In times of great fear, need and uncertainty throughout history we have found ourselves going to visit our priests and doctors. It makes sense to look at the history of the church to learn about how people dealt with these issues and those who stood out as paragons of virtue.  We are sharing this story of tremendous saints of our faith who met the challenges of their times with their Christian witness.  A great true story probably unparalleled in human history. -Fr Chris Metropulos

George Poulos

 

Christianity flourished in an­tiquity in the face of seeming­ly insurmountable odds. In de­fiance of odds of a different kind, the odds of chance, a pair of physician brothers came into the service of Christ. Less than five hun­dred years later they were fol­lowed by two different sets of brothers of identical n ame and purpose in the service of the Lord. The result is that all six have become saints of the Church. Evidence of divine purpose in this succession of saints demon­strates that the precise science of mathematical probabilities has a hand in the spiritual affairs of mankind.

The original pair of brothers were born Cosmas and Damian during the early years of the Christian Church. They were raised in comfortable circumstances in a comparatively wealthy family which saw to their thorough training of mind and body in Asia Minor. Endowed with keen intellect, the brothers be­came inseparable in common pursuit of the science of medi­cine. Both firmly believed that “of the most high cometh heal­ing” and were aided in their work by religious devotion. As students they vowed to supply their medical skill without charge to a suffering Christian community and thereby prince and pauper alike were to feel the balm of their healing art.

Dubbed the “unmercenaries” for their refusal to accept money for their services, they also came to be acknowledged as miracle workers for the remarkable cures they were able to effect. Their parents’ estate had provided for their well being, but it was to last them only through strict austerity; they could not afford any of the comforts which could have been theirs if they had chosen to charge their patients for their services.

As time went on, the brothers’ love of the Savior became more and more evident, subordinating even their great devotion to medical science. The word miracle had a literal meaning for their great work as physicians, for only through the power of the Lord could they have brought about such healing of those afflicted with serious and often terminal illnesses.

Such was the veneration in which the brothers were held in their own lifetime that they remained unchallenged by even the most avowed pagan enemies of Christianity. They carried on their work for God and man all the years of their lives, which were full, and they died peacefully of natural causes quite unlike the saints who were to die for Christ in agony. It is not uncommon for parents to name children for some­one dear to them or for some great figure in the Church. In keeping with this tradition, a pair of brothers of a wealthy Roman family were named Cosmas and Damian in honor of the master physicians and saints of Asia Minor. The lives of this second pair of saints with identical names paralleled those of the original pair. They emulated their predecessors in every de­tail and were also venerated in their own lifetime as miracle ­working physicians and men of God. The similarity ends, how­ever, with the manner of their death, because the hostile Romans did not allow them to lead their lives to the fullest in the service of God, and they suffered martyrdom at the hands of their enemies.

A third pair of physician saints appeared in ancient Arabia, and remarkably enough they were named Cosmas and Damian. The lives of this third pair are not detailed in any extant ac­counts of the saints, but it is known that they also served in the manner of the original saints and that they were mar­tyred in the manner of the second pair. The original saints Cosmas and Damian are honored on the feast day of Nov. I; the second pair of saints on July I, and the third pair on October 17.

Source: pemptousia.com

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    Pemptousia and OCN have entered a strategic partnership to bring Orthodoxy Worldwide. Greek philosophers from Ionia considered held that there were four elements or essences (ousies) in nature: earth, water, fire and air. Aristotle added ether to this foursome, which would make it the fifth (pempto) essence, pemptousia, or quintessence. The incarnation of God the Word found fertile ground in man’s proclivity to beauty, to goodness, to truth and to the eternal. Orthodoxy has not functioned as some religion or sect. It was not the movement of the human spirit towards God but the revelation of the true God, Jesus Christ, to man. A basic precept of Orthodoxy is that of the person ­– the personhood of God and of man. Orthodoxy is not a religious philosophy or way of thinking but revelation and life standing on the foundations of divine experience; it is the transcendence of the created and the intimacy of the Uncreated. Orthodox theology is drawn to genuine beauty; it is the theology of the One “fairer than the sons of men”. So in "Pemptousia", we just want to declare this "fifth essence", the divine beaut in our life. Please note, not all Pemptousia articles have bylines. If the author is known, he or she is listed in the article above.

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    Shaped by a life of service to Christ’s Church, Fr. Christopher has dedicated himself to using all the tools God has placed at his disposal to spread the light of Orthodoxy across the United States of America and around the world. Speaker, Radio Host, Professor, Founding Father of the Orthodox Christian Network (OCN), Pastor, Leader of 12 Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Author, Father, Grandfather and Defender of the Faith. As founder, host, and executive director of the Orthodox Christian Network he shepherds a dynamic and rapidly expanding ministry bringing joy, hope, and salvation in Jesus Christ to close to 1 million people a month in more than 190 countries. A nationally known radio personality, Fr. Christopher co-hosted the groundbreaking, internationally televised Epiphany Celebration of Tarpon Springs, Florida in January 2006, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and seen on the Hallmark Channel. He was also featured in a 2012 television broadcast on TLC entitled “4 Weddings.” In May 2014, he offered live English commentary from Rome via Radio Vaticana and EWTN for the worldwide televised broadcast of the historic meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem. In November 2014, he returned to Rome to provide the English commentary on a second Radio Vaticana/EWTN worldwide televised broadcast, this time on the occasion of Pope Francis’ visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul in celebration of the Feast Day of St Andrew. He worked alongside a team of professionals from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on these broadcasts. Currently serves as Vice President, International Association of Digital Media Orthodox Pastoral Care. Fr. Christopher holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hellenic College of Brookline, Massachusetts, a Master of Divinity Studies Degree from Brookline’s Holy Cross School of Theology, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. His dedication to the family unit drove Fr. Christopher to be certified as a Family Mediator by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Florida. Fr. Christopher has also studied extensively at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. He has served the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for more than 40 years.  He has held many different assignments as: Representative to the United Nations and United States Missions; Assistant Priest St. Demetrios Cathedral, Astoria, NY; Dean of the Assumption Cathedral in Denver, CO; Pastor of the Archangel Michael Church, Roslyn, NY; Pastor of the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Ft Lauderdale Florida, President of Hellenic College Holy Cross School of Theology,  Dean of Admissions and Registrar of the Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology; member of the Archdiocesan Council; President of the Archdiocesan Presbyter’s Council for two consecutive terms; and council member of the Metropolis of Denver and the Metropolis of Atlanta. He also served as Vicar of the South Florida Conference from 1998-2011. In the summer of 2008, he was elevated by His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios to the rank of Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the blessings of the Holy and Sacred Synod, the highest honor bestowed on a married clergyman. Fr. Christopher and his late wife, Presbytera Georgia Mitsos, have six children and four grandchildren. With the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros and Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco he was appointed as Interim Pastor of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in San Jose, Ca in October 2021.


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Pemptousia Partnership

Pemptousia and OCN have entered a strategic partnership to bring Orthodoxy Worldwide. Greek philosophers from Ionia considered held that there were four elements or essences (ousies) in nature: earth, water, fire and air. Aristotle added ether to this foursome, which would make it the fifth (pempto) essence, pemptousia, or quintessence. The incarnation of God the Word found fertile ground in man’s proclivity to beauty, to goodness, to truth and to the eternal. Orthodoxy has not functioned as some religion or sect. It was not the movement of the human spirit towards God but the revelation of the true God, Jesus Christ, to man. A basic precept of Orthodoxy is that of the person ­– the personhood of God and of man. Orthodoxy is not a religious philosophy or way of thinking but revelation and life standing on the foundations of divine experience; it is the transcendence of the created and the intimacy of the Uncreated. Orthodox theology is drawn to genuine beauty; it is the theology of the One “fairer than the sons of men”. So in "Pemptousia", we just want to declare this "fifth essence", the divine beaut in our life. Please note, not all Pemptousia articles have bylines. If the author is known, he or she is listed in the article above.

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