The life of St Zoticus
In his own household he began caring for the poor and the orphaned, and with funds Constantine provided him he built, on a hill outside the city, a place of refuge that took in those suffering from leprosy, rescuing them from soldiers who had orders to drown such sufferers in the sea.
After Constantine's death his son Constantius, drawn toward the Arian party, came to the throne, and enemies accused Zoticus of having kept for himself money the late emperor had entrusted to him. Constantius had him bound behind wild mules and dragged to death over rocky ground. Struck afterward with remorse, the emperor ordered him buried with honor and commanded that a proper hospital for lepers, staffed by skilled physicians, be built where he died.
That foundation endured for centuries, restored under the emperor Maurice and later enlarged further still, growing in time to include not only care for lepers but an orphanage, a hospital, and a home for the aged, so that Zoticus is remembered both as servant of lepers and as cherisher of orphans.
