ALESSANDRO, PATRIARCA DI ALESSANDRIA, SANTO

ALESSANDRO, patriarch of ALESSANDRIA, saint. — He occupied the see from 312 to 326. When Arius, a member of his Church, began to spread among the clergy and monks of Alexandria his doctrines on the Word, he immediately perceived their opposition to traditional faith, and sought by persuasive and conciliatory means to correct him. These measures having proved unsuccessful, around 320 he convened a council, at which about a hundred bishops from Egypt and Libya were present, and in which Arius and his partisans were solemnly condemned. Since Arius sought refuge and protection with other bishops, A. addressed numerous letters to them to warn them. Of about seventy such letters, which included an initial collection, only two have come down to us, through Socrates (Hist. eccl., I, 6) and Theo-