Life of Porphyry of Gaza 1 part 1/5

IN THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY, THE 26TH. THE LIFE OF SAINT PORPHYRY, BISHOP OF GAZA. It is good to behold with the eyes the contests of holy men, and their divine zeal and longing (for things seen become worthy of love); yet narratives too, coming from those who know accurately, bring no small benefit as they steal into the souls of those who hear them.

Sight indeed is more trustworthy than hearing, but hearing too is persuasive, if what is said comes from trustworthy men.

If, then, the narration of profitable things remained free of corruption, and falsehood were not sown into the truth, a written account of such matters would be superfluous, since the truth, being sown by succession, continually, into the ears of men who come after, would suffice for edification;

but since time corrupts things, whether through forgetfulness or through corruption, I have of necessity come to the present writing, lest through long time some forgetfulness befall so great a holy man — I mean the devout Porphyry.

For to call to mind his achievements becomes a protective remedy for those who hear.

For it is absurd that poets, writers of tragedy, and other such authors spend their words on laughter and old wives' tales, while we look on and allow holy and memorable men to be handed over to oblivion.

For what just penalty should I not deserve to pay, were I not to commit to writing the life of such a man beloved of God — a life that teaches philosophy, of one who emulated citizenship in heaven? Let us record his battles and his resistances, not only against the leaders and champions of idol-madness, but also against an entire populace filled with every folly.

For he remembered the sayings of the blessed Apostle, through which he says:

Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the fearful day, and having accomplished all things, to stand.

Having put on this armor, the aforesaid Apostle entered into the contests;

and Porphyry too, having taken up the same contest as the Apostle, though facing adversaries of such kind and such magnitude, bound upon himself an equal victory, and raised up a trophy in the midst of Gaza — the holy church of Christ now built by him.

And it was not human nature that granted him the victory, but a resolve that drew to itself the divine grace;

for having become a most ardent lover of Christ, he endured to suffer and to do all things.

For how many assaults of war did such a man receive from his adversaries, how many plots and mockeries did he endure!

But since it is not possible to relate everything concerning this man of glorious memory — for the events are many, and to most people would seem incredible — I shall set forth briefly those things which I myself recall, having lived together with him for a very long time and having enjoyed that blessed and awe-inspiring soul which shared its citizenship with the angels.

This man, then, who had taken on every form of virtue — who would not rightly praise him? I know indeed that no discourse could ever attain to the virtue of such a man;

nevertheless the attempt must be made, since I take courage in his holy prayers.

I shall write his eulogy not in boastful language;

for elegance of diction is not accustomed to adorn the lives of such men; rather, it is the virtue of their deeds that magnifies the very language itself.

Wherefore I too, taking courage in the holy prayers of the aforesaid valiant man, approach this present writing, asking through them for the grace and help from the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may be able, by whatever means, to narrate the virtue of the holy man.

And I ask those who come upon this writing not to disbelieve what is said;

for I had my share in the virtue of the man, having lived with him, sailed with him, and suffered hardship with him until the last day of his life here.

From this point, then, let the beginning of my narrative be made.

Gaza is a city of Palestine, situated on the border of Egypt; it is by no means insignificant, but is populous and numbered among the notable cities;

and at that time the people's madness for idols flourished in it.

The priesthood of this city was received by Porphyry, whom we here praise — a man whose homeland was the heavenly Jerusalem (for it was into this that he was enrolled), while his earthly homeland was that of the Thessalonians.

His lineage was distinguished.

A divine longing stole upon him to leave behind his homeland, the splendor of his lineage, and boundless wealth, and to embrace the solitary life; and having sailed from the city of Thessalonica, he reached Egypt.

He set out at once for Scetis, and after a few days he was deemed worthy of the venerable habit.

And having spent five years there together with the holy fathers, again another divine longing stole upon him — to worship at the holy and venerable places of God; and having gone there and worshiped, he departed to the region of the Jordan and dwelt in a cave, likewise spending five years there also, amid much hardship.

And from the great dryness and harsh terrain of those places, he fell into a serious illness.

Seeing himself in extreme danger, by providence he entreated one of his acquaintances to take him up to Jerusalem;

his affliction was a hardening of the liver, accompanied by a persistent, very slight fever.

Now while this affliction prevailed, ceaselessly stabbing his inward parts, and his body wasted away, he himself did not cease to go about daily to the holy places, bent over and unable to straighten his own stature, but leaning upon a staff.

At that time it happened that I too sailed down from Asia for the purpose of worshiping at the venerable places, and having arrived there I spent a long time, sustaining myself by the work of my own hands;

for I possessed the skill of a calligrapher.

Observing the holy man constantly going to the Church of Christ's Resurrection and to the other places of prayer, I marveled that, in such great bodily weakness, he did not hesitate to wear himself out so.

So on one of the days, having met him on the steps of the Martyrium built by the most blessed Emperor Constantine, unable to set his foot forward, I ran and held out my hand to him, and urged him to lean upon it and ascend the steps.

It is not right that I, who am going to ask forgiveness of sins, should lean upon the hands of another;

but permit, brother, God to see my labor, that according to his ineffable compassion he may have mercy on me also.

He would go on, then, and listen to the divine oracles, inclining his ears to the teachers, and, always partaking of the mystical table, he would return to his own lodging.

What sort of life he lived was plain to see.

For he despised his affliction to such a degree that he seemed to have the disease in a body other than his own;

for the hope of God unburdened him of it.

The only thing that grieved and stung him was this — that his property still remained, and had not, according to the word of the Gospel, been sold and distributed to the poor.

The cause of this hindrance was that his brothers were still children at the time he departed from his own homeland.

Being troubled, then, over this, he asked me — since I was already familiar to him, for I attended upon him because of his infirmity — to sail to Thessalonica and to divide his estate with his brothers; and having given me a document of instruction and committed me to the Lord, he sent me off, providing very little in the way of travel expenses;

[I arrived at] Thessalonica, and having presented the written instruction, I divided the property with his brothers.

I sold to them the properties that had fallen to my allotted share for three thousand gold pieces, and I brought with me the garments and silver vessels, together with another one thousand four hundred gold pieces; and having gathered all this together within three months, I sailed back, arriving after twelve days at the trading-port of Ascalon, and from there, having hired pack animals and loaded them, I went up to the holy city.

As soon as the thrice-blessed man saw me, he embraced me with joy and tears (for joy too can stir tears), but I did not recognize him;

for his body was now exceedingly robust, and his countenance ruddy.

I kept rolling my eyes about, gazing intently upon him again and again.

But he, perceiving this and smiling graciously, said:

Do not marvel, brother Mark, at seeing me healthy and robust; rather, learn the cause of this health, and then marvel exceedingly at the ineffable loving-kindness of Christ — how things despaired of by men prove, with him, easily set right.

And I begged him to tell me the cause of his health, and how he had put an end to such an affliction.

About forty days ago, while I was keeping the vigil of the holy Lord's Day, an unspeakable pain of the liver seized me; and unable to bear the anguish, I went and lay down near the holy Skull, and from the great pain I fell into a kind of trance, and I saw the Savior nailed upon the cross, and one of the thieves hanging with him on another cross; and I began to cry out and speak the words of the thief:

Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom.

And the Savior, answering, said to the thief who was hanging there:

Come down from the cross and save that man lying there, just as you also were saved.

And the thief, coming down from the cross, embraced me and kissed me, and stretching out his right hand, raised me up, saying:

And immediately I rose and ran to him, and I saw him having come down from the cross and saying to me:

Take this wood and guard it.

And having taken and carried that same precious wood, I immediately came to myself out of the trance, and from that very hour I felt pain no longer, nor is the place of the affliction any longer evident.

When I heard these things, I marveled exceedingly and glorified God, who always shows mercy to those who call upon him, and much more to those who entreat him genuinely and sincerely.

From that time I was built up all the more in regard to the man (for indeed I held him to be a servant of God), and having restored to him all that I had brought, I remained with him, ministering to him and enjoying his spiritual discourses;

for he was truly a blameless man, most gentle, merciful, possessing also discernment of the divine Scripture and resolving its difficulties as well as anyone, if not better (nor indeed was he without a share of secular learning), confronting and silencing unbelievers and those of ill faith, a lover of the poor, compassionate, with tears ever near, honoring the elderly as fathers, the younger as brothers, children as his own; gentle and humble in character and in speech, not in pretense but in truth (for there was no deceit in him), most self-controlled, to the point of attaining perfect passionlessness, free from anger, unmindful of wrongs, not permitting the sun to set upon his wrath, having all the passions dead within him, except for the indignation which he stirred up against the enemies of the faith.

Having taken from me the money and the other things I had brought, and having sold the garments and made most of the silver into precious vessels, within a short time he gave the rest to those in need, not only in the holy city, but also in other cities and villages and monasteries, especially those in Egypt;

for the monasteries there were exceedingly poor.

Moreover, to the strangers residing there he became a second Abraham.

He distributed his goods, so that he himself came to be in need of his daily food.

He therefore devoted himself to the craft of the leather-worker, washing hides and stitching them, imitating in everything that divine Apostle who was unwilling to eat bread as a gift, even though he could have procured his food by another trade; but in all things he wished to become an imitator of that celebrated man, in hardships and toils and persecutions and perils of the sea and uprisings of the nations.

And I urged him to live a common life together with me (for I too had a surplus from my own trade), but he would not consent, saying:

"We brought nothing into the world, and neither can we carry anything out."

"If anyone will not work, let him not eat either."

But I, speaking boldly, said to him:

"Why then, when you were prosperous, did you not work, nor allow me to work either?" And he answered me:

"The former work that I used to do was greater and many times more than the present work;"

"for the present work feeds one or two, but the former fed tens of thousands — and not only those multitudes, but it also supplied spiritual food to my own soul."

These things being so, Praülius, who held the priesthood of the holy places, having heard of the name and manner of life of the holy Porphyry, summoned him, and with much constraint ordained him to the rank of presbyter; moreover he also entrusted to him the guarding of the precious wood of the Cross.

Then we knew that what had happened to him in the ecstasy had come to pass, when he had seen the Lord on the Cross and the thief with him, and the Master saying:

"Take, and guard this wood for me."

Now the blessed Porphyry, when he received ordination, was about forty-five years old.

Having been deemed worthy of this honor, he did not change his former custom, but remained in ascetic hardship, in fastings and vigils.

His food was coarse bread and vegetables, and this only after sunset; but on the other holy days he ate at the sixth hour, taking also oil and cheese and soaked pulses;

he also partook of one cup of wine mixed with water, and this on account of the ailment of his bowels.

This manner of life and this rule he continued to observe for the whole time of his life.

Three years after his ordination, it happened that the bishop of the aforementioned city of Gaza departed from this life;

this was Aeneas, who had held the episcopate for a very short time.

Before Aeneas there was Irenion, who himself also has become a fellow-citizen of the angelic powers;

whose praises it is impossible to set down in a digression, but a separate treatise would be needed to compose the life of the aforementioned celebrated Irenion; this we leave to other writers who accurately know his life.

So when the aforesaid holy man had fallen asleep, the Christians who then existed — being few and easily counted — gathered together with those of the clergy, and having deliberated for a number of days as to whom to entrust the bishopric, accomplished nothing, since strife prevailed among them: some wished for one of the clergy, others for one of the laity;

for in truth there were some, both among the clergy and among the laity, adorned with a life of dignity and gravity.

So, much confusion arising and no one making progress toward any outcome, at last it was resolved that five of the clergy and an equal number of the notable laity should go out to the metropolitan high priest and ask him for a bishop — whomever the Holy Spirit should reveal to him.

Now the one entrusted with the high priesthood at that time was John, a man who was himself also esteemed and adorned with every virtue.

So when the Gazans came to him, they besought him to give them a priest capable, in deed and in word, of opposing the idolaters.

[He had] sent a letter to the aforementioned holy Praülius, bishop of Jerusalem, that the blessed Porphyry be sent to him on account of a certain question of Scripture that needed to be resolved by him;

for the blessed man was able to resolve anything in the divine Scripture that was thought to be difficult, and this gift he had from the grace of the Holy Spirit.

And trusting the letter of the blessed John, the God-beloved Praülius released him, charging him not to delay beyond seven days.

But when the blessed Porphyry heard the import of what had been written by the most holy John, at first he was troubled, but afterward he said:

"Let the will of God be done."

And summoning me that evening, he said to me:

"Brother Mark, let us go and worship at the holy places and the precious Cross, for a long time must pass before we worship there again."

"Why do you say this, father?" And he answered and said:

"Last night I saw the Savior saying to me:"

"Restore the deposit that I entrusted to you."

"For I wish to join you to a wife, humble indeed but of good character; and do you, taking her, adorn her, that she may forget her former poverty."

"For even though she happens to be humble, she is not a stranger to me, but my own true sister;"

"But take heed of this: that, as one having a wife and caring for a household, you do not gather wealth through injustice or violence or lawlessness, since by provoking me you also grieve her;"

"for she too is displeased by such things."

"But you, only have good zeal, and everything will be supplied to you from where you do not expect."

"These things the Master Christ declared to me last night, and I fear lest, wishing to atone for my own sins, I should also have to atone for those of many others."

"But nevertheless, it is not possible to gainsay the will of God."

Having said these things he went, and I with him; and having worshiped at the holy places and the precious Cross, and having prayed much and wept, he placed it in the golden reliquary, and having secured it he went out, and going to the blessed bishop Praülius, he handed over the keys to him, and having received a blessing along with the entrustment, he departed.

And coming to the lodging, we made our preparations.

And having hired three beasts of burden and taken our provisions for the road, we set out;

and the provisions for the road were everything that was in the house.

We were five on the road: the blessed man himself, and I, and two donkey-drivers, and another younger servant named Barochas, whom the blessed man had a short time before found cast out in the public square, in the direst danger; and taking him he gathered him in, and having spent much on him, with the help of Christ he made him well.

From that time, then, he remained with him, serving him together with me.

The matters concerning the God-fearing Barochas I shall relate as the account proceeds.

Having traveled that day, on the next we came to Caesarea.

And word of our arrival spread throughout the whole city;

for the blessed man was renowned for his blameless life, and much more for being a lover of the poor.

And we made our way to the guest-house there;

And when the blessed Archbishop John heard of it, he came running to us, and having greeted one another and prayed, they sat down for a little while.

And the archbishop said to him:

"Rise, brother, for the Lord's sake, and take a meal with me, so that we may quickly rise for the vigil of the holy Lord's Day."

For we had entered late on the Sabbath.

But the blessed Porphyry begged him to excuse him that evening on account of the fatigue of the journey;

and he said that after the first sleep he would rise for the vigil.

But since the archbishop was not persuaded, the blessed man arose and went along with him, taking me also (for we had left brother Barochas at the guest-house near our belongings), and being urged by him, we dined.

And having conversed much on spiritual matters, and having slept a little, we rose for the vigil.

And on that night the blessed John sent for the Gazans and said to them:

"Be ready for the departure;"

"for today you shall receive your priest, a man whom the Lord has appointed, blameless, beloved of God, fervent in the faith."

And when morning came, having seized the blessed man, they ordained him bishop of Gaza.

And he wept much, and there was no end to his tears;

for he said that he himself was unworthy of such a priesthood.

But being with difficulty entreated by both the Gazans and the Christians found there, he grew quiet.

And having performed the holy liturgy of the Lord's Day, we were again urged to take a meal with the archbishop.

And he permitted us to depart as quickly as possible, and having spent one more day, we set out.

We lodged at Diospolis, and journeying on by night from there, we entered Gaza very late in the evening, greatly wearied and afflicted.

The cause of this affliction was as follows.

Near Gaza, along the road, there are villages that belong to the madness of idolatry.

By a prearranged signal, therefore, the inhabitants of these villages strewed the whole road with thorns and stakes, so that some could not pass; they also poured out filth and burned other foul-smelling things, so that we were nearly choked by the stench and were in danger regarding our sight.

Having thus barely come through safely, we entered the city about the third hour of the night.

This hardship befell the blessed man through a demonic assault.

For he perceived the ambush of the devil, that he wished to turn the righteous man back from his entrance into the city.

We hastened to the episcopal residence, which the aforementioned bishop Irenion, numbered among the saints, had built, together with the holy church called Eirene, that is, 'Peace.'

They say the church has this name for two reasons.

For the people of Gaza say that when the city was taken by Alexander the Macedonian, by a certain token the war ceased there, and from that time the place has been called Eirene, 'Peace.'

The blessed Irenion, finding this place honored by the people of Gaza, built the church there.

So whether on account of what has been said above, or on account of the name of its founder, it has continued to be so called down to the present.

There, then, we hastened to the very small episcopal residence built by him.

It happened that in that year there was a drought, and all the people of the city attributed the matter to the entrance of the blessed man, saying, 'We have received an oracle from Marnas that Porphyry is a bringer of ill fortune to the city.'

As God continued not to send rain through their first month, called Dios, and also through the second, Apellaios, everyone was in distress.

So those given to the madness of idolatry gathered at the Marneion and offered many sacrifices and prayers for this reason;

for they said that Marnas was lord of the rains, and they say that Marnas is Zeus.

When they had persisted for seven days, chanting hymns and going out of the city to a place called the Proseuche ('place of prayer'), they lost heart and returned to their own occupations, having accomplished nothing.

When these things had thus come to pass, the Christians gathered together—men, women, and children, two hundred and eighty in number—and besought the holy Porphyry to go out with them to prayer and to make supplication for the sending down of rain (for famine had already come), and all the more because people were attributing the drought to the entrance of the blessed man.

The holy man, being persuaded, proclaimed a fast and ordered all to gather from the evening onward in the holy church, that we might there keep the vigil.

Throughout the whole night we made thirty prayers and as many genuflections, apart from the chants and the readings

of the orthodox faith, whose life and works are recorded in the Paradise of Delight.

Having come, then, to the aforementioned church, we made there as many prayers again, and going out from there we proceeded to the holy martyrium of the glorious martyr Timothy, in which are also deposited other precious relics — of the martyr Maiouros and of Thea the confessor — and having there likewise made as many prayers and genuflections, we returned to the city, making on the way three prayers and three genuflections.

When we arrived at the gate, we found it shut (it was the ninth hour);

for those of the idol-worshipping madness, wishing to disperse the people, had done this, so that we might not complete the litany.

When we had remained two hours before the gate and no one opened it, God, seeing the patient endurance of the people and their groanings and unspeakable tears, especially those of the holy man, was moved with compassion, as in the case of the great prophet Elijah, and stirred up a south wind; and the sky became clouded, and lightning and thunder began as soon as the sun had set, and a great downpour of rain came down, so that the drops seemed not to be raindrops, but hail falling from heaven.

And we, from joy, scarcely perceived it;

for we were embracing one another.

And some of the Greeks, having seen the wonders which God had wrought for us, believed, opened the gate, and mingled with us, crying out:

'Christ alone is God; he alone has conquered!'

They came together with us to the holy church, and from there the blessed man dismissed them in peace, having sealed them with the seal of the cross.

They numbered one hundred and twenty-seven: about seventy-eight men, thirty-five women, and fourteen children, of whom five were girls.

And we, having offered the complete thanksgiving, departed, each to his own home, with joy and peace.

So great a downpour came down that night and on the following day that everyone feared lest houses should collapse;

for most of them happened to be built of unbaked brick.

Our Lord Jesus Christ caused it to rain unceasingly from the eighth day of Audynaios until the tenth.

Now their month Audynaios corresponds to January according to the Romans, their months being five days ahead of the Roman months.

On the eleventh we celebrated the feast of the Theophany of the Master Jesus Christ, with joy, singing hymns and giving thanks for all that his loving-kindness had done for us.

And in that same year thirty-five more were added to the flock of Christ, in addition to the one hundred and twenty-seven.

But those of the idol-worshipping madness did not cease to lay ambushes against the blessed man and the rest of the Christians.

For whenever they got hold of a pagan governor, they would ingratiate themselves with him, whether by money or by their godless religion, in order to do harm to the Christians, and from this no ordinary distress befell the most blessed man.

Continually, therefore, night and day, he entreated the loving God to turn them from their error to his truth.

Since I mentioned above the blessed Barochas, I shall now relate the rest concerning him.

This man possessed a divine zeal as much as anyone else;

for he endured many hardships at the hands of the idolaters.

For once, when he had gone on account of an ecclesiastical assessment to a village not far from the city —

now the one who owed the assessment was an idolater, and being pressed for payment, and wishing to drag it out with delay, while the God-fearing Barochas would not allow this, a quarrel arose between them from this; and the impious man summoned certain farmers, fellow villagers like-minded with himself, and they began to beat the blessed Barochas with clubs, and, carrying him off half-dead, they threw him outside the village into a deserted place;

and there he lay, speechless and senseless.

The next day, by God's loving-kindness, Cornelius the deacon happened to pass through that place with two other Christians, and finding the God-beloved Barochas and recognizing him, they carried him and brought him into the city.