The Holy Popes of Alexandria from the First Millennium
The third post in this series examines the Popes of Alexandria that were venerated in the First Millennium by the Chalcedonian Churches as shown by Church Calendars.
- Part One: The Patriarchs of Constantinople
- Part Two: The Archbishops of Jerusalem
- Part Four: The Patriarchs of Antioch
- Part Five: The Popes of Rome
Calendars
The calendars that I have used for this compilation come from the Patriarchates of Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Rome.
Jerusalem
The Calendar of John Zosimus = Gérard Garitte, ed. and tr., Le Calendrier du Palestino-Géorgien du Sinaiticus 34 (Xe Siecle) (Brussels: Bollandist Society, 1958). John Zosimus was a Georgian monk and scribe who lived in Palestine in the tenth century, dying sometime around 990. He wrote a church calendar which survives in an autographed copy in Mount Sinai written in Georgian. The Calendar covers the entire year.
Constantinople
The Typicon of the Great Church = Juan Mateos, ed. and tr., Le Typicon de la Grande Église, Volume 1 (Rome: 1962). The Typicon shows the church calendar used in the Hagia Sophia at the middle of the tenth century. It relies on two manuscripts:
Codex H (Holy Cross Monastery Codex 40) is dated by Mateos to the years 950-970, with 950-959 being the more probable. Venance Grumel however dates the ms. to the end of the tenth century, and believes it to be an edited copy of an earlier work. [Venance Grumel, 'Le Typicon de la Grande Église d'apres le Manuscrit de Sainte-Croix: Datation et Origine', Analecta Bollandia, 85 (1967), 45-57] Regardless the ms. certainly seems to be from the tenth century. This manuscript covers the entire year, with only a few days at the end of August absent.
Codex P (Patmos Codex 266) is dated from the second half of the ninth century to the first half of the tenth. This manuscript covers the entire year.
Rome
The Martyrology of Usuard = Jacques Dubois, ed., Le Martyrologe d'Usuard: Texte et Commentaire (Brussels: Bollandist Society, 1965). Usuard was a monk who produced a Martyrology during the 9th century. Dubois used the 9th century MS. "Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris, Manuscript Latin 13745" which is available online in a scanned copy here.
A Note on the Dating
The dates of the Popes are taken from Venance Grumel, La Chronologie (Paris: 1958), pp. 442─444. Many of the early bishops are of indeterminable dates.
List of the Popes of Alexandria
Avilius (?─?)
Usuard, p. 185 [MS. fol. 18r] (Feb. 22)
Dionysius (?─?)
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| Pope Dionysius (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dionisii_alek.jpg) |
Maximus (?─?)
Usuard, p. 149 [MS. fol. 5v] (Dec. 27)
Theonas (282─300)
Usuard, p. 288 [MS. fol. 59v] (Aug. 23)
Peter (300─311)
Le Typicon, p. 113 (Nov. 25) [Codices H & P]; Le Calendrier, pp. 61 (Apr. 18) & 106 (Nov. 25)
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| Pope Peter (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_of_Alexandria.jpg) |
Achillas (311─312)
Le Typicon, p. 303 (Jun. 3) [Codex P]
Alexander (312─328)
Le Calendrier, p. 45 (Jan. 18)
Athanasius (?─373)
Le Typicon, pp. 201 (Jan. 18) [Codices H & P] & 279 (May 2) [Codices H & P]; Le Calendrier, pp. 45 (Jan. 18), 64 (May 2), & 85─86 (Aug. 23)
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| Pope Athanasius (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Athanasius_I.jpg) |
Cyril (412─444)
Le Typicon, pp. 201 (Jan. 18) [Codices H & P] & (Jun. 27) 323 [Codices H & P]; Le Calendrier, pp. 45 (Jan. 18), 71 (Jun. 9), 73 (Jun. 20), 74 (Jun. 26 & 27), 85─86 (Aug. 23)
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| Pope Cyril (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Cyril_of_Alexandria_at_Chora.jpg) |
Proterius (451─457)
Le Calendrier, p. 52
Eulogius (581─608)
Le Typicon, pp. 233 (Feb. 13) [Codices H & P] & 313 (Jun. 13) [Codices H & P]
Theodore (608─609)
Le Typicon, p. 121 (Dec. 3) [Codices H & P]
Potential Venerations
Philip
The Martyrology of Usuard commemorates on September 13 "In the city of Alexandria in Egypt, Saint Philip the bishop and father of Saint Eugenia the Virgin" (p. 302). I cannot find information on there being a Pope Philip of Alexandria
Theophilus (384─412)
Pope Theophilus does not figure in any Chalcedonian Church Calendar. Yet it appears that he was understood to be an "unofficial" or "unnamed" saint. The evidence I have found comes from a declaration made by the Fifth Ecumenical Council:
In addition we also follow in everything the holy fathers and doctors of the holy church of God, Athanasius, Hilary, Basil, Gregory the Theologian and Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose, Augustine, Theophilus, John of Constantinople, Cyril, Leo and Proclus, and we accept everything they expounded on the orthodox faith and in condemnation of heretics; we also accept the other holy and orthodox fathers who preached the orthodox faith in the holy church of God irreproachably till the end of their lives. {Richard Price, tr., The Acts of the Council of Constantinople of 553, Volume 1 (Liverpool: 2009) p. 224}
Going by this statement it seems clear that Theophilus was a saint in the Chalcedonian Church. His absence from official calendars can be explained due to his participation in deposition and exile of John Chrysostom whose popularity throughout the Chalcedonian Churches eclipsed Theophilus. His opposition to Chrysostom probably made many hesitant to single him out for a particular day of commemoration, whilst not denying his individual sanctity.
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