St. Phocas dwelt near the gate of Sinope, a city of Pontus, and lived
by cultivating a garden, which yielded him a handsome subsistence,
and wherewith plentifully to relieve the indigent. In his humble
profession he imitated the virtue of the most holy anchorets, and
seemed in part restored to the happy condition of our first parents
in Eden. To prune the garden without labor and toil was their sweet
employment and pleasure. Since their sin, the earth yields not its
fruit but by the sweat of our brow. But still, no labor is more
useful or necessary, or more natural to man, and better adapted
to maintain in him vigor of mind or health of body than that of
tillage; nor does any part of the universe rival the innocent charms
which a garden presents to all our senses, by the fragrancy of its
flowers, by the riches of its produce, and the sweetness and variety
of its fruits; by the melodious concert of its musicians, by the
worlds of wonders which every stem, leaf, and fibre exhibit to the
contemplation of the inquisitive philosopher, and by that beauty and
variegated lustre of colors which clothe the numberless tribes of
its smallest inhabitants, and adorn its shining landscapes, vying
with the brightest splendor of the heavens, and in a single lily
surpassing the dazzling lustre with which Solomon was surrounded
on his throne in the midst of all his glory. And what a field for
contemplation does a garden offer to our view in every part, raising
our souls to God in raptures of love and praise, stimulating us
to fervor, by the fruitfulness with which it repays our labor,
and multiplies the seed it receives; and exciting us to tears of
compunction from our insensibility to God by the barrenness with
which it is changed into a frightful desert, unless subdued by
assiduous toil! Our saint joining prayer with his labor, found in his
garden itself an instructive book, and an inexhausted fund of holy
meditation. His house was opened to all strangers and travellers who
had no lodging in the place; and after having for many years most
liberally bestowed the fruit of his labor on the poor, he was found
worthy also to give his life for Christ. Though his profession was
obscure, he was well known over the whole country by the reputation
of his charity and virtue.
When a cruel persecution, probably that of Dioclesian in 303, was
suddenly raised in the Church, Phocas was immediately impeached as a
Christian, and such was the notoriety of his pretended crime, that
the formality of a trial was superseded by the persecutors, and
executioners were despatched with an order to kill him on the spot
wherever they should find him. Arriving near Sinope, they would not
enter the town, but stopping at his house without knowing it, at his
kind invitation they took up their lodging with him. Being charmed
with his courteous entertainment, they at supper disclosed to him
the errand upon which they were sent, and desired him to inform them
where this Phocas could be most easily met with. The servant of
God, without the least surprise, told them he was well acquainted
with the man, and would give them certain intelligence of him next
morning. After they were retired to bed he dug a grave, prepared
everything for his burial, and spent the night in disposing his soul
for his last hour. When it was day he went to his guests, and told
them Phocas was found, and in their power whenever they pleased to
apprehend him. Glad at this news, they inquired where he was. “He is
here present,” said the martyr,--“I myself am the man.” Struck at his
undaunted resolution, and at the composure of his mind, they stood
a considerable time as if they had been motionless, nor could they
at first think of imbruing their hands in the blood of a person in
whom they discovered so heroic a virtue, and by whom they had been
so courteously entertained. He indirectly encouraged them saying,
that as for himself, he looked upon such a death as the greatest of
favors, and his highest advantage. At length, recovering themselves
from their surprise, they struck off his head. The Christians of
that city, after peace was restored to the Church, built a stately
church which bore his name, and was famous over all the East. In it
were deposited the sacred relics, though some portions of them were
dispersed in other churches.
St. Asterius, bishop of Amasea about the year 400, pronounced the
panegyric of this martyr, on his festival, in a church, probably
near Amasea, which possessed a small part of his remains. In this
discourse[18] he says, “that Phocas from the time of his death was
become a pillar and support of the churches on earth: he draws all
men to his house; the highways are filled with persons resorting from
every country to this place of prayer. The magnificent church which
(at Sinope) is possessed of his body, is the comfort and ease of the
afflicted, the health of the sick, the magazine plentifully supplying
the wants of the poor. If in any other place, as in this, some small
portion of his relics be found, it also becomes admirable, and most
desired by all Christians.” He adds, that the head of St. Phocas was
kept in his beautiful church in Rome, and says, “The Romans honor him
by the concourse of the whole people in the same manner they do Peter
and Paul.” He bears testimony that the sailors in the Euxine, Ægean,
and Adriatic seas, and in the ocean, sing hymns in his honor, and
that the martyr has often succored and preserved them; and that the
portion of gain which they in every voyage set apart for the poor is
called Phocas’s part. He mentions that a certain king of barbarians
had sent his royal diadem set with jewels, and his rich helmet a
present to the church of St. Phocas, praying the martyr to offer it
to the Lord in thanksgiving for the kingdom which his divine majesty
had bestowed upon him. St. Chrysostom received a portion of the
relics of Saint Phocas, not at Antioch, as Baronius thought, and as
Fronto le Duc and Baillet doubt, but at Constantinople as Montfaucon
demonstrates.[19] On that solemn occasion the city kept a great
festival two days, and St. Chrysostom preached two sermons, only one
of which is extant.[20] In this he says, that the emperors left their
palaces to reverence these relics, and strove to share with the rest
in the blessings which they procure men. The emperor Phocas built
afterward another great church at Constantinople in honor of this
martyr, and caused a considerable part of his relics to be translated
thither. The Greeks only style Saint Phocas hiero-martyr or sacred
martyr, which epithet they sometimes give to eminent martyrs who were
not bishops, as Ruinart demonstrates against Baronius.