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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Church of Alexandria</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01300b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Founded by St. Mark the Evangelist, the center from which Christianity spread throughout all Egypt, the nucleus of the powerful Patriarchate of Alexandria"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="01300b.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/a.htm">A</a> > The Church of Alexandria</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>The Church of Alexandria</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of Alexandria, founded according to the constant tradition of both East and West by <a href="../cathen/09672c.htm">St. Mark the Evangelist</a>, was the centre from which <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> spread throughout all <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, the nucleus of the powerful Patriarchate of Alexandria. Within its <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a>, during its most flourishing period, were included about 108 <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>; its territory embraced the six provinces of Upper Libya, Lower Libya (or Pentapolis), the <a href="../cathen/14561a.htm">Thebaid</a>, <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, Acadia (or Heptapolis), and Augustamnica. In the beginning the successor of <a href="../cathen/09672c.htm">St. Mark</a> was the only <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan</a>, and he governed ecclesiastically the entire territory. As the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> multiplied, and other <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan sees</a> were created, he became known as the arch-metropolitan. The title of patriarch did not come into use until the fifth century. [For the controversy concerning the manner of electing the earliest successors of <a href="../cathen/09672c.htm">St. Mark</a> see that article and <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">BISHOP</a> (cf. Cabrol, Dict. d'archéol. chrét., I, 1204-1210).]</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Up to the time of the second <a href="../cathen/04423f.htm">ecumenical council</a> (381) the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Alexandria ranked next to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">Bishop of Rome</a>. By the third canon of this council, afterwards confirmed by the twenty-eighth canon of the <a href="../cathen/03555a.htm">Council of Chalcedon</a> (452), the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Constantinople, supported by imperial authority and by a variety of concurring advantages, was given the right of precedency over the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Alexandria. But neither <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> nor Alexandria recognized the claim until many years later. During the first two centuries of our era, though <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a> enjoyed unusual quiet, little is known of the <a href="../cathen/07365a.htm">ecclesiastical history</a> of its chief see, beyond a barren list of the names of its <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>, handed down to us chiefly through the <a href="../cathen/07365a.htm">ecclesiastical historian</a> <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a>. They were, in order: Anianus (d. 84); Abilius; Cerdon, one of the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">presbyters</a> whom St. Mark <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a>; Primus, also called Ephraim, advanced from the grade of <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">layman</a>; Justus (d. 130); Eumenes; Mark II; Celadion; <a href="../cathen/01232a.htm">Agrippinus</a>; Julian (d. 189). With the successors of Julian we have something more than a mere list of names. Demetrius governed the Church of Alexandria for forty-two years, and it was he who deposed and <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunicated</a> <a href="../cathen/11306b.htm">Origen</a>, notwithstanding his great work as a catechist. <a href="../cathen/07242a.htm">Heraclas</a> (d. 247) exercised his power as arch-metropolitan by deposing Ammonius, Bishop Thmuis, and installing a successor (Photius, P.G., CIV, 1229).</p> <p>Maximus and Theonas (282-300) were followed by Peter, the first occupant of the See of St. Mark to die a <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyr</a> (311 or 312). Then came Achillas, who <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a> Arius through <a href="../cathen/07648a.htm">ignorance</a> of the man's real character; otherwise <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">St. Athanasius</a> certainly would not have given that <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> the praise he does. On the death of Achillas, Alexander, who proved himself a <a href="../cathen/15753a.htm">zealous</a> defender of the <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodox</a> <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> in the contest against Arius, was elected <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> by unanimous consent of <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> and people, and in spite of the interested opposition of Arius. Alexander, accompanied by his <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a>, took part in the <a href="../cathen/11044a.htm">Council of Nicæa</a> (325), but died soon after (328). The Meletian faction took advantage of his death, and of the absence of <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a> from the city, to intrude a creature of their own into the vacant see, one Theonas. He survived but three months, when <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a>, having returned, was chosen to succeed Alexander.</p> <p>Of the ante-Nicene <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> who ruled this church, Dionysius and Alexander were the most illustrious, as also were St. Athanasius and St. Cyril among those who subsequently filled the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a>. <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a>, supported by <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, where he sought protection and help, the unconquered champion of the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> Faith against Arius, died in 373, a glorious confessor of the Faith, after an episcopate of forty-three years. The interval between the death of <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a> and the accession of St. Cyril (412) was filled by Peter II, a <a href="../cathen/15753a.htm">zealous</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, who was <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obliged</a> to seek refuge in <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> from the persecuting <a href="../cathen/01707c.htm">Arians</a> (d. 381); Timothy I (381-385) who was present at the second <a href="../cathen/04423f.htm">ecumenical council</a>, and was <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honoured</a> with the contempt of the imperial court, because he vigorously opposed, and refused to acknowledge, the <a href="../cathen/04670a.htm">decree</a> which gave the Patriarchate of Constantinople rank over that of Alexandria; Theophilus (385-412), the immediate predecessor of <a href="../cathen/04592b.htm">Cyril</a>. Under St. Cyril (412-444) whose noble defence of the Divinity of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> has rendered his memory precious in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, the Patriarchate of Alexandria reached its most flourishing epoch. Over 100 <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, among them ten <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitans</a>, acknowledged his authority; he tells us himself that the city was renowned for the number of its <a href="../cathen/03041a.htm">churches</a>, <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>, <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, and religious (P.G., LXX, 972). At this time, too, the patriarch possessed considerable <a href="../cathen/02137c.htm">civil power</a>, and may be said to have reached the zenith of his <a href="../cathen/12776c.htm">reputation</a>. The decline of his office dates from the middle of the fifth century. Under <a href="../cathen/05019a.htm">Dioscurus</a> (444-451), the unworthy successor of St. Cyril, the Church of Alexandria became embroiled in the <a href="../cathen/10489b.htm">Monophysite</a> <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a>. <a href="../cathen/05019a.htm">Dioscurus</a> was deposed, and later banished. The election of Proterius as <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> patriarch was followed by an open <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a>. Proterius was <a href="../cathen/07441a.htm">murdered</a> in 457, and Timothy Ælurus, a <a href="../cathen/10489b.htm">Monophysite</a>, was intruded into the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a>. The <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a> thus began by <a href="../cathen/05019a.htm">Dioscurus</a> and Timothy gave rise to two factions, the <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodox</a>, or <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a>, party, which maintained the <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> of the two natures in <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, as prescribed by the <a href="../cathen/03555a.htm">Council of Chalcedon</a> (451), and the <a href="../cathen/10489b.htm">Monophysites</a>, who followed the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> of <a href="../cathen/05019a.htm">Dioscurus</a>. The former came to be known as <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a> or Royalists, i.e., adherents or favourites of the emperor, and the latter as <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a>. The possession of the <a href="../cathen/01300b.htm">See of Alexandria</a> alternated between these parties for a time; eventually each communion maintained a distinct and independent succession. Thus the Church of Alexandria became the scene of serious disturbances, which finally brought about its ruin.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>We touch but briefly on the more important events that followed. The <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Patriarch, John Talaia, elected in 482, was banished by the Emperor Zeno, through the intrigues of his Jacobite rival, <a href="../cathen/11770a.htm">Peter Mongus</a>. In his exile he sought refuge with <a href="../cathen/14002a.htm">Pope Simplicius</a> (468-483), who exerted himself seriously for the re-establishment of John, but to no purpose. The latter never returned to his <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a>. With his banishment the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> succession of Alexandrian <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> was interrupted for sixty years, and the local Church fell into the utmost confusion. The Emperor Justinian, anxious to end this state of affairs, restored the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> succession (538-539) in the <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> of the Abbot Paul. Unfortunately, the new patriarch gave some grievous offence to the Emperor, whereupon he was deposed and Zoilus succeeded him in 541. Among the successors of the latter patriarch, Eulogius, Theodore Scribo, and St. John the Almoner (d. 620) especially distinguished themselves, and restored to the Alexandrian Church something of its former reputation. In the meantime, through mutual factions, the influence of the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> had gradually waned until the election of the Patriarch Benjamin (620). On the other hand, during the contest between the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> and <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a> (<a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>), so completely had the spirit of sectarianism extinguished the feeling of nationality that at the time of the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Saracen</a> invasion the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> did not hesitate, in their animosity towards the <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a>, the imperial or Byzantine party, to give up (638) their cities and places of strength to the invaders (see HERACLIUS, <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">ISLAM</a>). The favour which they thus secured with the conquerors enabled them to assume a predominant position [Dub. Rev., XXIV (1848), 439]. Hitherto the <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a>, though far less numerous than the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a>, had held the <a href="../cathen/02137c.htm">civil power</a>, owing to the aid of the Emperor and his officials. By the treason of the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> they lost not only this power, but with it many of their churches and <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>. After the death of the Patriarch Peter (654) the <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchite</a> succession was broken for nearly 80 years, a fact that contributed much to the complete Jacobite control of the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>. During this interval the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">Metropolitan</a> of <a href="../cathen/15109a.htm">Tyre</a> <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, whose number rapidly decreased.</p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Saracen</a> domination, so gladly welcomed by the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a>, <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> to them more of a curse than a blessing. They suffered many bitter persecutions under successive <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Moslem</a> rulers. Many among the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> and <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laity</a> <a href="../cathen/01624b.htm">apostatized</a>. Nor did the <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a> escape. Indeed they were worse off, ground as they were between the upper and nether millstones, the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> and the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Saracens</a>. When their <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> was restored (727), under Cosmas, in the caliphate of Nischam, their situation was deplorable. Through the exertions of this patriarch they got back many of their churches. Ignorance and indolence, however, had spread among the <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a>. In the services of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> the Greek language was soon wholly replaced by the Arabic, and when, in the beginning of the ninth century, the <a href="../cathen/15333a.htm">Venetians</a> carried away to their own city the body of St. Mark, the ruinous <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> was hardly more that a name.</p> <p>With the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> matters were not much better. There was a succession of undistinguished <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>, except at intervals, when the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a> was vacant because of internal disputes. Persecution was frequent, and renegades were numerous. By the eleventh century Alexandria had ceased to be the sole place where the patriarch was <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a>. From this date Cairo claimed that <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honour</a> alternately with Alexandria, though the <a href="../cathen/05479c.htm">enthronement</a> took place in the latter city. A little later, during the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> of Christodulus (Abd-el-Messiah), Cairo became the fixed and official residence of the Jacobite patriarch. In the beginning of the reign of Saladin (1169) a serious controversy arose between the Jacobite Patriarchs of Antioch and those of Alexandria, concerning the use of auricular confession. The Jacobite parties of the two <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchates</a> had for many years kept in close touch with one another. More than once their relations were strained, as happened particularly in the time of John X (Barsusan) of Antioch, and Christodulus (Abd-el-Messiah) of Alexandria. They fell out over the proper presentation of the Eucharistic oblations, in which the Lyrian <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> were in the habit of mingling a little oil and salt. (Neale, Patriarchate of Alex., II, 214). Christodulus insultingly rejected the practice. <a href="../cathen/08468a.htm">John of Antioch</a> wrote in its defence. The new controversy about the use of auricular confession severed the once friendly relations of the two communions. Mark, son of Kunbar, and his successor, <a href="../cathen/04592b.htm">Cyril of Alexandria</a>, were for abolishing the practice altogether, while Michael of Antioch as vigorously insisted upon its continuance (<a href="../cathen/12769a.htm">Renaudot</a>, Liturg. Orient., II, 50, 448; Historia Patr. Jacobit. Alex., 550; Neale, op. cit., II, 261).</p> <p>For twenty years (1215-35) the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> were without a patriarch, because they could not agree among themselves. During this break in the Jacobite succession, Nicholas I, the <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchite</a> patriarch, addressed an appeal to <a href="../cathen/08013a.htm">Pope Innocent III</a> (1198-1216), imploring his good offices with the <a href="../cathen/14493a.htm">Templars</a> and <a href="../cathen/07476a.htm">Hospitallers</a> in favour of some <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> captives (Neale, op. cit., II, 279). A few years later (1221), when Damietta had fallen into the hands of the <a href="../cathen/10424a.htm">Saracens</a>, Nicholas wrote again to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">Pope</a>, <a href="../cathen/07457a.htm">Honorius III</a> (1216-27), for assistance in the struggles that were fast overwhelming his Church. We may note here that the revolutions which subsequently befell the Greek Empire of Constantinople had little effect on the fortunes of the Church of Alexandria. The same may be said of the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">Crusades</a>; though closely connected with local Alexandrian history, they do not seem to have had much influence upon its internal <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> affairs.</p> <p>There is little left to chronicle of the Jacobite and <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchite</a> communions of the Church of Alexandria. Both suffered severely in the crushing <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> of the fourteenth century. The <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a>, utterly demoralized, managed to continue the succession of their <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>, who, as we have seen, resided no longer in Alexandria, but in old Cairo. In its widest extension, the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> included fifteen <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">bishoprics</a>, and laid claim to <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> over all the Coptic Christians of <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, <a href="../cathen/01075e.htm">Abyssinia</a>, <a href="../cathen/11147a.htm">Nubia</a>, and Barbary, or the native tribes of northern Africa. During this dark period the <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a> fell more and more under the influence of the Byzantine <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>, and thus sank over deeper into the <a href="../cathen/13535a.htm">Greek schism</a>. Their patriarch, a mere shadow of what he once was, resides at Stamboul, and glories in the title of "<a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">Patriarch</a> of Alexandria and Ecumenical Judge". It is an empty title, since he is supreme <a href="../cathen/11537b.htm">pastor</a> over only five thousand <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">souls</a>, and where formerly more than one hundred <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> acknowledged the <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of the patriarch of Alexandria, only four now form the synod of the "Ecumenical Judge". They are the Bishops of <a href="../cathen/05566a.htm">Ethiopia</a>, <a href="../cathen/10176a.htm">Memphis</a>, <a href="../cathen/04615b.htm">Damietta</a>, and Rosetta.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>It will not be out of place to treat briefly of the Latin <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> of the Church of Alexandria. Since the seventh century the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>, as we have seen, was divided between the <a href="../cathen/14417a.htm">Jacobites</a> and the <a href="../cathen/10157b.htm">Melchites</a>, both of which bodies eventually became <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schismatical</a>. Among the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> a few had courted the friendship of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, but none seems to have entered into full communion with her. There were, however, some <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>, as there are today, who were in no sense <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schismatical</a>, but remained in full communion with the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>. It was doubtless in their behalf that in the pontificate of <a href="../cathen/08013a.htm">Innocent III</a> (1198-1216) a patriarch of the Latin rite was appointed for Alexandria. The time seemed favourable for such an appointment, because of the progress of the <a href="../cathen/04543c.htm">Crusades</a>. The actual date is, however, uncertain. Sollerius (Acta SS., Jun. vii, 1887), and the "Lexicon Biblicum" of Simon, quoted by him, speak of a "S. Athanasius Claromontanus pro Latinus, <font size=-2>A.D.</font> 1219". There is no further mention of this patriarch, nor is it <a href="../cathen/03539b.htm">certain</a> that he was the first incumbent of the Latin <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>. We say it is not certain, because the <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a> of appointment, or perhaps of the <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecration</a>, of <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a>, as given by Sollerius, is 1219, whereas the establishment of the Latin <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> occurred in 1215. This is clear from the Twelfth General Council (Fourth Lateran), held in that year (<a href="../cathen/08718b.htm">Labbe</a>, xi., 153). Neale (op. cit., II, 288) gives a list of the Latin <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>, and heads it with the name of Giles, a <a href="../cathen/12354c.htm">Dominican</a> <a href="../cathen/06280b.htm">friar</a> appointed in 1310 by <a href="../cathen/04020a.htm">Clement V</a>. From this on he follows Sollerius (Acta SS., loc. cit.), who gives us the names of the Latin <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> from 1219 to 1547.</p> <p>After the loss of the Holy Land and the overthrow of all Latin domination in the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantine Empire</a>, the Latin Patriarchate of Alexandria ceased to exist except as a mere titular dignity (Wernz, Jus Decretalium, p. 837). In 1895, <a href="../cathen/09169a.htm">Pope Leo XIII</a> established a <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> of the Coptic rite with two suffragan <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">sees</a>, Minieh and Luksor, for the Copts in communion with the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a> (Monit. Eccle., ix, part. 1, 225).</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">VANSLEB, <em>Histoire de l'église d'Alexandrie</em> (Paris, 1677); LE QUIEN, <em>Oriens Chritianus</em> (Paris, 1740), II, 329-512, III, 1141-46; RENAUDOT, <em>Historia Patriarcharum Alexandr. Jacobitarum</em> (Paris, 1713); SOLLERIUS, <em>De Patriarchis Alexandrinis</em>, in <em>Acta</em> ss. <em>Jun. vii</em> (ed. Paris, 1867); MORINI, <em>De Patriarcharum et Primatum origine</em>, in his <em>Exercit. Select.</em> (Paris, 1669); EUTYCHIUS (Melchite Patriarch of Alexandria, 933-940), <em>Alexandrinæ Ecclesiæ Origines</em> (ed. Pococke, Oxon., 1658); NEALE, <em>The Patriarchate of Alexandria</em>, (2 vols. London 1847); MACAIRE, <em>Hist. de l'église d'Alex. depuis Saint Marc jusqu'à nos jours</em> (Cairo, 1894). The ecclesiastical antiquities of Alexandria are treated at length by LECLERCQ in <em>Dict. d'archéol. chrét. et de lit.</em>, I, 1098-1182; cf. <em>ibid</em>. (1177-82) an extensive bibliography, also in CHEVALIER, <em>Rép. des Sources hist.</em> (Topo-Bibl.), I, 49-52.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Woods, J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1907).</span> <span id="apaarticle">The Church of Alexandria.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01300b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Woods, Joseph.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"The Church of Alexandria."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 1.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1907.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01300b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Thomas J. Bress.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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