St Porphyrius, Archbishop of Gaza (+420)
Saint Porphyrius of Gaza was born around 346 in the Macedonian city of Thessalonica. His well-to-do parents gave him a good education. Inclined from childhood to the monastic life, at the age of twenty-five the young man left his homeland and set out for Jerusalem to venerate the holy places there. After this the venerable father settled in the desert of the Jordan, where he fell gravely ill. In the hope of healing he decided to visit the holy places. Once, lying at the foot of Golgotha, exhausted by illness, the saint saw in a vision the Saviour, who came down from the Cross and said to him: “Take this Wood and guard it.” On waking Porphyrius felt completely well. The Saviour’s words were soon fulfilled: the Patriarch of Jerusalem ordained the saint priest and appointed him keeper of the Wood of the life-giving Cross of the Lord. At that time the venerable father received an inheritance of four hundred gold coins from his parents, which he spent on giving to the poor and adorning churches.
In 395 the Bishop of the city of Gaza (Palestine) died. The local Christians came to Metropolitan John in Caesarea and asked him to appoint them a bishop who would be able to stand against the powerful pagans. At the Lord’s prompting the metropolitan summoned the Jerusalem presbyter Porphyrius. With awe and fear the saint received the rank of hierarch, bowed down to the life-giving Wood, and hastened to carry out his new obedience. In Gaza he found three Christian churches surrounded by a great many pagan altars and idols. At that time there was a terrible drought in the city. The priests offered sacrifices at the altars, but there was no end to the disaster. Porphyrius called the Christians to fast, celebrated Vespers, and then went round the whole city in procession with litanies. Suddenly the sky darkened, there was thunder, and heavy rain came down. The lawless who saw this miracle glorified the true God. In those days more than two hundred idol-worshippers were baptised.
In spite of this, the pagans went on oppressing the Christians: they removed them from office and increased their taxes. The hierarch Porphyrius and Metropolitan John went to Constantinople to ask the emperor for help. Here they found the holy father John Chrysostom.
John and Porphyrius were presented to the Empress Eudoxia, who was then with child. “Care for us,” the bishops said to her, “and the Lord will send you a son who will reign in your own lifetime.” And indeed, through the prayers of the holy fathers the emperor had an heir. After this, in 401, an imperial decree was issued by which the pagan altars in Gaza were to be destroyed and privileges granted to the Christians. Besides this, the empress set aside funds for the hierarchs to build a new church in the city.
The hierarch Porphyrius completely established Christianity in Gaza. The venerable father died in 420, in deep old age.
