July: Day 1: Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian

July: Day 1:
Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian
 
(On Imitating Them)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today the Holy Church celebrates the memory of the Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian, who suffered in Rome in 284. They were brothers and were raised in Christian piety. Having studied the art of medicine, they, with the help of God's grace, healed all kinds of illnesses. Helping people, they also healed animals. The good healers did not take payment or reward for healing from anyone and therefore were called unmercenary doctors or unmercenaries. They demanded only one thing from those being healed: that they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Healing the sick in Rome itself and in the surrounding cities, they converted many to Christ. Giving healing to the sick, they also helped the poor from their estates left to them by their parents, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and did other works of mercy.

II. We too can imitate the selflessness of the Holy Unmercenaries. It will be quite enough for us if we conscientiously fulfill our duties for the reward we receive, because many today do not even do this. And most importantly: let no one be greedy or money-loving, do not seek great acquisitions. Do nothing from motives of self-interest, do not break the commandment regarding the feast days because of self-interest, which should be completely dedicated to our Lord. Do not decide on other sins because of self-interest: insult, oppression of your neighbor, theft; abhor self-interest, this vile passion that leads to many harmful consequences.

a) Let every deed, even the most ordinary, have as its source and beginning not self-interest, not profit, but holy love.

I am a minister of the church, let me flee from self-interest as from fire, let my first and highest consolation be the good that I could bring to my flock through my service.

You have a large commercial business, let it not be the large profits or the expected benefits that console you, but first of all the thought that from this business many families of your employees are fed and prosper around you, let it please you that benefit that you bring to society with your business.

And let everyone in every matter be guided first of all by the thought not of his own benefit, but of the benefit that you will bring to your neighbor by your work. "Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being," as the Apostle says (1 Cor. 10:24).

b) The Holy Unmercenaries healed the sick. You cannot do this, and no one demands the impossible from you. Do what you can for the sick person. Come to him, calm him, console him as best you can, look after him if necessary, and finally, pity him, pray for him, advise him to purify his soul in his illness and enter into communion with Christ. This will be the greatest blessing for him. How many sick people wait for a visitor and do not see him, try to hear a word of peace and consolation, and do not find it! And the poor and lonely sick? O, how much even the smallest sacrifice on your part will mean to them! Often a hard-working father or a suffering mother falls ill; there is need, hunger, and crying children in the house. O, how precious will be your compassion for such a family here! The participation of a brother or neighbor is invaluable here.

But when a peasant worker is ill during the working season, the grass is not mown and the grain is not harvested. If good neighbors take pity on him and with their combined efforts do everything concerning his farm in time, O, what an invaluable good this will be, and how much it will say about the Christian disposition of the souls of such good people! So, do for the sick what you can, what is only in your power, and you will be imitators of the Unmercenaries.

c) We have seen that the Unmercenary men even healed cattle; and in this we can and should imitate them. "Blessed is the man who has mercy on his cattle." How should we imitate? By pitying and protecting the cattle, feeding them enough, not burdening them with hard work, not beating them. A compassionate and kind owner would rather go without food himself and feed his cattle; he understands that it would be extremely cruel not to give food to a creature that silently works for him. God himself says through the Prophet: "You shall not muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain" (Deut. 25:4).

Those who sin in this regard are those who turn love and compassion for animals into a passion, become attached to them, begin to pity them and love them more than people, grieve for them, look after them, take care of them, but do not pity the benefit of their neighbor - a person adorned with the image and likeness of God - in grief, and do not come to his aid. This is a sin. Therefore, have compassion for every animal, but fear and avoid attachment to them.

III. This is what the Holy Unmercenaries teach us. Amen.  

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.