CHAPTER VII

SOME EARLY BISHOPS OF (I) GAZA, (II) MAYOUMAS (THE PORT OF GAZA)

Palestina Prima--Cæsarea, _Metropolis_.

_The Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, p. 1631, mentions "Philemon (1) Bishop of Gaza; commemorated February 14 (Basil Menol)."

_The Kalendar of the Byzantine Church_, on November 22, commemorates "Philemon, Apostle."

The Jerusalem Archimandrite Meletius Metaxakis, (now Bishop of Kition, Cyprus), in an article on the Madaba Mosaic Map, _Nea Sion_, May and June 1907, p. 485, states that "according to _The Ecclesiastical Treatise about the Seventy Disciples of the Lord_, Philemon, the Apostle, to whom the Epistle of Paul is directed, became Bishop of Gaza."

The legendary history of Philemon supplies nothing on which we can rely. _The Apostolic Constitutions_ (vii. 46) relate that Philemon became Bishop of Colosse, and died a martyr under Nero, but this is not sustained by any other early testimony, and is expressly denied by the author of the _Commentary on St. Paul's Epistles_, attributed to Hillary. This tradition, therefore, which Dr. Meyer (p. 59) mentions, apparently without hesitation, cannot, I think, be accepted.

I.--BISHOPS OF GAZA

_c_. A.D. 285. SYLVANUS. The first Christian martyr of Gaza whose name is known. Having had his eyes put out, he was beheaded at the Copper Mines of Phæno.

Commemorated May 4.

A.D. 325. Gaza was represented by a Bishop at the Council of Nicæa. He is described as a Bishop "of _the Churches round Gaza_."

A.D. 341. ASCLEPAS.[21] His name occurs in the Minutes of the First Œcumenical Council. He succeeded Sylvanus, but was deposed at a Council of Antioch, and reinstated at a Council of Sardica.

He suffered many persecutions for the "Orthodox" faith.

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.