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Life of St Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza
Mark the Deacon, tr. Hill, 1913
Chapter 12
Now he that held the high-priesthood at that time was John,1 who also was a man of good repute and adorned with all virtue. When therefore the Gazaeans came unto him, they besought him to give them a priest which should be able by deeds and by speech to withstand the idolaters. And when he had heard them he straightway proclaimed a fast, and after three days the Lord revealed to him concerning the blessed Porphyry; and he writeth a letter to the afore-mentioned holy Praÿlius, the bishop of Jerusalem,2 to send the blessed Porphyry to him, because of a certain question concerning the Scripture which was required to be explained by him. For the blessed man was skilful to explain everything that was accounted difficult in the Holy Scripture, and this power he had by the grace of the Holy Ghost. And Praÿlius, beloved of God, putting faith in the writing of the blessed John, sent Porphyry away, enjoining him that he should not tarry more than seven days.
Notes
- John died before 404 and was followed by Eulogius, who presided in 415 at the synod of Diospolis. He had succeeded Gelasius, who had succeeded Euzoius, who was expelled under Theodosius I; Lequien, Oriens Christ. iii. 561-3.
- bishop of Jerusalem. See Usener, Leg. d. heil. Pelagia, p. 33; the use of bishop, not archbishop, corresponds to the conditions before the year 451, after which the synod of Chalcedon granted the higher title (J. Gildemeister, Acta S. Pelagiae (1879), p. 2).