Phocas lived near the gate of Sinope in Pontus by working a garden, which supported him and let him give generously to the poor.
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September 22
September 22 (also listed: March 5, July 3)
Martyr
Phocas lived near the gate of Sinope in Pontus by working a garden, which supported him and let him give generously to the poor. Butler's sources are panegyrics by St. Asterius and St. Chrysostom.
His relics were divided among many churches. Asterius, bishop of Amasea about 400, praised him on his feast, and the emperor Phocas later built a great church in his honour at Constantinople. Butler and Baring-Gould agree on 303.
In a persecution, probably that of Diocletian, he was impeached as a Christian; and executioners were sent to despatch him. These men before entering Sinope stopped to rest at his house. He courteously entertained them, and then when they had supped told them that he knew the man they were sent to kill, and that he would deliver him into their hands on the morrow.
Welcome guests and strangers. Hospitality shows up in this account.
Stay faithful when it costs you. This account is about holding firm under pressure.
Make time for silence. Solitude and withdrawal to pray shape this life.
In a persecution, probably that of Diocletian [Roman emperor 284–305, who began the ‘Great Persecution’ of Christians in 303], he was impeached as a Christian; and executioners were sent to despatch him.
These men before entering Sinope stopped to rest at his house. He courteously entertained them, and then when they had supped told them that he knew the man they were sent to kill, and that he would deliver him into their hands on the morrow. After they had retired to bed, he dug a grave, prepared everything for his burial, and spent the night in disposing his soul for his last hour. When it was day he went to his guests, and told them Phocas was found, and in their power as soon as they were ready to apprehend him. Glad at this news, they inquired where he was. “He is here present/'* said the martyr; “ I myself am the man/' Struck at his undaunted resolution, and at the composure of his mind, they stood a considerable time as if they had been motionless, nor could they at first think of imbruing their hands in the blood of a person in whom they discovered such heroic virtue, and by whom they had been so courteously entertained. He indirectly encouraged them by saying, that as for himself, he looked upon such a death as the greatest of favours, and his highest advantage. At length recovering themselves from their surprise, they struck off his head. The Christian? of that city, after peace was restored to the Church, buhta church over his relics [the bodily remains of a saint, or objects they used, kept with honor].
Feast: September 22
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Phocas the Gardener's story, and a nudge to keep going.
Image: Phocas the Gardener of Sinope (Menologion of Basil II).jpg · Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators[1]: Pantoleon with G · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.
Image: Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators[1]: Pantoleon with G, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.
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