Cosmas of Rome

Holy Unmercenary Doctor Cosmas of Rome was a martyr, together with his brother Damian, at Rome, in the time of the emperor Carinus (283-284). The Azbyka page tells their life together, as that of two blood brothers born at Rome, doctors by profession.

Raised by Christian parents in the rules of piety, they led a strict and pure life and were counted worthy by God of the gift of healing diseases. By their kind and unpaid conduct toward men, joined to exceptional mercy, they brought many to Christ. To the sick they usually said: "We heal diseases not by our own power but by the power of Christ, the true God. Believe in Him and you will be well". Because they healed without payment, the brothers were called unmercenary doctors.

Their active service of neighbour and their spiritual influence on those around them, which brought many into the Church, drew the attention of the Roman authorities. Soldiers were sent after the doctors. Hearing of it, the Christians asked Cosmas and Damian to hide for a time, for the sake of those who ran to them for help. Not finding the brothers, the soldiers seized other Christians in the village where the saints lived. Then Cosmas and Damian left their hiding place and gave themselves into the hands of the Roman soldiers, asking that those taken in their place be released.

At Rome the saints were first imprisoned, then led to trial. The brothers openly confessed before the emperor and the court their faith in Christ God, who came on earth to save mankind and redeem the sin of the world, and firmly refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods. They said: "We have done no wrong to anyone, we do not practise sorcery and charms, of which you accuse us. We heal diseases by the power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and take no reward for helping the sick, because the Lord commanded His disciples: Freely you have received, freely give".

But the emperor persisted. At the prayer of the holy brothers, full of divine power, God struck Carinus with a sudden illness, that he might experience in himself the almighty power of the Lord, who does not forgive blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The people who saw the miracle cried out: "Great is the God of the Christians and there is no other God but Him". Many of those who believed begged the holy doctors to heal the emperor, and he himself begged them, promising to turn to the true God, Christ the Saviour. The saints healed him, then were released with honour and began again to heal diseases.

What the hatred of the pagans and the cruelty of the Roman authorities could not do was done by black envy, one of the strongest passions of fallen human nature. An old doctor, the teacher from whom the brothers had once learned the art of healing, began to envy their glory. Driven out of his mind by this crafty passion, he summoned the brothers, once his beloved pupils, supposedly to gather rare medicinal herbs, led them far into the mountains and killed them, and threw their bodies into the river. So ended their earthly life as martyrs the unmercenary healers, the holy brothers Cosmas and Damian, who had devoted their whole life to Christian service of their neighbours, escaping the Roman sword and prison, but treacherously killed by their teacher.

The Lord glorified His saints. And today, through the prayers of the unmercenary doctors, all who run with faith to their protection receive healing from God. A part of the relics of the holy martyrs rests in the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian of Rome in Stary Panyi in Moscow. Saint Cosmas is commemorated on 14 July, in the new style. Their passion is also found in the Lives of the Saints by Saint Dimitry of Rostov.