By Fr. George Dorbarakis
Although the Holy Unmercenaries, Kosmas and Damian, celebrated today, are different from their namesakes, also Unmercenaries, who are celebrated on July 1, their Service is exactly the same as theirs. It emphasizes the element par excellence of the holiness of both pairs, their unmercenary actions and life, that is, the provision of their services, as their synaxarion notes, free of charge and without pay. This means that the Saints were completely non-avaricious – “cutting off the disease of avarice,” notes the Hymnographer – an example of the elevation of their intellect above material things – “demonstrating the intellect superior to the material.” But how can one disentangle oneself from material goods? Only when one is “involved” with something higher and loftier. And this is none other than love for God and Christ. Only those who have a living relationship with Him, only those who have Him active in their hearts, can truly see their fellow human beings and the whole world with a pure, that is, loving, eye. And this is exactly what happened with the Holy Unmercenaries: they loved Christ and therefore loved every fellow human being, and every creature of God. “Always having Christ active in you, Holy Unmercenaries, you work miracles in the world, healing the sick.”
Everyone demands a similar attitude from today’s doctors: not to be greedy; not to ask for exorbitant amounts for their medical help; not to ask for a “gratuity.” A logical and legitimate request. The exorbitant amount and the “gratuity” reveal precisely “the disease of greed,” therefore a pathological condition that nullifies the social role of medical science. But condemning this evil phenomenon – where it certainly occurs - we also have doctors who refuse even what is “allowed” many times, and some even refuse their remuneration for the provision of their services. And there are some who go beyond reason in this regard, considering that all doctors are like the Holy Unmercenaries. But they acted and behaved within the framework of God’s grace: “not by human skill, but by divine grace you cleanse the diseases of men.” The indwelling of the Holy Trinity in them, the active, as we said, Christ in their hearts, was what gave them the power to transcend any material commitment. Without denying the existence of similar charismatic phenomena today – God’s grace continues to work everywhere – we must be mindful to understand that doctors are also workers, who expect to live from the exercise of their work. And indeed, with dignity.
However, our Church today, with the feast of the Holy Unmercenaries, orients us beyond the human science of medicine. While emphasizing, and indeed in a way that cannot be questioned, the recourse to doctors when a health problem arises in our lives – we are obliged to do what is human first – it simultaneously opens to us the truly comforting prospect of our recourse to “other” great doctors, our Saints themselves, in reality our recourse to the One who delights to act through His Saints. Our Saints, above all the Holy Unmercenaries, Kosmas and Damian, were graced by God with the gift of healing the sufferings of souls and bodies. And those who come to their clinic receive healing without paying anything at all. For grace is precisely a gift. “You provide healings to the sick without cost.” And what is even more comforting: the grace of the gift of healing from them never runs out. Saints are like an inexhaustible spring, from which the more one draws, the more streams emerge; the more one takes, the more there remains. “Your healing spring is inexhaustible; indeed, what is drawn forth flows forth even more abundantly, and what is poured out overflows.” We can always resort to these doctors, at any time and moment, because we know that in addition to the power they have, they also have their love for us. It's a shame that the spring is right next to us and we remain thirsty.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
