Life of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza

Contents

Reading pages: 1–24 · 25–51 · 52–80 · 81–102

1. 1Mark explains why he writes down the life of Porphyry: time and forgetfulness corrupt the memory of holy men.
2. 2Mark will record Porphyry's spiritual warfare against the idolaters of Gaza, fought in the armor of God like Paul's.
3. 3Mark claims to write as an eyewitness who lived with Porphyry until his death, and asks readers to believe him.
4. 4Porphyry, a wealthy Thessalonian, becomes a monk in Scetis and then near the Jordan, falls gravely ill, and in Jerusalem meets Mark, a calligrapher from Asia.
5. 5Porphyry, though crippled by illness, refuses Mark's arm on the steps of the Martyrium so that God may see his toil.
6. 6Mark sells Porphyry's inheritance in Thessalonica and returns to find him wholly restored to health.
7. 7Porphyry begins to tell Mark how he was healed.
8. 9In a vision at Golgotha the crucified Christ hands Porphyry the wood of the cross and heals him; he gives away his wealth and supports himself as a leather-worker.
9. 10Bishop Praylius of Jerusalem ordains Porphyry presbyter and makes him keeper of the relic of the cross; Porphyry keeps his ascetic rule.
10. 11After the death of Bishop Aeneas the divided Christians of Gaza send a delegation to the metropolitan to ask for a bishop.
11. 12John, metropolitan of Caesarea, after a fast, is shown that Porphyry should be bishop and summons him on the pretext of a question about Scripture.
12. 13Porphyry foresees that he must leave Jerusalem: Christ in a dream tells him to return the relic and take a lowly bride, the church of Gaza.
13. 20Porphyry leaves Jerusalem, is ordained bishop of Gaza at Caesarea against his will, enters Gaza through pagan harassment, and is blamed by the pagans for a drought.
14. 24Porphyry's night vigil and procession bring rain after the pagans' prayers to Marnas failed; many pagans believe; Barochas is beaten nearly to death by a pagan farmer and recovers.
15. 25The city officials accuse the Christians of bringing a corpse into the city and beat Mark and Cornelius; Porphyry restrains his clergy.
16. 26Barochas routs the pagan crowd; Mark and Barochas are made deacons; Porphyry sends Mark to John Chrysostom in Constantinople to seek the closing of Gaza's temples.
17. 27An imperial order closes Gaza's temples, but the official Hilarius is bribed to let the Marneion keep giving oracles secretly.
18. 28Aelia, a leading pagan woman, suffers an obstructed labor for seven days; physicians and pagan rites fail.
19. 29Porphyry tells Aelia's Christian nurse to make the family promise loyalty to the 'physician' and then to pronounce healing in Christ's name.
20. 30The family swears to honor the physician, and the nurse pronounces healing in the name of Jesus Christ.
21. 31Aelia gives birth safely, and sixty-four members of her household are instructed and baptized.
22. 32Oppressed by the pagans, Porphyry asks Archbishop John of Caesarea to release him from the episcopate.
23. 33Porphyry and John of Caesarea sail for Constantinople; at Rhodes the hermit Procopius receives them, recognizes them as bishops, and foretells the empress's son.
24. 37In Constantinople John Chrysostom, himself out of favor with the empress, promises to enlist the chamberlain Amantius.
25. 38Amantius hears the bishops' complaint and promises to bring them to the empress.
26. 39The pregnant Empress Eudoxia receives the bishops, who bless her unborn child.
27. 40The bishops describe the pagans' oppression; Eudoxia promises to persuade Arcadius and asks him to destroy Gaza's temples.
28. 41Arcadius refuses to destroy Gaza's temples for fear of losing its tax revenue and proposes gradual pressure instead.
29. 42Porphyry promises Eudoxia a son who will reign if she labors for Christ's cause.
30. 43Eudoxia promises the bishops all they ask, and a church in the center of Gaza, if she bears a son.
31. 44Eudoxia bears Theodosius II, who is proclaimed emperor from birth, and thanks the bishops for their prayers.
32. 45The bishops bless the infant; Porphyry tells of a vision in which the empress gave him the gospel in the Marneion.
33. 46Eudoxia tells the bishops to present a petition to whoever carries the infant from his baptism; they ask for the destruction of the idols and privileges for the church.
34. 47The city celebrates the baptism of the infant Theodosius; Porphyry reflects that heavenly glory surpasses this earthly splendor.
35. 48At the baptism the bishops' petition is 'granted' by the infant emperor, whose head is made to nod.
36. 49Eudoxia persuades a reluctant Arcadius to honor the petition as his newly baptized son's first command.
37. 50The quaestor drafts the imperial letter in the bishops' presence, with military support for its execution.
38. 51The orthodox official Cynegius is commissioned to raze the temples of Gaza.
39. 52After Easter the bishops prepare to leave; the pious chamberlain Amantius longs to go with them but the empress will not release him.
40. 53Eudoxia gives Porphyry two centenaria of gold to build a church and a hostel in Gaza.
41. 54Arcadius grants each bishop twenty pounds of gold from Palestine's revenues; they sail home, with Cynegius following by the public post.
42. 55The ship's master refuses to let the bishops visit Procopius at Rhodes.
43. 56In a storm Procopius appears in a dream: the ship's master is an Arian and must be brought to the orthodox faith.
44. 57The Arian ship's master renounces Arius, is received and communicated, the storm ceases, and the bishops land at Maiuma.
45. 58The Christians of Maiuma and Gaza welcome the bishops with psalms and the cross; the pagans are dismayed.
46. 59As the procession carrying the cross passes, the statue of Aphrodite at the crossroads falls and shatters, injuring two mockers.
47. 62Thirty-nine pagans convert after the statue's fall, and the church rejoices.
48. 63Cynegius arrives with troops; the eight public temples of Gaza except the barricaded Marneion are destroyed, and a child's oracle in Syriac directs how the Marneion is to be burned and a church built.
49. 67Porphyry questions the child's mother, who swears she did not prompt him; the Marneion is burned as the child had directed.
50. 70A tribune secretly devoted to the idols, who resented the plundering of the Marneion, is killed by a falling burning beam.
51. 71The psalm against the boastful is sung over the dead tribune; idols and books of magic are destroyed in the houses of Gaza.
52. 72Many pagans seek baptism, some from fear; some Christians object to receiving them.
53. 73Porphyry defends receiving converts who come from fear: God too brings people to himself through discipline, and their children may be saved.
54. 74Porphyry instructs and baptizes about three hundred converts in that year.
55. 75Eudoxia sends a cross-shaped plan for the church to be built on the site of the round Marneion.
56. 76The sacred marble of the Marneion is laid as street paving; Porphyry calls the people to dig the foundations.
57. 77The people process with the gospel and the cross to the site of the Marneion, singing Psalm 95.
58. 78The architect Rufinus marks out the church, and the whole people dig its foundations.
59. 79Porphyry himself lays the first stones of the foundations.
60. 80Three boys fall into a deep well at the building site, and Porphyry prays for them.
61. 81The boys are drawn up alive bearing cross-shaped marks; then the Manichaean Julia arrives in Gaza and begins to win over new converts.
62. 86Mark describes Manichaeism as a mixture of pagan myth and Christian teaching, a poison compounded from many venoms.
63. 87Porphyry summons Julia and holds a public debate with her and her companions, recorded in shorthand.
64. 89After hours of Julia's blasphemies Porphyry pronounces God's judgment on her speech.
65. 90Julia is struck dumb and dies, and her followers return to the church; the cross-shaped Eudoxiana is dedicated at Easter, and Porphyry provides daily alms for the poor.
66. 95A land dispute sets off a pagan riot in which seven Christians are killed; Porphyry and Mark escape across the rooftops.
67. 97Hiding on the rooftops, Porphyry and Mark are taken in by Salaphtha, an orphan girl who longs to become a Christian.
68. 98Like the widow who fed Elijah, Salaphtha feeds the fugitives from her poverty; her name means Peace.
69. 99The governor Clarus punishes the rioters and restores order.
70. 100Salaphtha, her aunt and her grandmother are enrolled as catechumens and supported by the church.
71. 101After her baptism Salaphtha refuses marriage, calling Christ her true bridegroom.
72. 102Salaphtha becomes a consecrated virgin under the deaconess Manaris and lives a life of extreme fasting.