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Life of St Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza
Mark the Deacon, tr. Hill, 1913
Chapter 22
Now since I have made mention above of the blessed Barochas, I will relate the rest of the story concerning him. This man, if any, was possessed of godly zeal; for he suffered many hard things from the idolaters. For once he went out to a village not far from the city, on account of a certain payment to the church.1 Now he that owed the payment was an idolater, and when he was asked for payment he sought to tarry and put off the matter; but the God-fearing Barochas would not suffer him. Thereupon strife arose between them, and the wicked husbandman calleth certain fellow villagers like unto himself, and they begin to beat the blessed Barochas with clubs; and taking him up half dead they cast him forth out of the village into a desert place; and he lay there without speech or sense. But on the next day, by the mercy of God, there passeth through that place Cornelius the deacon with other two Christians, and finding Barochas, beloved of God, they knew him and took him up and bare him into the city.
Notes
- payment to the church. ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ κανόνος. The Moscow Metaphrasis uses σιτηρεσίου instead of the second word. It is clear that the churches in Palestine at this time were landowners (their estates being managed by the οἰκονόμοι: see c. 95 and Gelzer, Leontios’ von Neapolis Leben des h. Johannes, p. 121), and that their tenants were not necessarily Christians. The collectors of these canons were called canonicarii.