When Elder Theophylaktos of New Skete Was Visited by the Holy Unmercenary Saints

Elder Theophylaktos with an icon of the Holy Unmercenaries

Once again I had the same war [as Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi reports, his war was: "a kind of sadness, almost like melancholy"] and despair plagued me terribly.

Of course I knew it was a war, but I couldn't get rid of it.

Because of my inexperience I did not fight it from the beginning, when this passion first appeared to me, and it became a permanent cross for me.

After I sat down to rest I saw a group of people of different ages coming up from the street of Kyriakos [of New Skete] upwards, towards my Hut, and they were talking among themselves.

I watched who they were and where they were going.

"The Holy Unmercenary Saints Gave Me Holy Communion"

A Priest named Stylianos gave the following testimony:

On 9/27/2001 I suffered a severe stroke (thrombotic) and my left arm and leg were completely immobilized. My speech was slow and unsteady. I stayed in the hospital for ten days and then I went home. At the end of December of the same year, I started to get up and walk around with a cane.

On 1/9/2002, even while I was on blood thinners, I suffered a second stroke and at the same time a pulmonary embolism. Again the left arm and leg remained motionless. The doctors said there is no salvation for me. This treatment does not justify the blood clot that caused the cerebral and pulmonary embolism. I am again at AHEPA [a hospital in Thessaloniki] on a bed of pain.

Saints and Feasts of the Sunday Closest to October 18

 

Synaxis of All the Holy Physicians 

 

The First Celebration of the Synaxis of All the Holy Physicians

 

 

The Holy Martyrs Cyrus and John in the "Life of Saint John the Merciful"

Saint Sophronios of Jerusalem wrote the Life and Miracles of the Unmercenary Saints Cyrus and John. He did this after visiting the shrine of these Saints in Menuthis, which is outside Alexandria, at which time he was healed of a serious and painful eye ailment that afflicted him for months. This took place around the year 610. This was also the year Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, died. Sophronios, accompanied by John Moschos, were acquainted with John the Merciful while they were in Alexandria. Sophronios and John wrote a biography of John the Merciful after his repose, but it is no longer extant. Leontios, who was Bishop of Neapolis in Cyprus, wrote a supplemental biography to follow up on that which was written by Sophronios and John, and this is the primary source we have for a biography of John the Merciful. In Leontios' account, we only have two mentions of Saints Cyrus and John, whereas we can assume there may have been more references to them in the biographies of Sophronios and John Moschos.

A Miracle of Saints Cyrus and John for the Physician Gesios

The Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John

Miracle 30

On Gesios, the Physician-Philosopher

By St. Sophronios of Jerusalem

Gesios was not famous because he wore a philosophers garment, but primarily because he was distinguished in the art of medicine, and he was also recognized as an excellent teacher of medicine for all those who wanted to learn the art in his time. Gesios, however, although great in wisdom and of an excellent reputation, which he received from the physicians of Alexandria, was not free of the error of idolatry, as those who knew him closely have said, but he spread everywhere that he accepted baptism for fear of sanctions. Indeed, when he came out of the baptistry it is said that he spoke a blasphemous phrase from the Homeric epics concerning the drowning of Ajax.*

Three Holy Unmercenary Female Physicians

Next to the entrance of the Monastery of Saint Kosmas the Aitolos in Mega Dendron of the town of Thermo in the Trichonida Province, Abbess Euthymia not long ago built a chapel dedicated to the Three Holy Unmercenary Female Physicians Zenaida, Philonella and Hermione. These three female martyrs are noted for their healing abilities in their lifetimes. Zenaida and Philonella were sisters and are commemorated together on October 11th, while Hermione was the daughter of the Apostle Philip and commemorated on September 4th. The memory of these three Female Unmercenary Saints is celebrated in their chapel on October 11th.

Saints Kosmas and Damian of Rome Resource Page

Verses

Wounds from the stones did not tear the brothers asunder,

As one, both together were a solid stone.

On the first of July the Unmercenaries contested by being stoned.

  

Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian of Rome 

 

July: Day 1: Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian

The Three Medicines of the Holy Unmercenaries 

 

Is the Miracle of the "Transplant of the Black Leg" by the Holy Unmercenaries a Miracle or Myth? 

 

The Relationship Between Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi and the Holy Unmercenary Saints

 

The Healing of Elder Ambrose Lazaris by the Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damianos

 

Elder Ioannikios Androulakis Was Operated On By The Holy Unmercenaries

 

"The Holy Unmercenary Saints Gave Me Holy Communion" 

 

Church of Agioi Anargyroi in Servia of Kozani (11th-12th cent.) 

 

Synaxis of All the Holy and Wonderworking Unmercenaries

 

When Elder Theophylaktos of New Skete Was Visited by the Holy Unmercenary Saints

 

Scientist and Christian, An Excellent Combination

 

 

Synaxis of All the Holy and Wonderworking Unmercenaries

Synaxarion

On the seventeenth of this month [October] we honor the Synaxis of All the Holy and Wonderworking Unmercenaries (twenty in number).

Verses

I ever honor together the Unmercenaries,
Being gathered here in their church.
The twenty-numbered phalanx of the Unmercenaries,
O choir, save those who entreat you.
Twenty, therefore, Unmercenaries, I ever hymn.

Holy Martyrs and Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian of Arabia, and their Brothers Leontios, Anthimos and Euprepios

Sts. Kosmas, Damian, Leontios, Anthimos and Euprepios (Feast Day - October 17)

Verses

To Kosmas and Damian.

From the race of Arabians by the sword,
I saw the Unmercenaries as divinely excelling in valor.

To Leontios.

Leontios by his beheading destroyed error,
Like an Ant-lion, as the Book of Job says.

To Anthimos and Euprepios.

Beheaded Anthimos and Euprepios,
Blossomed forth brightly and still most-beautifully.

Holy Martyrs Zenaida and Philonella the Sisters

Sts. Zenaida and Philonella (Feast Day - October 11)

Verses

The friends of peace reposed in peace,
Both Zenais together with Philonella.

The holy sisters Zenaida (or Zenais) and Philonella were born in the district of Tarsus early in the first century. They were cousins of the Apostle Paul and were born into a highly educated Jewish family. Both sisters had a natural intelligence and a love for learning. When they entered the famous school at Tarsus to study philosophy, the sisters were instantly attracted to the lectures of the medical theorists. Their cousin Jason, Bishop of Tarsus, was an early convert to Christianity and a follower of their kinsman, the Apostle Paul.

Synaxarion of Saint Hermione, Daughter of the Apostle Philip

St. Hermione (Feast Day - September 4)

Verses

To Hermione.

Hermes makes way in the heavens,
For Hermione found salvation.

To Theotimos and Theodoulos.

Theotimos died with Theodoulos,
Given honor by the Lord as servants.

To Petronios.

For Petronios Christ was a rock,
Remaining above the power of temptations.

Church of Agioi Anargyroi in Servia of Kozani (11th-12th cent.)

The 11th-12th century Church of Agioi Anargyroi is dedicated to two brothers known as Kosmas and Damian who were martyred for their Christian faith in Rome in the third century; they were physicians who received no payment for their treatments, thus earning the title Agioi Anargyroi or Holy Unmercenraries. It is located in the town of Servia, in the region of Kozani of West Macedonia, Greece.

Saint Sampson the Innkeeper Resource Page

St. Sampson the Innkeeper (Feast Day - June 27)

Verses

Just as Sampson of old with a jawbone was led to drink,

So Sampson now gushes forth myrrh from his tomb.

On the twenty-seventh Sampson died and gushed forth myrrh.

 

Synaxarion of Saint Sampson the Innkeeper

 

Saint Sampson the Innkeeper  

 

Saint Sampson the Innkeeper as a Model for our Lives

 

June: Day 27: Saint Sampson the Hospitable

 

Saint Sampson and the Healing of the Man who Suffered from Anthrax

 

St. Sampson the Innkeeper, Founder of the Largest Free Clinic in the Roman Empire

 

Church of Saint Sampson the Innkeeper in Pyrgos of Santorini

 

Saint Sampson Cathedral in Saint Petersburg

 

Synaxis of All the Holy and Wonderworking Unmercenaries

 

Saint Sampson the Innkeeper

St. Sampson the Innkeeper (Feast Day - June 27)

Our blessed father Sampson came from a family from the high society of Roman aristocracy, apparently linked to the kin of Constantine the Great. He studied all the important subjects of the time, particularly medicine, to which he felt drawn by his compassionate nature. He was unable to remain indifferent to the spectacle of pain and unhappiness and received the poor and the sick at his home, in order to provide them with all the attention that love could offer and, more particularly, the comfort of prayer and faith. When his parents died, he distributed his large fortune and, free of every earthly obligation and wishing to avoid being esteemed in the eyes of other people, he left for Constantinople. He settled in a humble house and devoted himself entirely to prayer, in silence, though continuing his good works. He gathered in as many sick people as he found and treated them without charge. He particularly took responsibility for those who were suffering from incurable diseases or those who had diseases that other doctors were reluctant to treat: lepers, the blind and the possessed, and so his reputation spread throughout the whole city and his dwelling became a haven for those who had nothing to hope for.

Saint Thallelaios and his Veneration on the Island of Naxos

Icon of St. Thallelaios from the Chapel of Saint Thallelaios in the village of Agios Thallelaios on the island of Naxos.

Saint Thallelaios was born in Lebanon. His father was called Berukios and his mother was called Romylia. Thallelaios was an eighteen-year old youth, handsome of countenance, physically tall and with reddish yellow hair. He was a physician by profession.

During the reign of Numerian (283-284), Thallelaios bravely confessed his faith in Christ the Lord before his tormenting governor. In return the governor ordered the two executioners, Alexander and Asterios, to bore through his ankles with a drill, to thread a rope through the perforated bones and to hang him from a tree. But God through an invisible power, took away the sight of the executioners. In place of Thallelaios they bored through a wooden board and hung it from a tree. When the judge found out, he thought that the executioners did this intentionally and ordered them both to be flogged. Then Alexander and Asterios, in the midst of their flogging, cried out: "The Lord is alive to us and, from now on, we are also becoming Christians. We believe in Christ and suffer for Him." Upon hearing this, the judge ordered that both be beheaded.

Saints Cyrus and John the Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries

Sts. Cyrus and John the Unmercenaries along with Sts. Theoktiste and her daughters Athanasia, Theodota and Eudoxia (Feast Day - January 31)

Verses

To Cyrus and John
Cyrus and his fellow athlete John go towards the sword,
Working miracles together even after the sword.

To Theoktiste, Athanasia, Theodota, Eudoxia
Most excellent mother and three daughters,
With longing for the Father of all are killed by the sword.

On the thirty-first Cyrus and John were beheaded.

Holy Unmercenaries Kosmas and Damian of Asia Minor

Sts. Kosmas and Damian the Unmercenaries (Feast Day - November 1)

Verses

Though the Unmercenary pair have passed from earth,

They fill the earth with wonders now as then.

Two healing lights from the earth fly up on the first of November.

Kosmas and Damian were unmercenaries and wonderworkers. They were brothers both in the flesh and in the spirit, born somewhere in Asia Minor of pious and virtue-loving parents. After their father's death, their mother Theodote (Jan. 2) devoted all her time and effort to educating her sons and raising them as true Christians. God helped her, and her sons matured as sweet fruit and luminaries of the world. They were learned in the art of medicine and ministered to the sick without payment, not so much with medicine as by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were called "unmercenary physicians," that is, unpaid physicians, for they healed freely and thus fulfilled the commandment of Christ: "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8).

Holy Martyrs Photios and Aniketos of Nicomedia

Sts. Photios and Aniketos the Martyrs (Feast Day - August 12)

Verses

Aniketos is consumed by the fire with Photios,
In a house of light for those who remained unconquered.
On the twelfth Photios and Aniketos were put to death in the fire.

These Saints flourished during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284-305), and Photios was the nephew of Aniketos. While in Nicomedia, Diocletian spoke publicly and before the senate against Christianity in the year 303, and he presented various instruments of torture in order to terrify the people, for it was his desire to exterminate in whatever way possible those who called upon the name of Jesus Christ in every corner of the empire.

My Grandfather Vasili (+ July 28, 2016)

By John Sanidopoulos

At around 10:00 AM this morning, 28 July 2016, my maternal grandfather Vasilios Boustris passed away at the age of 86 from complications with lung cancer.

He was born in 1929 in the Peloponnesian village of Krestana, near Olympia. Orphaned of both his parents at the young age of 8, he and his older brother and two sisters lived in extreme poverty during the German occupation in Kalamata. After the German occupation came the Greek Civil War from 1946 to 1949, and he managed to survive by living in the mountains with members of the Greek Communist Party, and with other boys his age would search for and clear out land mines.

Synaxarion of Saint Panteleimon the Great Martyr and Unmercenary

On the twenty-seventh of this month [July], we commemorate the Holy Glorious Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon.

Verses

Milk mixed with blood came from your skull, O Martyr,

For whom Christ shed the mixture with water.

On the twenty-seventh Panteleimon obtained his portion by the sword.

This Saint lived during the reign of Emperor Maximian (286-305), and was from the city of Nicomedia. He was the son of a Greek pagan named Eustorgius, while his mother came from a family of Christians, and her name was Euboula. He went on to learn the art of medicine for the body, from someone named Euphrosynos, who had great fame and glory, and appears to have reached the pinnacle of medicine. Meanwhile he learned the medicine of the soul according to Christ from Saint Hermolaos, a Priest of the Church in Nicomedia, and is commemorated on the twenty-sixth of this month. Through this medicine according to Christ, the Saint raised a child, who was bit by a viper and fell dead, merely by the Saint calling upon the name of Christ. He had been baptized by the aforementioned Saint Hermolaos, and was led by him to faith in Christ.