ATANASIO III (II), PATRIARCA MELKITA DI ALSA-SANDRA

ATHANASIUS III (II), Melkite Patriarch of ALEXANDRIA-SANDRA. - Died in Crete or Sinai between 1316 and 1320. A monk at Sinai, he became a dissident patriarch of Alexandria in 1270. Due to the persecutions of the Marcellucci, he left Egypt after two years and went to Constantinople, where he became involved in religious disputes. He opposed the Union of Lyon (1274) and in 1283 presided over the synod that deposed Bekkos. However, he later broke with Patriarch Gregory and managed to subscribe to the Second Synod of Blachernae (cf. V. Laurent, *Les signataires du second synode des Blachernes*, in *Échos d'Orient*, 26 [1921], p. 137); for this reason, he was exiled (1304) and later deposed (1308) by the overly strict Athanasius I. He then traveled to Crete, where there was a metochion of Sinai. During the journey, he was captured twice by the Latins but managed to free himself.