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Life of St Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza
Mark the Deacon, tr. Hill, 1913
Chapter 94
But after the foundation and consecration of the said holy church, he ordered that there should be given unto each stranger sojourning in the city his expenses for one day, and he furnished also unto each poor man, both stranger and citizen, for each day the sum of six obols;1 besides which he himself provided out of his own substance, unto those that came unto him, garments and silver and gold, providing unto each according to his worth; and no one of those that required aught was without part in his gifts. But in the days of the fasts of the holy Paschal season he furnished unto each poor man the sum of ten obols for forty days. And having given commandment in his pious testament that the said ten obols should by all means be given for the forty days, and set apart revenue out of which he desired that they should be given, in the said testament he ordered that if these things should not be furnished each year, the said revenue should go unto the holy church of Caesarea. But these things came to pass afterwards.
Notes
- six obols . . . ten obols. The obol was at this time a bronze coin, the Latin name for it being follis. It was probably the largest of the current bronze coins, slightly smaller than a shilling. Its value in relation to the solidus at this time is not recorded; later, in the sixth century, it was 1/210.