From the Prologue of Ochrid
They were unmercenaries and wonderworkers. Brothers both in flesh and in spirit, they were from somewhere in Asia, of a pagan father and a Christian mother. After the death of their father, their mother Theodotia devoted all her time and effort to raising and educating her sons as true Christians. And God helped her, so that her sons grew up as two sweet fruit trees and as two lights of the world. They were trained in the art of medicine, and they helped the sick without charge, not so much with medicines as with the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were called unmercenary physicians, that is, physicians without fee, for they healed without charge and thus fulfilled Christ's commandment: "Freely ye have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:8). So careful were they in healing people without charge, that Cosmas became truly angry with his brother Damian because the latter accepted three eggs from a certain woman named Palladia, and Cosmas commanded that after his death he not be buried next to his brother Damian. In truth, Saint Damian did not accept those three eggs as payment for healing the sick Palladia, but because she adjured him by the Most Holy Trinity to accept those three eggs. Nevertheless, after their death, in the place called Ferreman, they were buried together according to divine revelation. These holy brothers were great wonderworkers both during their lives and after their death. While a certain peasant was sleeping, a snake slithered through his mouth into his stomach, and the wretched man was about to expire in the greatest torment, when in his final hour he invoked Saints Cosmas and Damian for help. And thus the Lord glorified forever through miracles those who glorified Him on earth through faith, purity, and mercy.
