e had recovered. He replied: "Forty days ago, being in extreme
pain, I made a shift to reach Mount Calvary, where, fainting away, I
fell into a kind of trance or ecstasy, during which I seemed to see our
Saviour on the cross, and the good thief in the same condition near him.
I said to Christ,_ Lord, Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom_:
whereupon he ordered the thief to come to my assistance, who, raising me
off the ground on which I lay, bade me go to Christ. I ran to him, and
he, coming off his cross, said to me: _Take this wood_ (meaning his
cross) _into thy custody_. In obedience to him, methought I laid it on
my shoulders, and carried it some way. I awaked soon after, and have
been free from pain ever since, and without the least appearance of my
having ever ailed any thing." Mark was so edified with the holy man's
discourse and good example, that he became more penetrated with esteem
and affection for him than ever, which made him desirous of living
always with him in order to his own improvement; for he seemed to have
attained to a perfect mastery over all his passions: he was endued at
the same time with a divine prudence, an eminent spirit of prayer, and
the gift of tears. Being also well versed in the holy scriptures and
spiritual knowledge, and no stranger to profane learning, he confounded
all the infidels and heretics who attempted to dispute with him. As to
the money and effects which Mark had brought him, he distributed all
among the necessitous in Palestine and Egypt, so {475} that, in a very
short time, he had reduced himself to the necessity of laboring for his
daily food. He therefore learned to make shoes and dress leather, while
Mark, being well skilled in writing, got a handsome livelihood by
copying books, and to spare. He therefore desired the saint to partake
of his earnings. But Porphyrius replied, in the words of St. Paul: _He
that doth not work let him not eat_. He led this laborious and
penitential life till he was forty years of age, when the bishop of
Jerusalem ordained him priest, though much against his will, and
committed to him the keeping of the holy cross: this was in 393. The
saint changed nothing in his austere penitential life, feeding only upon
roots and the coarsest bread, and not eating till after sunset, except
on Sundays and holidays, when he ate at noon, and added a little oil and
cheese: and on account of a great weakness of stomach, he mingled a very
small quantit