Life of Saint Damian

Saint Damian was born in Arabia in the early 3rd century. He was raised in a Christian family, which provided a strong foundation for his faith and virtues. He pursued career in medicine, which was closely intertwined with his spiritual life. Notably, he was never charged for his services, earning the title “Anargyros” (without silver or money), reflecting his commitment to healing for the sake of charity and love rather than profit.

He submitted to the abbot and the brotherhood with all his soul. With such eagerness, zeal, and piety did he pass the stage of the solitary life, that in a short time he surpassed all the Monks in virtue. Everyone admired him and looked up to him as a model of a unique state and a model of conduct.

However, burning with divine love and desiring to converse with God without interruption, he begged the abbot to allow him to live alone. He received the blessing from the abbot and lived on the mountain of Samaria. His first concern was to find an experienced spiritual father and teacher to teach him the art of the arts and the science of the sciences, the unique state. When with God’s help he found a spiritual one, he submitted to him as to Christ and entrusted him with the care of both his soul and his body.

He was taught by him how to oppose the insults of the demons and the various traps of the devil, he became a tried monk and reached a divine love so that he did not feel the labors, because the divine love gives wings to the soul and not only the labors no one counts , but also brings many tears to the memory of the beloved sweet Jesus Christ. Therefore, because the saint had divine love, he was never without tears.

Who can narrate the virtues and struggles of the Saint, the all-night stay, the constant tears, the hardness of the body, the indelible memory of death, the love for God and the neighbor, the unceasing wish from the heart, which he had an unceasing work from his youth to the end of his life? That is why God loved him and bestowed upon him the grace of the Holy Trinity.

From the following miracle one can understand to what extent he reached: One day the Saint went to his brother Saint Cosmas the Painter, but he did not find him and waited for him until nightfall. When Saint Cosmas came, after they had talked, he wanted to leave, but in the meantime it got dark and it started to rain. His friend prevented him from departing, but as the blessed one had been commanded by his Elder never to sleep outside his cell, he made his way back.

But it was so dark and the rain so heavy that he did not know where he was or where he was going. Not knowing what to do, he prayed to God saying “Lord, save me, I am perishing”. And immediately, oh wonder! he found himself in front of his cell. When the time came for him to go to the Lord, wanting God to glorify him even after his sleep, he blessed his tomb to emit so much and ineffable fragrance for forty days, so that the fathers, who were in the Monastery in distance of a mile and more.
Saint Damian died in 1280 and his memory is celebrated on February 23.