Porphyrios
Porphyrios
On this day we celebrate the memory Porphyrios,
Bishop of Gaza.
Porphyrios came from the city of Thessalonica. He was the son
of noble and rich parents and lived during the reign of king Arcadios
in 396. He left his home city and went to a hermitage (skete)
in Egypt, where he became a monk. Five years later he went to
Jerusalem, where he enlightened many unbelievers with his teaching.
This is why he was ordained presbyter by Praylios, Patriarch of
Jerusalem. Later on he was consecrated Bishop of Gaza by John,
Archbishop of Caesaria-in-Palestine. After he had been ordained
Bishop, he worked many wondrous things and brought many unbelievers
to the knowledge of God. Then, seeing that the Christians of his
diocese suffered injustice by those in power at Gaza, who were
idolaters and heretics, Porphyrios went to Constantinople to help
those who had been wronged. He met that great man John the Chrysostom,
who was then Patriarch of Constantinople, and related to him the
wrongs done by the rulers of Gaza, which had made him come to
Constantinople. So, the saint was introduced by divine Chrysostom
to Amantius, the king's Cubicularius.
Queen Eudoxia heard about the saint and his case by the Cubicularius,
received him favourably and reported everything about him to the
king as well as the Porphyrios' prophesy about the boy, which
they were to have, i.e. little Theodosios. When the king heard
this, he was glad and thanked God. After the queen gave birth
to Theodosios, she invited Porphyrios and was blessed by him and
she promised to satisfy all his requests about which she had talked
to the king. At the beginning, however, the king hesitated saying
that it was impossible to send the idolaters and heretics away
from Gaza, because they were very useful and helpful. But the
Queen answered him that although it was very difficult to satisfy
this request, it was even more difficult to turn it down. This
is why the king agreed to satisfy the Porphyrios' requests. So,
royal orders were immediately sent and the heretics and idolaters
were driven out of Gaza.
Then, after blessed Porphyrios had received two centenaria of
gold to build churches as well as two hundred coins for expenses,
he returned to his diocese. There he demolished the temples of
the idols and persecuted the heretics. He also burnt the temple
of Marnas, who is one of the gods of the Greeks, and built a church
over it according to the plan which Queen Eudoxia had given him.
So, this divine father shone in his diocese, performed many miracles
and after twenty-four years, eleven months and eight days he departed
to the Lord.