Unmercenary Saints

SUSAN R. HOLMAN

“Unmercenary saints” were physicians, often martyrs of the late 3rd century, who healed without taking payment (known in Greek as anargyroi, “without money”). Ancient supplicants at their healing sanctuaries practiced incubation (sleeping at the shrine) and were sometimes healed through dream therapy; the saints treated or prescribed cures as the patient slept. This practice, similar to that of the pre-Christian healing sanctuaries of Asclepius, continued well into late Chris­tian Antiquity.

The appendix to Dionysios of Fourna’s 18th-century Painter’s Manual lists forty- one anargyroi. The most popular, usually paired as siblings or co-workers, include Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus and John, Panteleimon and Hermolaos, Sampson and Diomedes, Photius and Antiketos, Thalleios and Tryphon, and sometimes the evangelist Luke. Of these, the two pairs best documented in contemporary scholar­ship are Cosmas and Damian and Cyrus and John.

The veneration of Cosmas and Damian was first mentioned by Theodoret of Cyrrus in the late 4th century (PG 83.1373; PG 84.747). Their images are present in the life-size mosaic of calendrical saints in the rotunda Church of St. George in Thessalo- nica. Accounts of their miracles exist in six series totaling forty-eight stories; Ludwig Deubner’s (1907: 52ff.) claim originating their cult in the pagan mythos of Castor and Pollux is now dismissed by most scholars. Festugiere (1971: 87) notes that the early editor of Series 6 speaks of “the most ancient church situated at the famous monastery of the Cosmidion” at Constanti­nople, built ca. 439. The Emperor Justinian (527–65), finding the building in ramshackle condition, renovated and embellished it after being healed there. A monastery existed by 518. Both monastery and church were destroyed by the Avars, but in 1261 Michael VIII the Palaeologue spent the night at the site. Different dates for the saints’ feast (September 27, July 1, and November 25) and several pairs with the same name attest to Cosmas and Damian’s popularity in both East and West.

Sts. Cyrus (a physician) and John (a soldier martyred with him) were first ven­erated in the 4th century (McGuckin 1992); their shrine at Menouthis near Alexandria in

Egypt and their miracles are attested by only one surviving text, by Sophronius of Jerusa­lem (d. 638). Sophronius notes that Cyril of Alexandria discovered them and transla­ted their bones to Menouthis ca. 427/428 (celebrated on June 28). Scholars debate whether Cyril merely revived the shrine and cult or if it was founded after the destruction of the Isis sanctuary at Menouthis ca. 489. Sophronius’ Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John, written after a healing at the sanctu­ary, emphasize Sophronius’ opposition to the aphthartodocetic heresy and his defense of Chalcedonian orthodoxy. Neil (2006: 188) suggests that the text may have trav­eled to Rome when the saints’ relics were transferred there in 634. Their festival is January 31.

Frescoes of several anargyroi, including Cosmas, Damian, Cyrus, and John, from both Greek and Syriac tradition were recently discovered at Deir al-Surien in Egypt (Innemee and Van Rompay 2002).

The Unmercenary Saints are evoked frequently throughout the healing services of the Orthodox Church, especially the healing ritual of the sacrament of anointing.

SEE ALSO: Healing; Relics; St. Cyril of Alexandria (ca. 378–444)

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Deubner, L. (1907) Kosmas und Damian: Texte und Einleitung. Leipzig: Teubner.

Duffy, J. (1984) “Observations on Sophronius’ Miracles of Cyrus and John,” Journal of Theological Studies 35: 71–90.

Festugiere, A.-J. (ed. and trans.) (1971) Sainte Thecle, Saints Come et Damien, Saints Cyr et Jean (extraits), Saint Georges. Paris: Editions A. et J. Picard.

Gascou, J. (2006) Sophrone de Jerusalem: miracles des saints Cyr et Jean (BHG I, 477–479). Paris: De Boccard.

Holman, S. R. (2008) “Rich and Poor in Sophronius of Jerusalem’s Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John,” in S. R. Holman (ed.) Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, pp. 103–24.

Hronas, G. (1999) The Holy Unmercenary Doctors: The Saints Anargyroi, Physicians and Healers of the Orthodox Church: Translated from the Greek Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church. Minneapolis: Light and Life Publishing.

Innemee, K. C. and Van Rompay, L. (2002) “Deir al Surian (Egypt), New Discoveries of January

2000,” Hugoye, Journal of Syriac Studies 3 (2); available online at www.syrcom.cua.edu/ Hugoye/Vol3No2/HV3N2PRInnemee.html. McGuckin, J. A. (1992) “The influence of the Isis cult on St. Cyril of Alexandria’s Christology,” Studia Patristica 24: 191– 9.

Neil, B. (2006) “The Miracles of Saints Cyrus and John: The Greek Text and Its Translation,” Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association 2: 183–93.

Skrobucha, H. (1965) The Patrons of the Doctors. Pictorial Library of Eastern Church Art 7. Recklinghausen, Germany: Aurel Bongers.