Thursday, February 26, 2026

It is the 26th of February 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Let me admit two things to you in service of our story today. My son, in line at the Disney parks yesterday, asked me for the German word for “hip,” like, where your belt generally is. I spend a decent amount of time in the German language and Germany itself, and I was stumped like a cow looking at a gate.

 

It’s important- it just wasn’t registering, to my dismay (The word is Hüfte). I was similarly befuddled recently when I was asked, in partial regard to the war in the Holy Lands, of the man who is said to have converted Gaza- St. Porphyry. Porphyry- for many dealing with the ancient church, is the name of a pagan philosopher and critic of Christianity. This is NOT St. Porphyry (obviously).

 

So- who is this, Christian saint of Gaza (a place that might make us perk our ears)? Well, today is his feast day, and so we are going to tell the story of this fascinating saint from a beleaguered section of the globe.

 

Porphyry was born around 347 AD, so Christianity was legal, his parents were in fact wealthy Christians in Thessalonica, and Porphyry was given a good education. But, like so many of the kids those days… institutionalized Christianity was too mainstream… so he fled to the Egyptian desert where he lived and learned under some of the greatest monks of his age. The earliest sources are written by devotees defending Porphyry, and so we read carefully and with a nose for typical exaggeration, but the outline is parallel to many young Christians in the 300s who sought a more devoted life in the desert.

 

After about 5 years, he moved on from Egypt and started making his way to the Holy Land- after all, it was the mother of Constantine, Helena, and St. Jerome who popularized going to the very places where Jesus and the disciples lived. Moving from the Jordanian wilderness to Jerusalem (see the parallels here to the people of God and Jesus), he is said to have received a piece of the true cross while in a trance at Golgotha.

 

His fame spread, and by 395, when the bishop of Gaza died, John of Caesarea - the Metropolitan- had an idea that this popular and mysterious Porphyry might be the next Bishop of the oft-beleaguered city on the banks of the Mediterranean.

 

Despite his (standard) pleas not to be given the title (it was thought you can’t imitate Jesus and be overly excited about taking a position of authority), he was made the Bishop of Gaza.

 

Gaza was known as a very pagan city, and so we get a story around 400 of the city suffering under drought conditions. The pagan priest prayed for rain, and none came… Porphyry called on the small church community to make a fast and pray. When a procession ended with a deluge of rain, it is said that hundreds converted and were baptized. (Just a curious bit for the year 400- they confessed and were immediately baptized- and these are stated to be men, women, and children…huh, an early attestation of some practices at least).

 

St Porphyry, now even more esteemed, makes his way to Constantinople, where he finds the Empress desiring a child… I’ll let you guess how the story goes. He prays, she conceives, and she repays the saint by having her husband order the destruction of the pagan temples and the building of a great church. This was the “conquest” of Christianity in Gaza- through prayer and fasting, signs and wonders, and then imperial decree.

 

But the heat generated around these events would foreshadow the city's tumultuous history. But throughout the Muslim expansion, the Crusades, and the modern tragedy in the Holy Lands, there has remained a Christian community in Gaza- the Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza is its historic center. It is where Christians have fled during wartime- and it was in the news just recently with the Church of Saint Porphyrius Airstrike… amidst the tragedy of the news in that part of the world, let us remember all people, the faithful Christians, and the local saint in a war torn land: St. Porphyry on his feast day, the 26th of February.

 

 

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and a text from 2 Timothy- a charge from Paul to Timothy, but a word for us as well:

3 I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 26th of February 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows “it’s Hüfte to be square,” Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read… Ich habe gestern den ganzen Tag in Disneyland verbracht und bin völlig erschöpft. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.