Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian of Asia

3rd century

Also known as the Anargyroi · Cosmas and Damian of Mesopotamia · sons of Theodota

Brother physicians of Asia Minor, sons of the pious Theodota, who healed both people and animals freely for the love of Christ, taking no payment, and reposed in peace; the chief of the Holy Unmercenaries.

Feast Day

November 1

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Commemorated as

The Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian of Asia

Come to them for

Healing

Life

Cosmas and Damian of Asia were brother physicians of Asia Minor who treated the sick without accepting any payment, and who came to be reckoned the foremost of the Holy Unmercenaries (Anargyroi, the "silverless ones"). According to their life, they were raised by their widowed mother, Theodota, who brought them up as Christians after their pagan father died during their childhood, instructing them by her own example and by the sacred texts she shared with them.

Trained as physicians, the brothers were celebrated for healing illnesses of body and soul by prayer, extending their care even to animals, and refusing all fees in keeping with the command "freely have you received, freely give." Unlike the two other pairs of physician-saints who bear the same names, those of Rome and of Arabia, who died as martyrs, the brothers of Asia reposed in peace and were buried together at Thereman in Mesopotamia, where many miracles were afterward attributed to their intercession. They are commemorated on November 1.

Timeline 3 moments Read Hide

3rd century Upbringing by Theodota After their pagan father died in their childhood, the brothers were raised as Christians by their mother, Saint Theodota, in Asia Minor (some accounts name Mesopotamia as their homeland).
3rd century Ministry of free healing Both trained as physicians and became known for healing the sick, and even animals, by prayer, taking no payment for their care.
3rd century Repose and burial at Thereman The brothers reposed in peace and their relics were interred together at Thereman in Mesopotamia.

Contributions & Legacy

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The Unmercenary Physicians

The brothers practiced medicine as a work of mercy rather than a trade. Their life records that they received the gift of healing and applied it freely, declining all fees, so that they became widely known as unmercenary healers; the Greek term anargyroi, "without silver," attached to them and to the broader company of physician-saints who followed the same rule.

A defining episode concerns a gravely ill woman named Palladia, whom other physicians had given up. After she was healed through the brothers' care, she sought privately to give Damian three eggs "in the Name of the Holy Life-Creating Trinity," and he accepted them out of reverence for that Name. When Cosmas learned of the gift, he took it as a breach of their vow to accept nothing, and on his deathbed asked that his brother not be buried beside him. According to their life, after both had reposed a camel they had once healed spoke with a human voice, explaining that Damian had accepted the gift in honor of God's Name and not out of greed, and so the brothers were laid to rest together.

Three Pairs of the Same Name

The Church distinguishes three separate pairs of unmercenary physicians named Cosmas and Damian, each with its own commemoration. The brothers of Asia, sons of Theodota, reposed in peace and are kept on November 1. The pair of Rome are commemorated on July 1 and are recorded as having been martyred under the emperor Carinus (283-285). The pair of Arabia, who practiced at Aegeae in the Roman province of Cilicia, are kept on October 17 and are recorded as having been arrested and beheaded with three companions, Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius, during the Diocletian persecution.

Veneration

Numerous miracles were attributed to the brothers' intercession after their repose. One account relates that they appeared to deliver the wife of a man named Malchus from an assailant, after which they came to be honored as protectors of marriage and the household. Their veneration spread widely, including into Russia, and they are invoked as patrons of physicians and of the sick.

Notes

'Anargyroi' = the silverless ones. There are three distinct pairs of Unmercenary physicians named Cosmas and Damian: of Asia (this row, Nov 1, reposed in peace), of Rome (Jul 1, martyred), and of Arabia (Oct 17, martyred).

Sources: Synaxarion