Hierarch Porphyry Of Gaza

Saint Porphyry (Porphyrios), Bishop of Gaza (c. 347 – 26 February 420), is one of the most celebrated saints of late-antique Palestine, renowned for his campaign against paganism in Gaza. Born to a wealthy family in Thessalonica, at 25 he renounced his inheritance for the Egyptian desert, spending five years in a skete under disciples of St. Macarius the Great, then years as a hermit near the Jordan. Ordained presbyter in Jerusalem, he was made custodian of the relic of the True Cross. Around 395, reluctantly, he was consecrated bishop of Gaza, still a pagan stronghold with the great Marneion temple of Marnas. With the support of Empress Eudoxia (to whom he foretold the birth of the future emperor Theodosius II), he secured an imperial edict from Arcadius authorizing destruction of pagan shrines; the Marneion was burned in 402, replaced by a Christian basilica ("Eudoxiana") completed by 407. He attended the Synod of Diospolis in 415 on Pelagius. His Life was written by his disciple, deacon Mark. He reposed 26 February 420. Feast: 26 February/11 March.