Library › Mark the Deacon › Life of St Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza
Life of St Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza
Mark the Deacon, tr. Hill, 1913
Chapter 21
But certain of the Greeks, when they beheld what marvellous works God wrought for us, believed and opened the gate and mingled with us, crying out: ‘Christ alone is God, he alone hath conquered.’ And they came together with us to the holy church; and thence the blessed man let them depart in peace, having sealed1 them with the seal of Christ. They were in number one hundred and twenty and seven, being men seventy-eight, and women thirty-five, and children fourteen, of which five were maidens. And we, when we had offered the perfect sacrifice of thanksgiving,2 returned each man in joy and peace unto his own place. But so mighty a rain descended in that night and on the next day that all men were afraid lest houses should fall in; for the more part of them were made of unbaked bricks. And our Lord Jesus Christ caused the rain to continue unceasingly from the eighth day of Audynaios3 until the tenth. Now Audynaios with them is the month of January according to the Romans, but their months are earlier by five days4 than the Roman months. And on the eleventh we celebrated the day of the Theophany5 of our Master Jesus Christ with joy, singing hymns and giving thanks for all the things that his loving-kindness had wrought for us. And there were added unto the fold of Christ in this same year, over and above the hundred and twenty and seven, other one hundred and five.
But they of the idol-madness ceased not to lie in wait for the blessed man and the other Christians. For whensoever they could find6 a governor that was a Greek, they secretly persuaded him, either with money, or through their godless religion, to distress the Christians, so that the most blessed man suffered no common affliction therefrom. Therefore he prayed continually night and day unto the merciful God that he might turn them from the error of their ways unto his own truth.
Notes
- sealed, σφραγίσας τῇ τοῦ Χρ. σφραγῖδι. This is the word used for the preliminary signing of the converts with the sign of the Cross. They then became catechumens, and after due instruction were baptized (cp. c. 31). But it must be remembered that the words σφραγίς, σφραγίζειν are also used by other writers in connexion with the actual baptismal ceremony.
- sacrifice of thanksgiving. εὐχαριστίαν.
- from the eighth day of Audynaios. i.e. from January 3-5, 396.
- earlier by five days. Not always; see note on c. 19.
- Theophany. That is, the Epiphany, January 6.
- find. Lit. lay their hands on. See Gelzer, Leontios’ von Neapolis Leben des h. Johannes, index, s. v. δράσσομαι.