Martyrs and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in Cilicia, and their brothers, Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius (17 October)
The Martyrs and Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in Cilicia (Arabia), and the Martyrs Leontius, Anthimus and Eutropius. The holy brothers Cosmas and Damian were physicians in Arabia, who believed in Christ. They traveled through the cities and the villages, preaching Christ and healing the sick. The saints would not take any sort of payment for the help they rendered. In Cilicia, pagans seized the holy physicians and led them before the governor, Lysias. Since they refused to renounce Christianity, the governor ordered the saints to be brutally beaten, and then cast into the sea.
An angel of God rescued them from the sea and brought them to shore. Then the pagans beheaded the saints and three other Christians: Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius.
The Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Arabia should not be confused with the Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor (November 1), or the Unmercenary Saints Cosmas and Damian of Rome (July 1).
There are three pairs of holy physicians by the name of Cosmas and Damian. The first entered into rest peacefully on November 1, the second pair was stoned in Rome on July 1, and the third was from Arabia; and it is these that we speak of under today’s date. They were physicians by profession, and when they received the Christian Faith, they healed the sick in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They became widely known for their miraculous healings. The malicious pagans seized them, and took them before Governor Lysias in the town of Aegea. Since neither of these brothers would renounce Christ at any cost, they were cast into the sea, then into fire, but the omnipotent God saved them from both the water and the fire.
An angel of the Lord appeared to them and saved them. The pagan governor ascribed this to their alleged sorcery but they answered: “We know nothing of sorcery nor do we need sorcery, but we possess the power of Christ–which saves us and all who invoke His Most-holy Name.” The pagans struck them with stones but the stones bounced off them; they shot them with arrows, but the arrows rebounded as well.
Finally, they were beheaded with the sword. Saints Leontius, Anthimus and Eutropius also suffered with them, and received heavenly wreaths of glory. They suffered in the time of Diocletian and Maximian. Many miracles were manifested from their holy relics, even as miracles abounded from them during their life.
Source: oca.org / westserbdio.org
