Christian Bioethics in a Post-Christian World: Facing the Challenges

Abstract

In the Eastern rites of the Orthodox Church during the prothesis, that is, during the proskoedia,1 the prayers during the preparation of the bread and wine before Liturgy, the priest when taking out the seventh particle from the leavened bread2 that will be consecrated during Liturgy prays, “[in honor and memory] of the holy, glorious and wonder-working unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian,3 Cyrus and John,4 Panteleimon and Hermolaos5 and of all the holy unmercenary healers”6 (Liturgikon, 1989, 249). The six named, who practiced medicine (or assisted those in the practice of medicine) without charging for the care they gave, were also martyrs under the Roman Empire. They were not killed just for being Christians. They were killed for being Christians who, in the face of a pagan empire, made it clear to their patients that the only real cure for sickness and death is Christ. They understood that the surrounding pagan culture could seduce Christians but that it could not violate their conscience (only they themselves could do that). Despite a hostile dominant culture and its requirements, the holy unmercenaries were totally unembarrassed about being fully committed, proselytizing Christians. The holy unmercenary physicians realized that because physicians accompany their patients in the face of suffering and the threat of death, Christian physicians have a special obligation to teach all how to prepare to face the dread judgment seat of Christ. The holy unmercenaries were martyred for their determination to provide health care as Christians should, namely, proclaiming in their practice the good news of the Kingdom.