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Mark the Deacon, Life of Porphyry 14-17

   https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/466

Context

Mark, a native of Asia, was a calligrapher in Jerusalem who joined Porphyry of Gaza as his companion and agent from 395 to 420 C.E. During that time Porphyry, originally from a wealthy family in Thessalonica, was appointed bishop of Gaza by John the archbishop at Caesarea, and Mark became a deacon in his church, later writing an account of the holy man’s career from his privileged perspective. The hagiography, an important historical document in its own right but not unproblematic, paints a vivid picture of the open and destructive conflict between the pagan (“idolators,” “idolomaniacs”) and Christian residents of Gaza, as well as the interaction between the metropolitan and the other Palestinian sees. In this passage, Porphyry and his companions Mark and Barochus (Baruch) travelled to Caesarea at the invitation of John the archbishop, who during their visit on March 18, 395 C.E. presented Porphyry to the embassy from Gaza as their new bishop.

Text

(14) … Ὁδεύσαντες δὲ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, τῇ ἑξῆς ἤλθομεν εἰς Καισάρειαν. Διεδόθη δὲ εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν ἡ παρουσία τῆς εἰσόδου ἡμῶν· ἦν γὰρ καὶ ὀνομαστὸς ὁ μακάριος διὰ τὸν ἄμεμπτον αὐτοῦ βίον, πολλῷ μᾶλλον διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν φιλόπτωχον. Ὡρμήσαμεν δὲ εἰς τὸν ἐκεῖ ξενῶνα· ἦν γὰρ ἑσπέρα.(15) Ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης ὁ ἀρχιεπίσκοπος, δρομαῖος παρεγένετο πρὸς ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἀσπασάμενοι ἀλλήλους καὶ εὐξάμενοι μικρὸν ἐκάθισαν. Εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ ἀρχιεπίσκοπος· Ἀνάστα, ἀδελφέ, διὰ τὸν κύριον καὶ γεῦσαι μετ’ ἐμοῦ, ἵνα ταχέως ἀναστῶμεν εἰς τὴν ἀγρυπνίαν τῆς ἁγίας κυριακῆς. Ὀψὲ γὰρ σαββάτῳ εἰσήλθομεν. Ὁ δὲ μακάριος Πορφύριος παρεκάλει αὐτὸν συγχωρῆσαι αὐτῷ τὴν ἑσπέραν διὰ τὸν κόπον τῆς ὁδοῦ· ἔλεγεν δὲ μετὰ τὸν πρῶτον ὕπνον ἀνίστασθαι εἰς τὴν ἀγρυπνίαν. Ὡς δὲ οὐκ ἐπείσθη ὁ ἀρχιεπίσκοπος, ἀναστὰς ὁ μακάριος συνεπορεύθη αὐτῷ λαβὼν κἀμέ (τὸν γὰρ ἀδελφὸν Βαρωχᾶν εἰάσαμεν ἐν τῷ ξενῶνι ἐγγὺς τῶν ἱματίων) καὶ προτραπέντες παρ’ αὐτοῦ ἐδειπνήσαμεν. Πολλὰ δὲ ὁμιλήσαντες πνευματικὰ καὶ μικρὸν ὑπνώσαντες, ἀνέστημεν εἰς τὴν ἀγρυπνίαν.(16) Τῇ δὲ νυκτὶ ἐκείνῃ μεταπέμπεται ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης τοὺς Γαζαίους καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· Ἕτοιμοι ἔσεσθε ἐπὶ τὴν ἔξοδον· σήμερον γὰρ τὸν ἱερέα ὑμῶν λαμβάνετε, ἄνδρα ὃν ἀπέδειξεν ὁ κύριος, ἄμεμπτον, θεοφιλῆ, ζέοντα τῇ πίστει. Πρωίας δὲ γενομένης, ἁρπάσαντες τὸν μακάριον, ἐχειροτόνησαν αὐτὸν ἐπίσκοπον Γάζης. Πολλὰ δὲ ἐδάκρυσεν καὶ οὐκ ἦν καιρὸς τῶν δακρύων αὐτοῦ· ἔλεγεν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν εἶναι ἀνάξιον τῆς τοιαύτης ἱερωσύνης. Μόλις δὲ παρακληθεὶς παρά τε τῶν Γαζαίων καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ εὑρεθέντων Χριστιανῶν ἡσύχασεν. Ποιήσαντες δὲ τὴν ἁγίαν λειτουργίαν τῆς κυριακῆς, πάλιν προετράπημεν γεύσασθαι μετὰ τοῦ ἀρχιεπισκόπου.(17) Ἐπέτρεψεν δὲ ἡμῖν τὴν ταχίστην ἐξελθεῖν, καὶ ποιήσαντες ἄλλην μίαν ἡμέραν ἐξήλθομεν. Ἐκοιμήθημεν δὲ εἰς Διόσπολιν, κἀκεῖθεν νυκτερεύσαντες ὀψὲ βράδιον εἰσήλθομεν εἰς Γάζαν πολλὰ κοπωθέντες καὶ θλιβέντες. …1

Textual Note

Ed. Haupt 1895 and Grégoire and Kugener 1930

Translation

(14) … After having made our journey on that day, on the next day we came to Caesarea. Word of our presence as we entered spread to all the city. For the blessed man was renowned due to his blameless life, but even more so because of he was a lover of the poor. We went to the inn there, for it was evening.(15) When the blessed John the archbishop had heard, he ran to us, and we greeted one another, prayed briefly, and sat down. The archbishop said to (Porphyry), “Rise up, o Brother, for the Lord’s sake and eat with me, so that we might get up for the vigil of Holy Sunday,” for we had arrived on the eve of the Sabbath. But the blessed Porphyry requested that (John) excuse him for the evening because of his fatigue from travel. He said he would get up after his first sleep for the vigil. But when the archbishop was not persuaded, the blessed man (Porphyry) rose up and travelled with him, taking me too (for we left our brother Barochas at the inn with our cloaks), and at his insistence we dined. After we had discussed many spiritual topics and slept a little, we got up for the vigil.(16) That night the blessed John summoned the Gazaeans and said to them, “Be ready for your departure, for today you are receiving your priest, a man whom God has revealed, a blameless man, a man loved by God, a man boiling with faith.” And when morning came, they seized the blessed (Porphyry) and appointed him bishop of Gaza. He cried profusely, and there was no satisfying his tears, for he kept saying that he was unworthy of such a priesthood. When he had been consoled with difficulty by the Gazaeans and the Christians found there (at Caesarea), he was at peace. We performed the holy Sunday service, and again the archbishop requested that we eat with him.(John) urged us to depart with all haste, and so we spent another day and departed. We slept at Diospolis. From there we travelled into the night and arrived very late at Gaza, exhausted and worn down. …2

Translation Note

Trans. J. L. Rife with ref. to Hill 1913, Grégoire and Kugener 1930, and Hübner 2013

Works Cited

  • 1 Mark the Deacon, Marci Diaconi Vita Porphyrii, episcopi gazensis, ed. Moriz Haupt and Societatis philologae Bonnensis sodales (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1895), ch: 14-17, p: 14-16.Link to Zotero Bibliographic RecordLink to HathiTrust Bibliographic record
  • 2 Mark the Deacon, The Life of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, trans. George Francis Hill (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), p: 21-23.Link to Zotero Bibliographic Record

Additional Bibliography

  • Mark the Deacon, Marc le diacre, vie de Porphyre, èvêque de Gaza, ed. Henri Grégoire and M. A. Kugener, Collection byzantine (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1930), ch: 14-17, p: 13-15.Link to Zotero Bibliographic Record
  • Mark the Deacon, Vita Sancti Porphyrii = Leben des heiligen Porphyrius, trans. Adelheid Hübner, Fontes Christiani (Freiburg am Breisgau: Herder, 2013), p: 116-121.Link to Zotero Bibliographic Record
About This Text

 

How to Cite This Entry

Joseph L. Rife, “Mark the Deacon, Life of Porphyry 14-17,” in Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, entry published June 30, 2023, https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/466.

Bibliography:

Joseph L. Rife, “Mark the Deacon, Life of Porphyry 14-17.” In Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia, edited by Joseph L. Rife., edited by Joseph L. Rife. Caesarea City and Port Exploration Project, 2023. Entry published June 30, 2023. https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/466.

About this Entry

Entry Title: Mark the Deacon, Life of Porphyry 14-17

Authorial and Editorial Responsibility:

  • Joseph L. Rife, general editor, Vanderbilt University
  • Joseph L. Rife, editor, Caesarea Maritima: A Collection of Testimonia
  • David A. Michelson, Daniel L. Schwartz, and William L. Potter, technical editor, “Mark the Deacon, Life of Porphyry 14-17”
  • Joseph L. Rife, entry contributor, “Mark the Deacon, Life of Porphyry 14-17”

Additional Credit:

  • TEI record created by Joseph L. Rife
  • Testimonium translated by Joseph L. Rife
  • Testimonium transcribed by Joseph L. Rife
  • Testimonium identified by Joseph L. Rife
  • TEI record created by Joseph L. Rife
  • Testimonium translated by Joseph L. Rife
  • Testimonium transcribed by Joseph L. Rife
  • Testimonium identified by Joseph L. Rife
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