St. Porphyry of Gaza

St. Porphyry of Gaza was born about 347 at Thessalonica in Greece and, after living as a monk in the Egyptian desert and in the Holy Land near the Jordan, was ordained a priest and, about 395, made bishop of Gaza in Palestine. Gaza was at that time a stronghold of paganism, where the Christians were a small and beleaguered minority amid a hostile populace devoted to the old gods, above all to the deity worshiped in a great temple called the Marneion.

Porphyry labored zealously for the conversion of the city, and, meeting fierce resistance, journeyed even to Constantinople to appeal to the imperial court for help against the pagan cults. With imperial authority the pagan temples of Gaza were at length closed and destroyed, and upon the site of the Marneion Porphyry built a great Christian basilica, named the Eudoxiana after the empress who had aided him. Through his patient and courageous efforts Christianity took firm root in the once-pagan city. He died about 420, and is venerated as a saint, his memory kept on 26 February.