The Martyr of Sinope

The list of these brave martyrs is holy and divinely ordained, returning grace through suffering beyond suffering and repaying the Savior of all through blood beyond blood. Yet among them, the glory is not one single thing, nor have their gifts been distributed equally to all by a single measure; even the list of the saints does not escape this first and second distinction. I think the reason for this is the very precise and unyielding nature of the Judge. For He surveys both the magnitude of punishments and the instances of endurance, and while agonizing, He distributes rewards according to worth to the athletes. It is by no means paradoxical if the righteous are thus honored by God, since even among us, generals and contestants do not become equal to the best or to the combatants, but rather they award gifts to each according to the measure of his achievement.

I have passed through these things so that I may show how he who today provides our assembly with the occasion for companions and fellow-combatants is more illustrious. For the others are not all known by all, nor do they have their courage proclaimed; but there is no one who is ignorant of Phocas. Just as the ray of the sun has become visible to all eyes, so too the fame of this martyr has echoed through every hearing. For immediately, having stood at this honored shrine and touching the holy relic of the body, one is filled from that place with the narratives of all those speaking upon it. I see the gardener's skill, the soul's unmixedness, the hospitality, the excellence of the parables, the middle-land...

May God bless, and I become a disciple and a witness as I learn to guard piety even unto the final dangers. For if it seems good to you, setting aside the common and well-known things, I will recount to you, the lovers of martyrs, the exceptional narratives of the martyr.

Having brought forth this holy man, the great benefit of Christians, was the neighbor Sinope, an ancient and well-known city, prosperous in brave and philosophical men. And his life's pursuit was garden-farming and care, which he had possessed before the city gate at the mouth of the Isthmus, practicing it diligently for himself and for those in need as a comfort of life. And he also opened his small and meager table very willingly to strangers. Dwelling by the highway, he prepared what he had for the common use of those arriving; and being a young Lot, not of the Sodomites, but of the Sinopeans. As time passed, he found the commandment not without reward; for from hospitality he gained the pretext of the life-giving death; therefore, how he acted having taken up a little, you have heard.

When our word of piety was proclaimed and the wondrous preaching went out to every ear, knowing Christ and the mysteries from Him, the nations were stirred up, according to the Psalmist (Ps 2:1), and the kings and the rulers gathered together for the same; and the peoples of error were enraged at Jesus reigning. Every Christian was being sought as an evildoer, and the near one was being beaten and the far one was being hunted. Therefore, neither the simplicity of his occupation nor the gardener's life hid Phocas, but even he, as a genuine initiate of Christ, was made known. And indeed, those of this unhappy and flowing life came upon him, having been commanded.