The Holy Unmercenary Physicians Cosmas and Damian of Asia and Their Mother, the Venerable Theodotia (III)
The holy unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian were brothers and lived in Asia (Asia Minor). Their mother, the Orthodox Christian Theodotia, was widowed early. The brothers, brought up in piety, were marked by wonderful charity. To bring still more benefit to their neighbours, they set about mastering the art of healing: they studied the healing properties of herbs and plants and soon became physicians with a deep knowledge of their work. The Lord blessed His chosen ones and granted them the gift of healing illnesses of soul and body by the power of prayer. The saints healed not only people but animals too, and took no payment for the help they gave. The people called them the unmercenaries.
Once the holy physicians were called to a gravely ill woman, Palladia, whom all the physicians had refused to treat because of her grave condition. Through Palladia’s faith and the blessed brothers’ fervent prayer the Lord healed the dying woman.
Full of gratitude, the woman went to Damian, held out three eggs and said: “Accept this small gift in the name of the All-holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” When he heard the name of the Holy Trinity, the unmercenary did not dare refuse.
Cosmas was very downcast: he thought that Damian had broken their strict vow, and before his death he asked not to be buried beside him. Soon Damian too died. Everyone was at a loss and could not decide where to bury the holy physician. Then, by the will of God, a miracle took place: a camel that the unmercenary physicians had once healed of madness came before the people, spoke with a human voice, and told everyone to bury Damian beside Cosmas without any hesitation, for he had accepted the woman’s gift not out of greed but in the name of the Lord. The holy remains of the blessed brothers were buried together at Pheremma (Mesopotamia).
Even after their death the holy unmercenaries worked many miracles. A Christian man, Malchus, who lived near the church of Cosmas and Damian at Pheremma, before a long journey commended his young wife to the holy brothers and entrusted her to their heavenly protection. Some time later a man known to Malchus came to the woman’s house and told her: your husband has sent me to take you to him. Malchus’s wife trusted the visitor and went with him, but he led her to a deserted place and tried first to violate her and then to kill her. Suddenly two young men appeared from somewhere. The villain tried to flee, but fell over a cliff. The young men brought Malchus’s wife home. The miraculously rescued woman humbly thanked them at the threshold of her house and asked: “What are your names, my rescuers? To whom do I owe my life?” “We are the servants of Christ, Cosmas and Damian,” the young men answered, and vanished. The awestruck and joyful woman told everyone what had happened to her, and, full of gratitude to God, in tears, turned to the icon of Cosmas and Damian and offered a prayer of thanksgiving for her deliverance. From that day the holy unmercenary physician brothers have been venerated as protectors of the purity and steadfastness of the Christian family.
