Saint Porphyrius
vested as a bishop with omophorion, often holding a Gospel Book, with his right hand raised in blessing |
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Porphyrius (
Porphyrius of Gaza is known only from a vivid biography by
His body is said to be buried underneath the ruins of Saint Porphyrius' Church, in Gaza City, in Palestine.
A street in Zejtun, Malta, bears the saint's name.
Account in Vita Porphyrii
Gaza had a history as a place hostile to the early
The people of Gaza were so hostile to Christians that the Christian church had to be built outside the walls, at a safe distance, and the Christian bishops of the 4th century were specifically termed "bishops of the churches about Gaza". The Christian community in Gaza then scarcely numbered 280, according to the vita of Porphyrius, and the community-at-large resisted the closing of temples and destruction of pagan images which had started in more Christianized regions.[7]
According to the vita, Porphyrius was appointed bishop at the age of 45. He arrived in the city without incident, but a drought followed the same year, and the pagans "imputed the thing to the coming of the blessed man, saying that 'It was revealed unto us by
In response, Porphyrius sent Marcus, his deacon and chronicler, to
Porphyrius then went to Constantinople during the winter of 401–402, accompanied by the bishop of
The Marneion, a temple sacred to
Directly upon the ruins of the Marneion, at the expense of the empress, a large church called the Eudoxiana was erected in her honor and dedicated on 14 April 407. Thus with approved violence, paganism officially ceased to exist in Gaza.
Modern assessment of the Vita Porphyrii
The text exists in a Greek and a Georgian recension.
Grégoire and Kugener (1930),
Paul Peeters (1941)
Head wrote, "The textual problems can be resolved if we assume that the Life of St Porphyrius was composed in two successive stages: the original notes by a contemporary and eyewitness (whom we may call 'Mark') were later, perhaps in the 450's, given their final shape and put into circulation by another author who does not appear in the text." (Head 2001:55). He adds that "the text abounds with such convincing historical detail and shows such an intimate knowledge of the region of Gaza in late antiquity, that at the very least the general storyline merits our confidence." (2001:56) But he acknowledges that Porphyrius is otherwise undocumented in the historical record, and that the text contains the "usual stereotypes" of hagiography documented by Hippolyte Delehaye.
Other scholars are more dismissive. "Richly detailed glimpses of imperial circles and great names in Constantinople are all fake; specific important people—an archbishop, a governor, and others—are all fake; and Mark and Porphyrius themselves may never have existed at all," is MacMullen's conclusion (1984:87). "The vita "comes to be routinely cited as real history by all sorts of fine scholars" writes Ramsay MacMullen in Christianizing the Roman Empire, 1984, p 86. "There is a strong temptation to use it because it is so full, specific and vivid." He concludes that "it should be possible, then, to learn about the general way things happened in well-known and recurring situations around the turn of the fourth century, even as they appear in a manifestly deceptive text" (MacMullen 1984:87).
Notes
- ^ a b Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Πορφύριος Ἐπίσκοπος Γάζης. 26 Φεβρουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
- ^ "Saint Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza". www.oca.org. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
- ^ Apparent use of Theodoret and other later sources convinced P. Peeters that it was actually written after 534. (P. Peeters, "La vie géorgienne de Saint Porphyre de Gaza" Analecta Bollandiana 59 1941, pp 65–216.
- ^ Helen Saradi-Mendelovici, "Christian Attitudes toward Pagan Monuments in Late Antiquity and Their Legacy in Later Byzantine Centuries" Dumbarton Oaks Papers 44 (1990, pp. 47–61) pp 53f instances as history the destruction of the temples in Gaza in Vita Porphyrii.
- ^ Rietbergen, Peter. “Lucas Holste (1596–1661), SCHOLAR AND LIBRARIAN, OR: THE POWER OF BOOKS AND LIBRARIES.” Power and Religion in Baroque Rome: Barberini Cultural Policies, Brill, 2006, p. 264. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
- ^ ".:Baladna Photography". Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
- Apameiain 'Syria.
- ^ H. Grégoire and M.-A. Kugener, Marc le Diacre, Vie de Porphyre (Paris) 1930.
- ISBN 3-88309-048-4.. Since no evidence of a substitution is presented, a more parsimonious reading of the text would have reported simply that Praylius is reported, when the historical figure was actually John II of Jerusalem.
- ^ Paul Peeters, "La vie géorgienne de Porphyre de Gaza", Analecta Bollandiana 59 (1941), 65-216, noted by MacMullen 1984.
References
- Thomas F. Head, Medieval Hagiography: an anthology, (Routledge) 2001.
- Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman Empire, (Yale University Press) 1984.
- Karl-Heinz Uthemann (1994). "Saint Porphyrius". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 7. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 848–854. ISBN 3-88309-048-4.
External links
- Medieval Sourcebook: G.F. Hill, 1913. Translator and editor, Mark the Deacon, Life of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza (e-text, in English)
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Gaza
- Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Porphyry
- Philip Schaff, editor The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: St. Porphyry
- Prologue From Ochrid - February 26: Saint Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza
- Asmaa al-Ghoul. Gaza's Orthodox Church Celebrates 1,606 Years. Al-Monitor. March 11, 2013.