Cosmas and Damian of Arabia were brother physicians who confessed Christ and suffered martyrdom at Aegae in Cilicia during the persecution under the emperor Diocletian. By tradition they practiced the art of medicine without ever accepting payment, healing both soul and body and serving the poor tirelessly; for this they are numbered among the Unmercenaries (Greek anargyroi, 'the silverless'). They are commemorated on October 17.
Several pairs of saints named Cosmas and Damian are venerated in the Orthodox Church, and the sources are careful to keep them distinct. This Arabian pair is separate from the Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian of Asia Minor, commemorated on November 1, and from the pair martyred at Rome, commemorated on July 1. According to the synaxarion, the Arabian brothers traveled through the cities and villages preaching Christ and healing the sick, using their medical practice as an occasion to bring unbelievers to the faith.
The tradition relates that the brothers were arrested in Cilicia and brought before the governor Lysias. When they refused to renounce Christianity they were brutally beaten and cast into the sea, but the synaxarion relates that an angel of God rescued them from the waters and brought them safely to shore. After further sufferings they were beheaded together with three companions named Leontius, Anthimus, and Eutropius. Many miracles are recorded from their relics, as healings were said to have abounded through them during their lives.
