Unmercenary Healers
Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian of Asia
Two brothers who offered their medical skill freely, caring for the sick in the name of Christ.
Core account checked against Orthodox Synaxarion (Greek), Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece — November 1. Additional ecclesiastical references appear below.
Life and Witness
Raised in Faith
Cosmas and Damian of Asia were brought up by their Christian mother, Theodota, after the death of their father. She guided their education and taught them to order their lives according to the Gospel. The brothers studied medicine and made the care of their neighbors their vocation.
Healing without Payment
They treated the poor without accepting money and gave God the glory for healing. Their title, Unmercenaries, recalls this refusal to turn their service into a source of profit. The account published by Apostoliki Diakonia also remembers their care for animals.
Their Repose and Feast
The brothers completed their lives in peace and were buried at a place called Phereman. Their feast is November 1. They are distinct from the similarly named martyrs of Rome, commemorated on July 1, and the brothers of Arabia, commemorated on October 17. Those separate lives should not be combined.
Biographical information on this page is based exclusively on the Orthodox ecclesiastical sources listed below.
Orthodox Synaxarion (Greek)Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece — November 1