How the Real Servants of God Acted – July 1
Special thanks to Brother Michael
The Holy Martyrs, Wonderworkers, and UnMercenaries Cosmas and Damian – were brothers by birth, born at Rome, and physicians by profession. They were granted by God the graced gift of healing the sick. They said to the sick: “It be not by our power that we treat the sick, but by the power of Christ, the True God. Believe in Him and be healed”.
They brought a large number of people to Christ our God through the whole region, causing the rage of the pagan emperor who had them arrested and brought to trial.
In a public trial, the saints openly confessed before the Roman emperor and the judge their faith in Christ God, having come into the world to save mankind and redeem the world from sin, and they resolutely refused to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. They said: “We have caused evil for no one, we have not involved ourselves with the magic or sorcery, of which you accuse us. We doctor the infirm by the power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and we do not take any sort of recompense for rendering aid to the sick, because our Lord commanded His disciples: “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Mt. 10: 8).
The emperor stubbornly continued with his demands. Through the prayer of the holy brothers, filled with the power of grace, God suddenly struck Carinus blind, so that he too in his own experience might know the almightiness of the Lord, not forgiving blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The people, beholding the miracle, cried out: “Great is the Christian God and no other is God, except Him!” Many of those that believed besought the holy brothers to heal the emperor, and he himself implored the saints, promising to convert to the True God Christ the Saviour. The saints healed him. After this, Saints Cosmas and Damian were with honour set free and again they set about doctoring the sick.
Glory be to Christ our God who is wondrous in His saints! As true servants of God, Saint Damian and Cosmas brought people to Christ our God, and not to themselves. Before granting any healing or miracle, they demanded that people believe in Christ the Heavenly Physician, from Whom all healings and miracles come from, and made it clear they are merely His servants, bringing His gifts in His name to people, so that they might believe and be saved.
Following the example of Christ our God, Who, after healing the paralytic said “sin no more” John 5:14 KJV Saint Damian and Cosmas called people to repent and sin no more.
This is how the Servants of Christ act, doing everything for His sake, and the salvation of neighbour, leading people to the Path of Salvation.
