Holy Martyr Phocas the Gardener (+c. 320)

The holy Martyr Phocas came from the city of Sinope on the southern coast of the Black Sea. He had a small garden by the city gates, at the edge of the sea, and lived modestly: he sold fruit, and with the money he earned he both fed himself and helped the poor and gave hospitality to strangers. The saint’s piety had a good influence on those around him: many of the lawless abandoned idol-worship and accepted Christianity. The governor of the province ordered Saint Phocas to be seized and killed “without trial or answer”. The saint happened to meet those who had been sent himself; without revealing who he was, he gave them warm hospitality and put them up for the night. In the night the blessed one went out into the garden, prepared a coffin for himself, dug his own grave too, and gave instructions that after his death all his property should be given away to the poor. In the morning Phocas told his guests: “Behold, I am he whom ye seek.” The envoys “were wounded in soul and amazed at what they heard”; they were ashamed before their host, “who in his poverty had honoured them with love”, and resolved to save him. But Phocas refused, and meekly bowed his neck to the sword.

The blessed martyr was buried in the garden, in the grave he himself had dug. Many healings took place at the holy tomb. Afterwards a church was built there.