Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume III/Theodoret/Letters/Letter 114

by Philip Schaff et al.

CXIV.^[1] To Andiberis.

The reverend presbyter Peter is distinguished not only by his priestly rank, but also by his wise practice in medicine. During his long residence with us he has won all hearts by his conciliatory manners. On learning of my departure he has now determined to leave Cyrus; I therefore commend him to your excellency, and hope that, fully capable as he is of doing good service to the city,—for when he lived at Alexandria he practised the same profession,—he will meet with kindness at your hands.

Footnotes

1. Written after the deposition at Ephesus, and when Theodoret is either on the point of departing, or has departed, from Cyrus to the Apamean monastery. The simultaneous exercise of the clerical and medical professions points perhaps to the continuance of the class of “Silverless martyrs,” i.e. physicians who took no fee but healed on condition that their patients should turn to Christ. The legendary Saints of the unfeed faculty are Cosmo and Damian, the brothers whose church occupies the site of the Temple of Remus, or of the Penates, in the Roman Forum.