reign.

[Illustration: 316.jpg COINS OF JUSTINIAN]

The Emperor Mauricius was murdered by Phocas, who, in 602, succeeded
him on the throne of Constantinople. No sooner did the news of his death
reach Persia than Chosroes, the son of Hormuz, who had married Maria,
the daughter of Mauricius, declared the treaty with the Romans at an
end, and moved his forces against the new emperor, the murderer of his
father-in-law. During the whole of his reign Constantinople was kept in
a state of alarm and almost of siege by the Persians; and the crimes and
misfortunes of Phocas alike prepared his subjects for a revolt. In the
seventh year Alexandria rebelled in favour of the young Heraclius, son
of the late prefect of Cyrene; and the patriarch of Egypt was slain
in the struggle. Soon afterwards Heraclius entered the port of
Constantinople with his fleet, and Phocas was put to death after an
unfortunate reign of eight years, in which he had lost every province of
the empire.

During the first three years of the reign of Heraclius, Theodoras was
Bishop of Alexandria; but upon his death the wishes of the Alexandrians
so strongly pointed to John, the son of the prefect of Cyprus, that
the emperor, yielding to their request, appointed him to the bishopric.
Alexandria was not a place in which a good man could enjoy the pleasures
of power without feeling the weight of its duties. It was then suffering
under all those evils which usually befall the capital of a sinking
state. It had lost much of its trade, and its poorer citizens no longer
received a free supply of grain. The unsettled state of the country
was starving the larger cities, and the population of Alexandria was
suffering from want of employment. The civil magistrates had removed
their palace to a distance. But the new bishop seemed formed for these
unfortunate times, and, though appointed by the emperor, he was in every
respect worthy of the free choice of the citizens. He was foremost in
every work of benevolence and charity. The five years of his government
were spent in lightening the sufferings of the people, and he gained the
truly Christian name of John the Almsgiver. Beside his private acts of
kindness he established throughout the city hospitals for the sick and
almshouses for the poor and for strangers, and as many as seven lying-in
hospitals for poor women. John was not less active in outrooting all
that he thought heresy.

The first years of the reign of Heraclius