Hierarch
Venerable, Bishop Cosmas of Maiuma, the Hymnographer
ок. 675 — †ок. 787
Also known as: Косма Святоградец
Venerable Cosmas of Maiuma, bishop and hymnographer — the adoptive brother and companion of St. John of Damascus, educated together with him in Damascus; a zealous defender of icon veneration during the iconoclast era; appointed Bishop of Maiuma in 743; author of numerous church canons for feasts of the Lord and the Theotokos, as well as the canons of Holy Week.
Venerable Cosmas was raised together with St. John of Damascus in his father's house, receiving from the same learned Italian monk an excellent, well-rounded education — rhetoric, philosophy, and theology. The two friends labored together at the lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified near Jerusalem. Cosmas became a zealous defender of Orthodox icon veneration and actively opposed the iconoclast heresy. In 743 he was appointed bishop of the city of Maiuma (near Gaza, Palestine), where he reposed in advanced old age around 787. Venerable Cosmas is one of the most prominent church hymnographers: he authored canons for all the days of Holy Week, as well as canons for feasts of the Lord and the Theotokos — the Nativity of Christ, the Transfiguration, Pentecost, the Presentation, the Dormition of the Theotokos, the Theophany, the Exaltation of the Cross, and the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. His memory is kept on October 12/25.