Sts. Cosmas & Damian’s Glorification | تمجيد الشهيدين قزمان و دميان

Their Early Life:
The saints Cosmas and Damian and their brothers Anthimus, Leontius, and Eutropius, together with their mother Theodoti, lived in the city of Aegae, a port in the province of Cilicia in the region of Arabia in Asia Minor, at the end of the third century AD.
Nothing is known about their father, but their mother Theodoti (or Theodora / Theodota, meaning “Gift of God”) was a devout woman, god-fearing, hospitable, and compassionate. She was widowed while her children were still young and raised them in the fear of God and the love of virtue.

Faithful Physicians:
This family was very wealthy. Cosmas and Damian learned the art of medicine and treated the sick without payment, while their brothers went into the wilderness and became monks.
With their great medical skill, Cosmas and Damian worked in faith in God, the Healer of souls and bodies. God granted them special grace so that they healed the sick through divine power while using medicines. Their motto in life and work was: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

The Silverless Physicians:
Their success in their profession through the grace of God led them to live a life of simplicity, prayer, and honesty. Fearing the love of money, they chose poverty and became known as “The Silverless Physicians.” The pagans even called them “the haters of silver.”
Their faithfulness in work, godly life, and reliance on the Lord attracted many pagan patients to the Christian faith.
The Western Church sang of them in a hymn:
“They studied the art of medicine and, by divine grace, gave health freely to all the weary,
Healing the sick and the sorrowful,
Giving to each what he sought without reward.
They gave sight to the blind, healing to the lame, and help to the deaf.
It is said they cared for both humans and animals,
Showing compassion to mankind as well as to beasts.”

The Healing of Palladia:
Palladia had spent all her wealth on many physicians and had become destitute. Hearing of the two saints, she sought their help. They prayed for her and gave her medicine, and when she was healed, she offered a small gift to Saint Damian, but he refused it firmly, knowing her poverty.

Their Testimony for Christ:
When Emperor Diocletian apostatized from the faith and ordered the worship of idols, the governor Lysias summoned them and questioned them about preaching the faith in Christ while being physicians. They replied that they had chosen the profession of medicine not for profit but for the good of all, and that the Lord Jesus Christ granted them the power to heal; thus many came to believe in Him.
The governor became enraged, and after learning about their brothers, he brought them with their mother and ordered them to offer incense to the idols, but they refused. He tried to entice them with vain worldly promises, and when they did not respond, he threatened them for disobeying the emperor’s decree.
The blessed brothers answered that they were Christians and were persecuted for their faith, and that they had long desired to suffer for Christ even unto death, longing to meet the Lord. The governor then ordered the five brothers to be pressed in the winepress. Cosmas and Damian encouraged their younger brothers to remain steadfast in faith. When the governor saw their perseverance, he commanded that they be thrown into the sea in chains, but the Lord glorified Himself through them by sending His angel who broke their chains and brought them safely to shore.

The Healing of the Governor:
When Lysias heard of what had happened, he summoned them again and began to curse them and blaspheme the holy name of God with his idols. Immediately, an angel struck him, and he was possessed by evil spirits that tormented him.
In his great suffering, he called for the saints and begged their forgiveness. They had compassion on him and prayed that the Lord Jesus Christ would forgive him, and he was healed instantly.

Return to Torture:
Soon after, the governor returned to his cruelty. He ordered that Cosmas and Damian be crucified and stoned, but the stones bounced back upon the throwers. Their brothers were bound and placed between the crosses to be shot with arrows, but the arrows too were turned back upon the archers. Finally, all the soldiers fled in fear.
The governor then ordered them to be released and cast into a fiery furnace for three days and three nights, then into a hot bath, and finally laid them on heated iron beds—but the Lord raised them unharmed and without corruption.
When the governor grew weary of torturing them, he sent them to the king, who tortured them again. Their mother comforted and strengthened them, and when the king rebuked her, she reproached him for his cruelty and idol worship. He then ordered her beheaded, and she received the crown of life. Her body remained unburied because no one dared to approach it, until Saint Damian cried out, “O people of the city, is there no one merciful enough to cover and bury the body of this elderly widow?” Then Victor, son of Romanus, came forward, took the body, wrapped it, and buried it.
When the king learned what Victor had done, he ordered him exiled to Egypt, where he received the crown of martyrdom. The next day, the king commanded that the heads of the saints Cosmas, Damian, and their brothers be cut off, and they received the crown of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
After the persecution ended, many churches were built in their name, and the Lord performed many miracles and wonders in them.
The Western Church celebrates their feast on September 27 and on the fourth Thursday of Lent, while the Coptic Church celebrates them on the 22nd of Hathor and the 22nd of Baounah each year.
May the prayers of these holy saints be with us all. Amen.