St.
Cosman & St. Demian
Sunday,
November 19, 2006
"Like arrows in the hand of
a warrior, So are the children of one's
youth." (Psa
127:4)
St. Cosman &
St. Demian
On the 22nd day of the blessed month of Hatour
(1st of December) ,
the Coptic Church commemorates the martyrdom of Saints Cosman
and Demian, their brothers Artimus,
Londius and Arabius and
their mother Theodoti.
These
Saints grew in the city of Agas in the region of
Arabia and Asia Minor, at the end of the third century. Their mother became a
widow when they were young. She was a God- fearing woman, merciful and
compassionate to strangers. When the father died she gave her life to bringing
up of her five sons.
Christian doctors
Cosman and Demian studied
medicine and became doctors, and the other brothers
went to the desert and became monks.
The
Saints selected the medical profession as means of attracting the pagans to the
Christian faith.
They
treated both the faithful and the pagans. They healed the sick not by medicine but
by the grace of God, saying a short prayer, making the sign of the Cross over
the sick and listened to the details of their sickness, then ask God to heal
them. They opened the eyes of the blind and cast away demons.
They
were treating the sick at no charge, at the time when they were living the life
of poverty, prayer and
honesty, fearing that they might get
attached to the love of money. By dong this, they
were able to live, with all their hearts to God.
They were known as the “Doctors
with no charge”. Their lives affected many pagans who converted to the
Christian faith.
When
Diocletian renounced the Christian faith and ordered to worship the idols, he
was told that the saints were trying to convert their city to Christianity. He
delivered them to the cruel governor Lissias who
arrested and accused them of stirring up trouble by their magic medicine and
fictitious Gods. He ordered them to deny God, which they refused and
accordingly they were severely tortured. They were subjected to numerous
sufferings and pains, but The Lord revealed His Glory in them.
When
the governor was in pain (possessed by evil spirits) he called the Saints and
asked their forgiveness. They had compassion for him and pleaded with The Lord who
cured him. Later the governor denied the work of God and began to torture them
again.
The
authorities were told of their mother and brothers and how they were all
Christians. Cosman and Demian
were ordered to bring the rest of their family and appear before the governor
on a certain day.
When
they did they were requested to deny their faith but they refused. Orders were
given to torture them until they either give in or die.
Their
mother kept encouraging them and strengthening their faith. This in turn
angered the governor who ordered her head to be cut off and she received the
crown of martyrdom.
As
for the five brothers, they were beheaded and received the crown of the
everlasting life.
May the blessings of this two great Saints,
Their mother and their brothers, be with us all. Amen.
Glory be
to our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ
Amen.
