Phocas of Sinope

When did Phocas die?

Phocas of Sinope is dated d. c. AD 303 (martyr) in the archive, which places Phocas in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

Which early sources mention Phocas?

Phocas of Sinope is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Asterius of Amasea and John Chrysostom. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Phocas from?

The archive associates Phocas of Sinope with Sinope, Pontus. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.

Who were Phocas’ contemporaries?

The archive links Phocas of Sinope to 1 other figure, including Emperor Diocletian. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

[First attested ~100 years later, at the height of his Black Sea cult.] Phocas dwelt by the gate of Sinope, tilled a garden, and from it fed himself and every stranger. When the men sent to slay him came unknowing to his own table, he gave them supper and lodging, dug his grave that night among his vegetables, and in the morning showed himself: 'I am he whom ye seek.' The sailors of the Euxine sing of him at their oars, and keep a portion of their mess for Phocas.

[Preached at Constantinople as the relics of Phocas arrived from Sinope, with the whole city gone out along the water to meet them.]

One of John Chrysostom's occasional homilies for the feasts of the martyrs, preached at Antioch or Constantinople between c. AD 386 and 400. These are not in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Greek: Migne, Patrologia Graeca 50. English translations by Wendy Mayer and Bronwen Neil, St John Chrysostom: The Cult of the Saints (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2006); no public-domain English exists.