Panteleimon, the glorious Great-Martyr, flourished during the years of emperor Galerius Maximian. Panteleimon hailed from the city of Nicomedia. He was born there circa 284 A.D. He was the son of a pagan physician, named Efstorgios. His mother, named Evoulee, came from Christian lineage. As much as Efstorgios depended on the idols to affect cures, so much was Evoulee's love and eagerness heightened toward the Orthodox Faith. She brought up their child, whom they named Panteleimon (meaning "a lion in all"), not only with what was necessary for the body but more so with what was needful for the soul.

Mother Paraskeve was thirty years old when the pagan emperor of Old Rome was Antoninus Pius (138-161 A.D.). The holy nun preached to both the Greek pagans and the Jews, bringing ma to the knowledge of God. However, in one city, where she proclaimed the Gospel, certain Jews were inimical towards the Christians. When they beheld the Christian community growing, they became antagonistic and outraged at her missionary activities.

A Christian, at any rate, an Orthodox Christian, views repentance as a dynamic act of responsibility to God, but also to other people. It is not pining away in narcissistic self-reflection, even while employing self-knowledge and self-examination. Sin itself is a relational act - a break in the "I-Thou" relationship, it concerns my relationship with another person. When the Prodigal son "came to himself" in the Gospel Parable (Luke 15), he did so in relation to his father: "I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you" (V. 18).

"Pentthos" is the conditioned sorrow of a repentant soul, adding sorrow upon sorrow each day, like a woman suffering in childbirth."

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, but he calls own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers".

To represent the love that Peter and the disciple should have, the Lord presented Himself as a shepherd. It is not the first time the Lord used the image of a shepherd; He spoke one other time about shepherds and flock, both in the Old Testament and the New (Pss 22:1-5; 77:72-73; 13, Zachariah 10:3 Nah 3:18; Isa 40:11, 63:11; Jer 2:8; 3:1-3; ,15; 10:21; 12:10; 1 Peter 2:25; Heb 13:20; Ezek 34: 2-30, 37:24; Matt 9:36; , 10:16, 18:22; John 10:1-17; Eph 4:12.) In the Gospel of Saint John (10:1-17) two images are presented. One is the bad shepherd who enters the sheepfold, not through a gate, but another way, and is therefore not a real shepherd but a robber and thief who owes obedience to no one. The other is the beautiful image of the good shepherd who labors and sacrifices himself for the sheep. The Good Shepherd is Christ Himself. He said, "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep" (St. John 10:11).