Saints Cosmas and Damian, the Holy Unmercenaries
Physicians and unmercenary healers
- Feast day
- November 1
- Lived
- 3rd century
- Patronage
- Physicians, pharmacists, the sick; healing without payment
Brothers who healed the sick and took nothing for it, Saints Cosmas and Damian are the archetype of the Anargyroi — the unmercenaries — in Orthodox devotion.
Life
The brothers commemorated on November 1 were physicians of Asia Minor, raised by their Christian mother Saint Theodota after their pagan father's death. Trained in medicine, they treated people and animals free of charge, using their skill as a means of preaching.
Damian once accepted three eggs from a woman who pressed them on him in the name of the Holy Trinity; Cosmas, hearing of it, asked not to be buried with him. At their death a camel that they had healed spoke, telling the faithful to lay them together.
Three pairs
The Orthodox calendar commemorates three distinct pairs of unmercenary brothers with these names: those of Asia Minor (November 1), those of Rome martyred under Carinus (July 1), and those of Arabia martyred at Cyr (October 17). All are invoked at the service of Holy Unction.