Cosmas was born in Jerusalem but was orphaned early and was taken to him by the father of Saint John of Damascus, Sergius, perhaps because of their kinship. Cosmas and John lived in the same house in Damascus, and Sergius provided them with all the means of higher education because he was one of the notables of the country and a wealthy and powerful man. They were apprenticed to a monk of Sicilian origin named Cosmas, who had gathered a great deal of knowledge and science of his time. The two students showed an aptitude for knowledge and learned the Greek language, philosophy, music, astronomy and mathematics. They also learned from their teacher religious knowledge and a love of prayer and asceticism.
Later, they joined the Monastery of Saint Saba in Palestine and worked there, among other things, in compiling the book of eight hymns called The Comforter. Cosmas is credited with composing a number of liturgical laws chanted on the feasts of the saints, and the laws of Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday, and Judgment Sunday are attributed to him. According to some scholars, his hymns surpassed in beauty and the quality of their poetry everything that preceded or came after them of their kind, and for this reason he was called the Creator and the Singer.
Then Cosmas was elected bishop of the city of Maiuma, a coastal city in Palestine that was previously called Mina of the people of Gaza because it was subject to the city of Gaza. When it became independent during the reign of Constantine the Great, it was called Constantia after the name of his son Constantius (see History of the Churches by Zomans, Book 5, Chapter 3).
Near Gaza in Palestine, he took care of the people until he passed away in the Lord in the year 67, at an advanced age.
The Church celebrates his feast on October 14.
Troparia in the eighth tune
You appeared, O God-speaking dwarf, a guide to the right faith, and a teacher of good worship and purity, O star of the world and beauty of the wise chief priests, and with your teachings you enlightened all, O instrument of the spirit, so intercede with Christ God to save our souls.
Qandaq in the eighth tone:
You have been adorned with virtues, O God-loving dwarf, and have become an ornament to the Church of Christ, and you have adorned it with praises, O blessed one. So intercede with the Lord to save us from the various wiles of the warrior, we who cry out to you: Hail, O thrice-blessed Father.
