Saint Alexander of Alexandria

Alexander was patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt from 313 to 328, and he found in his hands the most explosive controversy in ancient Christian history. In his city there was a priest named Arius who preached a precise thesis: that the Son was of a substance similar to God’s, but that he had begun to exist at the moment he was created. Arius, among other things, hoped to become bishop: when Alexander was elected on the death of his predecessor, Arius understood that road was closed and rebelled openly. Here is what makes Alexander interesting. At first **he was very tolerant** of Arius’s errors — so tolerant that his own clergy nearly rebelled against him. He didn’t want to split the Church, and he tried to hold it together. Only when it was clear there was no other way did he call a council in Alexandria, in 318, which condemned the heresy. The question then went to the First Council of Nicaea, in 325, where it was established that the Son is consubstantial with the Father and not created. He was the one who drew up the acts of that council. At Nicaea something else happened that changed the shape of the Church: the administrative divisions of the Empire were adopted as a model for jurisdiction, and Alexandria was recognized for the first time as a patriarchal see, together with Rome and Antioch. If your name is Alexander or Alexandra, today is your name day: in Italy, Alessandro and Alessandra are two of the most common names, and they never go out of style. A man who waited longer than he had to before breaking. Anyone who has tried to hold together something that was coming apart knows that isn’t weakness.