St Porphyrius of Gaza: Is history repeating itself?
By Beth Amphlett, Communications Manager at Embrace the Middle East
St Porphyrius Church, Gaza
Since the war in Gaza began, we’ve been hearing a lot about the Church of Porphyrius, where many of the Christians in Gaza are still sheltering. It’s said to be built on the foundations of a church built by St Porphyrius himself, around 400 AD, making it one of the oldest churches in the world. But who was St Porphyrius?
He’s said to have come from a well-to-do family in Thessalonica but gave up his wealth to follow the new Christian religion. He later became the first Bishop of Gaza and built the church there that bears his name.
As with most saints, a history was written of his life, giving lots of details of his deeds and miracles. Whether or not you believe the accuracy of some of these details, St Porphyrius’s history was written shortly after his death by one of his followers. So, totally accurate or not, it does give us clues to the attitudes of the early Gazan Christian community – reflecting what they thought was important and what type of deeds constituted a ‘good’ Christian life.
It has a lot of the usual things you would expect – like prayerfulness, humility and a liking for extreme fasting. There are also some bits that we find deeply uncomfortable today, such as St Porphyrius’ intolerance of other religions. However, when I read his history, what struck me most was the parallels with today’s Christian community in Gaza.
The community that St Porphyrius led was very small, only a few hundred Christians, and they were facing extreme violence. There were times when they were in hiding, fearing for their lives. At one point St Porphyrius wants to leave Gaza, saying he cannot cope with the continual violence. But in the end he decides that his calling is to remain.
St Porphyrius depicted in a stained-glass window at the Latin Church, Gaza City.
The miracles that the early Gazan Christian community attribute to St Porphyrius largely revolve around young children and childbirth. He is said to have saved three boys who fell down a well and helped a woman who was struggling with a breached birth – miraculously saving both the mother and baby. His prayerful intervention also ensured the Empress of Rome safely gives birth to a healthy baby boy. To me this really resonated, as it reflects so much the work of the NECC Well Baby Clinics that Embrace has been supporting in Gaza today.
Another story recorded by the Gazan Christian community is how St Porphyrius helped a young maiden Salaphtha, who was an orphan with just a grandmother and aunt in her family. Having converted to Christianity, she decided she did not want to get married but wanted to follow a religious life. With no men in her family, marriage at this time would have been a sensible option – ensuring a man and potentially also sons to support not only her, but her aunt and grandmother too. But instead of encouraging her to marry, St Porphyrius introduced Salaphtha to a deaconess who could instruct her and she went on to live a life of prayer and devotion. The writer of St Porphyrius’ history stated: ‘she became an example unto many other women also, for they followed zealously after the life and ways of the holy maiden Salaphtha.’ St Porphyrius also instructed the church steward to give Salphtha’s grandmother and aunt 4 pieces of silver daily – presumably meaning they could continue to live a dignified and independent life.
So here the early Gazan Christian community are not only empowering women and supporting those on the margins of society, but also of training up young Christians to become future leaders – much like the Arab Orthodox Cultural Centre had been doing.
At Embrace we are proud of our 170-year history and of continuing the social witness that Christians began back in 1854. But it seems that the Christians of Gaza can claim that their work in healthcare, community and education is continuing the work that their Christian forebears began over 1,500 years ago.
Now that, really is, incredible.
Miraculous Escape at St Porphyrius Church
On 23 July 2024, a missile fired from an Israeli tank penetrated the roof of one of the buildings at St Porphrius Church. The missile fell into a hall half filled with people sheltering from the war. Miraculously, it failed to detonate.