Phocas of Sinope

Saint Phocas the Hieromartyr was bishop of Sinope in northern Asia Minor and died a martyr in 117, in the persecution of Trajan. The Church remembers him on 22 September. He is honoured as a wonderworker and as a helper against fires and drowning.

He is said to have been born at Sinope around 47, of pious Christian parents, Pamphilus and Maria. He was full of zeal in preaching the Gospel and in his personal life, and became bishop of his city. On the shore of the Black Sea he strengthened Christians in the faith and brought many pagans to Christianity, which angered the pagans. According to tradition Jesus Christ foretold his martyrdom in a vision: a shining dove set a crown of flowers on his head and said: "Your cup is full, and you must drink it." He was not afraid and prepared for torments. Soon a ruler, Africanus, put him to long torments, and after a time cast him into a heated bath, in which he died in 117, in the time of Emperor Trajan. His life and legend may be a fusion of three men of this name: Phocas of Antioch, Phocas bishop of Sinope and Phocas the Gardener, of whom only the last seems authentic.

His relics were carried from Pontus to Constantinople around 404, and Saint John Chrysostom gave two homilies on the occasion. The translation of the relics is commemorated on 23 July. An old Byzantine church, Balatlar Church, built at Sinope on the site of his martyrdom no later than 606, yielded in the 2013 excavations a stone reliquary with early Christian objects and bones, which may show his tomb. A miracle of his is told: a man named Pontinus, captured by Arabs, bound and left to die, cried "Holy martyr Phocas, have mercy on me and save me", fell asleep, and saw the saint in a dream, who touched him and said: "The Lord Jesus Christ forgives you." When he woke he was unbound.