PORPHYRIUS, a native of Thessalonica in Macedonia, was of a noble and
wealthy family. The desire of renouncing the world made him leave his
{474} friends and country at twenty-five years of age, in 378, to pass
into Egypt, where he consecrated himself to God in a famous monastery in
the desert of Scete. After five years spent there in the penitential
exercises of a monastic life, he went into Palestine to visit the holy
places of Jerusalem. After this he took up his abode in a cave near the
Jordan, where he passed other five years in great austerity, till he
fell sick, when a complication of disorders obliged him to leave that
place and return to Jerusalem. There he never failed daily to visit
devoutly all the holy places, leaning on a staff, for he was too weak to
stand upright. It happened about the same time that Mark, an Asiatic,
and the author of his life, came to Jerusalem with the same intent,
where he made some stay. He was much edified at the devotion with which
Porphyrius continually visited the place of our Lord's resurrection, and
the other oratories. And seeing him one day labor with great pain in
getting up the stairs in the chapel built by Constantine, he ran to him
to offer him his assistance, which Porphyrius refused, saying: "It is
not just that I who am come hither to beg pardon for my sins, should be
eased by any one: rather let me undergo some labor and inconvenience
that God, beholding it, may have compassion on me." He, in this
condition, never omitted his usual visits of piety to the holy places,
and daily partook of the mystical table, that is, of the holy sacrament.
And as to his distemper, so much did he contemn it, that he seemed to be
sick in another's body and not in his own. His confidence in God always
supported him. The only thing which afflicted him was, that his fortune
had not been sold before this for the use of the poor. This he
commissioned Mark to do for him, who accordingly set out for
Thessalonica, and in three months' time returned to Jerusalem with money
and effects to the value of four thousand five hundred pieces of gold.
When the blessed man saw him, he embraced him with tears of joy for his
safe and speedy return. But Porphyrius was now so well recovered, that
Mark scarce knew him to be the same person; for his body had no signs of
its former decay, and his face looked full, fresh, and painted with a
healthy red. He, perceiving his friend's amazement at his healthy looks,
said to him with a smile, "Be not surprised, Mark, to see me in perfect
health and strength, but admire the unspeakable goodness of Christ, who
can easily cure what is despaired of by men." Mark asked him by what
means he had recovered. He replied: "Forty days ago, being in extreme
pain, I made a shift to reach Mount Calvary, where, fainting away, I
fell into a kind of trance or ecstasy, during which I seemed to see our
Saviour on the cross, and the good thief in the same condition near him.
I said to Christ,_ Lord, Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom_:
whereupon he ordered the thief to come to my assistance, who, raising me
off the ground on which I lay, bade me go to Christ. I ran to him, and
he, coming off his cross, said to me: _Take this wood_ (meaning his
cross) _into thy custody_. In obedience to him, methought I laid it on
my shoulders, and carried it some way. I awaked soon after, and have
been free from pain ever since, and without the least appearance of my
having ever ailed any thing." Mark was so edified with the holy man's
discourse and good example, that he became more penetrated with esteem
and affection for him than ever, which made him desirous of living
always with him in order to his own improvement; for he seemed to have
attained to a perfect mastery over all his passions: he was endued at
the same time with a divine prudence, an eminent spirit of prayer, and
the gift of tears. Being also well versed in the holy scriptures and
spiritual knowledge, and no stranger to profane learning, he confounded
all the infidels and heretics who attempted to dispute with him. As to
the money and effects which Mark had brought him, he distributed all
among the necessitous in Palestine and Egypt, so {475} that, in a very
short time, he had reduced himself to the necessity of laboring for his
daily food. He therefore learned to make shoes and dress leather, while
Mark, being well skilled in writing, got a handsome livelihood by
copying books, and to spare. He therefore desired the saint to partake
of his earnings. But Porphyrius replied, in the words of St. Paul: _He
that doth not work let him not eat_. He led this laborious and
penitential life till he was forty years of age, when the bishop of
Jerusalem ordained him priest, though much against his will, and
committed to him the keeping of the holy cross: this was in 393. The
saint changed nothing in his austere penitential life, feeding only upon
roots and the coarsest bread, and not eating till after sunset, except
on Sundays and holidays, when he ate at noon, and added a little oil and
cheese: and on account of a great weakness of stomach, he mingled a very
small quantity of wine in the water he drank. This was his method of
living till his death. Being elected bishop of Gaza, in 396, John, the
metropolitan and archbishop of Caesarea, wrote to the patriarch of
Jerusalem to desire him to send over Porphyrius, that he might consult
him on certain difficult passages of scripture. He was sent accordingly,
but charged to be back in seven days. Porphyrius, receiving this order,
seemed at first disturbed, but said: "God's will be done." That evening
he called Mark, and said to him: "Brother Mark, let us go and venerate
the holy places and the sacred cross, for it will be long before we
shall do it again." Mark asked him why he said so. He answered: Our
Saviour had appeared to him the night before, and said: "Give up the
treasure of the cross which you have in custody, for I will marry you to
a wife, poor indeed and despicable, but of great piety and virtue. Take
care to adorn her well; for, however contemptible she may appear, she is
my sister." "This," said he, "Christ signified to me last night: and I
fear, in consequence, my being charged with the sins of others, while I
labor to expiate my own; but the will of God must be obeyed." When they
had venerated the holy places and the sacred cross, and Porphyrius had
prayed long before it, and with many tears, he shut up the cross in its
golden case, and delivered the keys to the bishop; and having obtained
his blessing, he and his disciple Mark set out the next day, with three
others, among whom was one Barochas, a person whom the saint had found
lying in the street almost dead, and had taken care of, cured, and
instructed; who ever after served him with Mark. They arrived the next
day, which was Saturday, at Caesarea. The archbishop obliged them to sup
with him. After spiritual discourses they took a little sleep, and then
rose to assist at the night service. Next morning the archbishop bid the
Gazaeans lay hold on St. Porphyrius, and, while they held him, ordained
him bishop. The holy man wept bitterly, and was inconsolable for being
promoted to a dignity he judged himself so unfit for. The Gazaeans,
however, performed their part in endeavoring to comfort him, and, having
assisted at the Sunday office, and stayed one day more at Caesarea, they
set out for Gaza, lay at Diospolis, and, late on Wednesday night,
arrived at Gaza, much harassed and fatigued. For the heathens living in
the villages near Gaza, having notice of their coming, had so damaged
the roads in several places, and clogged them with thorns and logs of
wood, that they were scarce passable. They also contrived to raise such
a smoke and stench, that the holy men were in danger of being blinded or
suffocated.
There happened that year a very great drought, which the pagans ascribed
to the coming of the new Christian bishop, saying that their god Marnas
had foretold that Porphyrius would bring public calamities and disasters
on their city. In Gaza stood a famous temple of that idol, which the
emperor Theodosius the Elder had commanded to be shut up, but not
demolished, {476} on account of its beautiful structure. The governor
afterwards had permitted the heathens to open it again. As no rain fell
the two first months after St. Porphyrius's arrival, the idolaters, in
great affliction, assembled in this temple to offer sacrifices, and make
supplications to their god Marnas, whom they called the Lord of rains.
These they repeated for seven days, going also to a place of prayer out
of the town; but seeing all their endeavors ineffectual, they lost all
hopes of a supply of what they so much wanted. A dearth ensuing, the
Christians, to the number of two hundred and eighty, women and children
included, after a day's fast, and watching the following night in
prayer, by the order of their holy bishop, went out in procession to St.
Timothy's church, in which lay the relics of the holy martyr St. Meuris,
and of the confessor St. Thees, singing hymns of divine praise. But at
their return to the city they found the gates shut against them, which
the heathens refused to open. In this situation the Christians, and St.
Porphyrius above the rest, addressed almighty God with redoubled fervor
for the blessing so much wanted; when in a short time, the clouds
gathering, as at the prayers of Elias, there fell such a quantity of
rain that the heathens opened their gates, and, joining them, cried out
"Christ alone is God: He alone has overcome." They accompanied the
Christians to the church to thank God for the benefit received, which
was attended with the conversion of one hundred and seventy-six persons,
whom the saint instructed, baptized, and confirmed, as he did one
hundred and five more before the end of that year. The miraculous
preservation of the life of a pagan woman in labor, who had been
despaired of, occasioned the conversion of that family and others, to
the number of sixty-four.
The heathens, perceiving their number decrease, grew very troublesome to
the Christians, whom they excluded from commerce and all public offices,
and injured them all manner of ways. St. Porphyrius, to screen himself
and his flock from their outrages and vexations, had recourse to the
emperor's protection. On this errand he sent Mark, his disciple, to
Constantinople, and went afterwards himself in company with John, his
metropolitan, archbishop of Caesarea. Here they applied themselves to St.
John Chrysostom, who joyfully received them, and recommended them to the
eunuch Amantius, who had great credit with the empress, and was a
zealous servant of God. Amantius having introduced them to the empress,
she received them with great distinction, assured them of her
protection, and begged their prayers for her safe delivery, a favor she
received a few days after. She desired them in another visit to sign her
and her newborn son, Theodosius the Younger, with the sign of the cross,
which they did. The young prince was baptized with great solemnity, and
on that occasion the empress obtained from the emperor all that the
bishops had requested, and in particular that the temples of Gaza should
be demolished; an imperial edict being drawn up for this purpose and
delivered to Cynegius, a virtuous patrician, and one full of zeal, to
see it executed. They stayed at Constantinople during the feast of
Easter, and at their departure the emperor and empress bestowed on them
great presents. When they landed in Palestine, near Gaza, the Christians
came out to meet them with a cross carried before them, singing hymns.
In the place called Tetramphodos, or Four-ways-end, stood a marble
statue of Venus, on a marble altar, which was in great reputation for
giving oracles to young women about the choice of husbands, but had
often grossly deceived them, engaging them to most unhappy marriages; so
that many heathens detested its lying impostures. As the two bishops,
with the procession of the Christians, and the cross borne before them,
passed through that square, this idol fell down of itself, and was {477}
broken to pieces: whereupon thirty-two men and seven women were
converted.
Ten days after arrived Cynegius, having with him a consular man and a
duke, or general, with a strong guard of soldiers, besides the civil
magistrates of the country. He assembled the citizens and read to them
the emperor's edict, commanding their idols and temples to be destroyed,
which was accordingly executed, and no less than eight public temples in
the city were burnt; namely, those of the Sun, Venus, Apollo,
Proserpine, Hecate, the Hierion, or of the priests, Tycheon, or of
Fortune, and Marnion of Marnas, their Jupiter. The Marnion, in which men
had been often sacrificed, burned for many days. After this, the private
houses and courts were all searched; the idols were everywhere burned or
thrown into the common sewers, and all books of magic and superstition
were cast into the flames. Many idolaters desired baptism; but the saint
took a long time to make trial of them, and to prepare them for that
sacrament by daily instructions. On the spot where the temple of Marnas
had stood, was built the church of Eudoxia in the figure of a cross. She
sent for this purpose precious pillars and rich marble from
Constantinople. Of the marble taken out of the Marnion, St. Porphyrius
made steps and a road to the church, that it might be trampled upon by
men, dogs, swine, and other beasts, whence many heathens would never
walk thereon. Before he would suffer the church to be begun, he
proclaimed a fast, and the next morning, being attended by his clergy
and all the Christians in the city, they went in a body to the place
from the church Irene, singing the Venite exultemus Domino, and other
psalms, and answering to every verse Alleluia, Barochas carrying a cross
before them. They all set to work, carrying stones and other materials,
and digging the foundations according to the plan marked out and
directed by Rufinus, a celebrated architect, singing psalms and saying
prayers during their work. It was begun in 403, when thirty high pillars
arrived from Constantinople, two of which, called Carostiae, shone like
emeralds when placed in the church. It was five years a building, and
when finished in 408, the holy bishop performed the consecration of it
on Easter-Day with the greatest pomp and solemnity. His alms to the poor
on that occasion seemed boundless, though they were always exceeding
great. The good bishop spent the remainder of his life in the zealous
discharge of all pastoral duties; and though he lived to see the city
clear for the most part of the remains of paganism, superstition, and
idolatry, he had always enough to suffer from such as continued
obstinate in their errors. Falling sick, he made his pious will, in
which he recommended all his dear flock to God. He died in 420, being
about sixty years of age, on the 26th of February, on which day both the
Greeks and Latins make mention of him. The pious author of his life
concludes it, saying: "He is now in the paradise of delight, interceding
for us with all the saints, by whose prayers may God have mercy on us."