Gaza: A City of Many Battles 8

Gaza: A City of Many Battles 8

A.D. 341. QUINTIANUS, an Arian usurper of the See of Asclepas.

 

A.D. 363. IRENÆUS (A.D. 363-393) was present at the Council of Antioch

A.D. 363. He built the Church of St. Irene in Gaza. The first church

built in Gaza itself was the work of St. Irenæus, who died _c._ A.D.

393, and whose feast is December 16.

 

A.D. 393. AENEIAS succeeded Irenæus. His episcopate lasted for a very

short period.

 

A.D. 395. PORPHYRIUS, the true restorer of Christianity in Gaza. His

life was written by his trusty deacon, Marcus. The text was published

at Leipsig in 1895. Porphyrius was born in Thessalonica, _c_. A.D. 347,

of a good family. After a Presbyterate of three years, in A.D. 395 he

was unwillingly consecrated Bishop of Gaza by John of Cæsarea.

 

"Porphyry sent Marcus to Constantinople, and obtained from the Emperor

a Decree closing the Temples of Gaza; Cynegius came to the city with

Christian police from Ascalon; the temples were closed, and the

consultation of their oracles was forbidden. Idolatry did not cease,

however; the oracles were still consulted, though surreptitiously, for

permitting which Cynegius was said to have received a large amount of

gold. The Christians were still persecuted, and Porphyrius therefore

determined on further measures. He went to Cæsarea, consulted with

the Archbishop John, and both of them set out for Constantinople in

A.D. 401. Through the offices of Amantius, the Chamberlain, they were

presented to the Empress Eudoxia. They prophesied for her the birth of

a son; and the Empress vowed a church for Gaza, if the prophecy should

be fulfilled. The promised son, Theodosius the younger, was born; and,

true to her word, Eudoxia interceded with the Emperor for a rescript

closing the Gazæan temples. For reasons of State, the Emperor hesitated

to grant the request: 'though the city is idolatrous, it is peaceful

and pays its taxes regularly. If it is disturbed, it is to be feared

that its inhabitants would desert it, and its trade be ruined.' He

therefore suggested mild means for winning the city to Christianity.

The rescript was obtained from the Emperor at the baptism of his infant

son, being issued as the first decree of the new prince. Before the

Bishops left Constantinople, Eudoxia provided them with funds for

building a church and a hospice in Gaza; and the Emperor added gifts on

his own accounts."[22]

 

St. Chrysostom was _then_ high in the Empress's favour.

 

St. Porphyrius is said to have been indefatigable in instructing the

people of Gaza in a simple and popular style, based entirely on Holy

scripture. He was present at the Council of Diospolis, A.D. 415.

 

On one occasion, owing to a terrible drought at Gaza, the Christians

prayed with fervour to Almighty God for rain. The amount of rain which

fell in response gave St. Porphyrius much influence over the heathen,

and numbers of them were baptised. He died A.D. 420.

 

His name is commemorated, in the Byzantine Church Kalendar, on February

26.

 

A.D. 449. NATORIS was present at the Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, and

was consecrated _c._ A.D. 449. At the Council of Ephesus he supported

Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, who was accused of irregularities of

ecclesiastical practice.

 

Timotheus, during the reign of Anastasius I, A.D. 430-513.

 

A.D. 490. ENOS (ÆNAS), who had been a Platonic philosopher, and convert

to Christianity, testifies to certain persons speaking after the loss

of their tongues (See Robertson's _Church History_, p. 459, _note_).

 

A.D. 518. KYRILLUS, who condemned Severus of Antioch.

 

A.D. 540. MARCIANUS (reign of Justinius, A.D. 483-565).

 

He built two churches in the city, the church of St. Sergius, and that

of St. Stephen, whose beauty is praised by Chorikius of Gaza.

 

A.D. 540. AURELIANUS, a successor, perhaps, of Marcianus.

 

A.D. 553. The Bishops of Gaza and Mayoumas Gazæ each signed

synodical letters inserted in the Acts of the Second Council of

Constantinople.[23]

 

 

II.--BISHOPS OF MAYOUMAS (OR CONSTANTIA)[24]

 

_c_. A.D. 400. ZENO, brother of Aias, the Bishop of Botolion

(Bethulia), and personally known to the historian Sozimus.

 

A.D. 431. PAULINUS, mentioned in the Minutes of the Council of Ephesus.

 

A.D. 449. PAULUS, the supporter of Dioscorus in the Robber Council of

Ephesus, A.D. 449.

 

A.D. 505. PETER, the Iberian, Bishop of Gaza and Mayoumas. An

Eutychian, appointed by the Alexandrian faction.

 

During this Episcopate, Severus, the Monophysite Patriarch of Antioch,

had been expelled from a convent lying between Gaza and Mayoumas as an

heretical blasphemer. Coming to the Emperor Anastasius Dicorus, who was

infected with the same heresy, he was appointed a noble, and by the use

of flatteries, and false accusations, he advanced so far that by the

command of Dicorus he banished the Patriarch of Antioch, Flavian II,

from the throne, sent him into exile to Petra, and ascended the throne

by violence. He excited a great tumult in Antioch.[25]

 

A.D. 516. PROCOPIUS. His signature appears in the Letter of John of

Jerusalem.

 

A.D. 700-760. ST. COSMAS, Hymnologist, surnamed Μελωδός. He

acquired the appellation of Hagiopolites, on account of his proficiency

in polite literature. Having been captured by the Saracens, he was

carried to Damascus, and had the honour to be preceptor of St. John

Damascene, his foster-brother.

 

St. Cosmas, like his friend, St. John Damascene. became a monk of St.

Sabas, and against his will was consecrated Bishop of Mayoumas, by

John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, the same who ordained St. John Damascene,

priest. Dr. Neale considers him the most learned of Greek Church poets.

After ministering his diocese with great holiness, he departed this

life in a good old age, and is commemorated on October 14.

 

FOOTNOTES:

 

[21] Also called Asclepius. He was on the side of St. Athanasius.

 

[22] Meyer's _History of the City of Gaza_, p. 64.

 

[23] "Till A.D. 536 the names of the Bishops of Gaza were preserved in

the records of the Council of Jerusalem" (Meyer, p. 67).

 

According to Meyer, p. 69, from the sixth to the twelfth centuries,

Gaza was an Episcopal See of the Latin Church.

 

In the sixth century, reference is made by Theodosius to a Bishop

Suffragan of Gaza.

 

The Archimandrite Metaxakis states that in the Kalendar of the

Abyssinian Saints there is a Feast of St. John, Bishop of Gaza, on

April 6, but the Ethiopic Kalendar, according to Neale (_History of the

Holy Eastern Church_, vol. ii), does not include this name.

 

Conder (_Quarterly Statement_ P. E. F., July 1875, p. 10), asserts that

the Bishop of Gaza bears the additional title of Mâr Jîryîs to the

present day. Sophronius is the titular Archbishop of Gaza in 1913. He

is non-resident.

 

[24] Of Mayoumas, or Constantia (so called from the son of

Constantine), a city independent of Gaza, which from the time of

Constantine the Great formed an episcopal see, six Bishops are named

(_Nea Sion_, May and June 1907, p. 491). The name Mayoumas does not

appear till Christian times. Keith explored the site in 1844, and found

widespread traces of an extinct city.

 

[25] Neale's _The Patriarchate of Antioch_, pp. 163-4.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VIII

 

THIRTEEN MARTYRS AT GAZA

 

 

A.D. 304. TIMOTHEUS suffered martyrdom under Urban, the prefect of the

province, in the second year of Diocletian's persecution.

 

A.D. 304. The Syriac version of the history of the martyrs in Palestine

states that THECLA with AGAPIUS was cast to the wild beasts in the year

of Timotheus' martyrdom.

 

_c._ A.D. 308. SYLVANUS, Bishop of Gaza, was a martyr in the

persecution of Maximianus I. He was a Presbyter at the outbreak, and

from the beginning he endured much suffering with fortitude. Shortly

before his martyrdom, which was among the last in Palestine at that

period, he obtained the Episcopate.

 

Eusebius speaks with admiration of his Christian endurance, saying he

was "reserved until that time, that this might be the last seal of the

whole conflict in Palestine."

 

This aged martyr was eminent for his confessions from the very first

day of the persecution. In early manhood he had served as a soldier,

before receiving Holy Orders.

 

Dr. Meyer (_History of the City of Gaza_, p. 60. New York, 1907) states

that "the first Christian martyr of Gaza whose name is known is the

Bishop Sylvanus, who met his death in 285." Eusebius (_Ecclesiastical

History_, Book VIII, Chap. XIII), however, remarks that Sylvanus was

"beheaded with thirty-nine others at the Copper Mines of Phœne." Early

Christians of Gaza were not infrequently martyred at headquarters in

Cæsarea (Palestinæ).

 

A.D. 308. JOHN, a student of Holy Writ and of wonderful memory, was

associated with Sylvanus. He endured many tortures and was decapitated

with his Bishop.

 

A.D. 308. HATHA (ST. THEA), a virgin of Gaza, suffered martyrdom under

Firmilian in Cæsarea.

 

A.D. 361. During the reign of Julian, the pagans of Gaza attempted to

destroy the church built by St. Hilarion. During this revolt, Eusebius,

a Gaza Christian, with his brothers Nestabis and Zeno, were thrown into

prison, beheaded, and their