Library › Mark the Deacon › Life of St Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza
Life of St Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza
Mark the Deacon, tr. Hill, 1913
Chapter 53
And straightway she commanded money to be brought, and when it was brought she said to my lord the bishop Porphyry: ‘Father, take these two hundreds1 and found the holy church which we promised to found in the midst of Gaza, and make known to me if thou requirest yet more money, and I will send it straightway. And found also a guest-house, that thou mayest receive the brethren that come to sojourn in the city and mayest provide them with their expenses for three days.’ And she gave also to the most holy John one thousand pieces of gold2 and to both of them precious vessels, and for their expenses she gave unto them each an hundred pieces of gold. And the aforesaid most holy John, bishop of Caesarea, obtained whatsoever privileges he desired on account of his own church. And when they had prayed and called many blessings on the Empress and her son and the Emperor, they went forth.
Notes
- hundreds. κεντήναρια. The centenarium is generally taken to represent 100 Roman pounds of gold, i. e. 7,200 solidi, the equivalent in weight of about £4,100 English. But the identification is not quite certain. See Kubitschek in Pauly-Wissowa, Realencycl. s.v., and in Numismatische Zeitschrift (Vienna), 1911, p. 190.
- one thousand pieces of gold. The equivalent in weight of about £570 sterling.