

He healed many in the name of Jesus Christ and ministered freely to the sick, to the poor, to those in prison. And he did this to such a degree that the people in his city all were amazed and praised his name—except, of course, for those who were jealous and envious of him. Doctors who felt like he was threatening their way of life, their comfortable arrangements.

And so these pagan doctors pointed him out to the authorities as an unruly and troublemaking Christian, someone who needed to be brought to heel at a time when Christianity was illegal, was seen as undermining imperial authority. And there in his trial, Panteleimon boldly, courageously—like a lion, you might say—professed Christ even as he was terribly tortured and ultimately killed.

But still through all this, God worked many miracles through his servant, bringing many to believe in Christ Jesus our Lord. This witness of Panteleimon—this wonderworker, this healer, this lover of Christ, this witness (that's what “martyr” means), this great witness—the Gospel continues to this day to be an inspiration, a source of healing, an answer to prayers for our life as Christians and an example for us to follow, for us to understand. By coming to understand his story, we can learn better what has been taught to us in the Scriptures.

From the Gospel today, Jesus tells his disciples, "I command you to love one another," even as the world hates all of us who follow him—and of course they hate us because they hate first our master Jesus Christ. And he said also that in this hatred, in this experience of persecution that we receive, we will also receive the presence of the Holy Spirit. The one who he says proceeds from the Father will come to be our helper. And the Spirit in the midst of our persecution will testify of Jesus Christ through us if we can only keep the faith. And he says then that “you yourselves will bear witness to my name.”

And that's the invitation to understand that these times when we suffer a little bit—and let's be honest, there are places in the world where it is extremely difficult and dangerous and deadly to be a Christian. Meriden, Connecticut is not particularly one of those places. It is not particularly dangerous to be a Christian here. Sometimes it can be unpopular, can be difficult. There can be voices that invite us to bend and twist the Gospel to follow another way than that which Jesus Christ has laid out for us, to corrupt this or that in the teaching and the apostolic tradition that we have received.

And we might be abused for it, yelled at, maybe in a very little way persecuted in the sense of maybe even something as difficult as losing a job. That's bad. It does not compare with what Christians have routinely suffered after the pattern of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who—let's remember—was crucified. And Christians have suffered torments and have died for the witness of their faith.

So we should not be dismayed if someone yells at us or calls us a nasty name or somehow hurts our well-being, even makes us lose a job or friendship, something like that. Those things are heartbreaking. I don't want to make light of it in that sense. But we also need to understand that this is an expected part of our Christian way of life.

And to this we hear the word of the great apostle Paul to Timothy: "Be strong in the faith you've received from me and from others," he says to Timothy. And he tells him that he and all of us must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, that we have to expect that there will be hard work set for us. We will be persecuted, chained perhaps, but the word of God will not be chained.

And he sets out the pattern that the Apostle Paul himself first followed and set as an example for Timothy and through Timothy for us: that we endure all these things so that others may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's what makes it all worthwhile—to remember that whatever we are suffering is a passing thing, something that we can bear because the Spirit of truth will strengthen us and lift us up and give us exactly the word for us to speak truly as we need to.

But in all things, do not be dismayed. Do not be distracted. Remember our purpose, our calling, that all of us—every one of us—is meant in our own little humble way to follow the pattern of this great St. Panteleimon that we are celebrating today. And this is why we hear these readings that we have ringing out in the church today: to follow this example, to be strong in the faith, to have the courage of a lion if we can manage it—but to take courage.

But also in our urge to act rightly and truly as followers of Jesus Christ, as children of the all merciful God, being patient and kind, long-suffering, enduring all things out of love for God and love for our neighbor, showing mercy even to those who hate us—because we follow our merciful Father who has showed all mercy and goodness and kindness first to us.

Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever.