Alexander of Alexandria
(d. 328)

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Synopsis

ALEXANDER patriarch of Alexandria 313-326. Under him the Arian controversy broke out in 319. Arius was condemned by a synod in Alexandria, in 320. at which a hundred bishops were present. When banished, he went to Palestine; and, as he was well received there, Alexander wrote first to certain bishops separately, then an encyclical letter to all the bishops of the church, setting forth the errors of Arius. The interference of the Emperor Constantine, though intended to still the rising storm, gave only occasion to more debate; and in 325 the first ecumenical council followed. Of Alexander's letters two have come down to us, - one having been preserved by Socrates (I. 6), and another by Theodoret (I. 4).

"ALEXANDER," Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn., Vol. 1. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894. p.53.

Primary Sources

	Alexander of Alexandria, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 6: 289-304.
	Athanasius, Defense Against the the Arians.
	Epiphanius, Panarion 69.4.
	Socrates, Church History 1.5-6, 9.
	Sozomen, Church History 1.15.
	Theodoret, Church History 1.4.

Secondary Sources

	St Alexander (Catholic Encyclopedia)
	Pauline Allen, "The Festal Letters of the Patriarchs of Alexandria: Evidence for Social History in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries," Phronema 29.1 (2014): 1-19.
	V. Burrus, "The Heretical Woman as Symbol in (bishop) Alexander, Athanasius, Epiphanius, and Jerome," Harvard Theological Review 84 (1991): 229-48.
	M.J. Edwards, "Alexander of Alexandria and the Homoousion," Vigiliae Christianae 66.5 (2012): 482–502.
	Adam C. English, "Alexander of Alexandria, Arius, and Theological Method,\" Phronema 30.1 (2015): 1–22.
	M.J. Edwards, "Alexander of Alexandria and the Homoousion," Vigiliae Christianae 66.5 (2012): 482–502.
	Alvyn Pettersen, "The Arian Context of Athanasius of Alexandria’s Tomus Ad Antiochenos VII," The Journal of Ecclesiastical History 41.2 (April 1990): 183-198.