The Patriarchs of Alexandria after St. Mark

Christianity entered Alexandria, then the capital of Egypt, through St. Mark the Apostle, Egypt’s missionary and founder of its Church, and one of the Seventy Apostles and Four Evangelists. In the tradition of the Coptic Church, St. Mark is called the “Beholder of God” [COPTIC: ⲑⲉⲱⲣⲓⲙⲟⲥ], evangelist, missionary and first founder, a light unto Egypt, the disperser of idols, great evangelist and blessed disciple of Christ, by whom all the tribes of the earth were blessed and whose account had reached the ends of the world.

The Church of Alexandria was established by the mid-first century, and according to Church History as recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea, the arrival of St. Mark to Egypt is dated in the third year of the reign of Claudius Caesar (41-54 AD) approximately 43 AD, with the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria dating the arrival 15 years following the Ascension of our Lord (43/44 AD). Both the Church History and History of the Coptic Patriarchs have placed St. Mark’s founding of the Church of Alexandria in the year 43 AD while other sources have asserted the year 61 AD to have been the date, followed by his martyrdom in 68 AD, with the duration of his service in Alexandria to have lasted seven years.

For over six centuries, the city of Alexandria was the second largest city in the ancient world, beginning as a small city called Rhakotis and in the year 332 AD was chosen as capital of the country by Alexander the Great who later developed and expanded the city, and named the city after him. It remained the capital for over 970 years until the city of Fustat was founded in 641 AD. Initially Alexandria was a free port city attracting many Greeks, Jews, and other races to it. Originating within it a remarkable intellectual, philosophical and cultural movement and contained the most famous libraries of the Empire. East met West in the city which had seen Greek philosophy thrive as well as the spread of Hellenic culture and the Eastern culture from its neighbouring Jewish communities. In it, the books of the Old Testament were translated into Greek in the third century BC under the well-known translation known as the Septuagint during the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (246-283 BC), which had made possible the reading and understanding of the books of the Old Testament to Greek speakers.

St. Mark’s service in Egypt lasted for seven years (61-68 AD) alongside his evangelical work in other countries. He established an integrated pastoral ministry in Alexandria with the three orders of bishops, priests and deacons: consecrating Anianus (Hananiah), one of the first believers of the Christian faith under St. Mark, as bishop [of Alexandria], alongside the ordination of three priests and seven deacons. Recent studies and research have shown the Gospel of Mark to have been in circulation 12 years after the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The scholar Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) and St. John Chrysostom (347-407 AD) claim that the Gospel was likely written in Alexandria during the time St. Mark was formulating his liturgy, which is considered one of the world’s oldest liturgies and later written down by Pope Cyril I the 24th Patriarch (412-444 AD), now known as the Liturgy of St. Cyril (Cyrillian liturgy). Jerome (340-420 AD) states that it was St. Mark himself who established the School of Theology in Alexandria, the latter recognized as the first Theological Academy in the Christian world with the appointment of Justus as Dean of the School by St. Mark.

The missionary work of St. Mark the Apostle had reached the ancient world throughout the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. Having implanted the seed of Christianity in the fertile land of Egypt and watering it with his pure blood when during the celebration of the Feast of the Resurrection, at the time would coincide with the Feast of the pagan god Serapis, St. Mark was seized by pagans who seized and tied him with ropes and attached him to a horse and was dragged through the roads and streets of the city of Alexandria, tearing his body and flesh and was later placed him in prison. At midnight, while he was praying, an angel of the Lord appeared to him sand said, “Mark, servant of God and first Saint of Egypt, your name is written in the Book of Life, you are counted among the Apostles and the Saints, and your memory will never be forgotten.” Then the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared and called him “My Disciple and Evangelist!” The following morning, the pagans gathered once more and dragged him through the streets of the city until he departed and obtained the Crown of Martyrdom on Parmouti 30/68 AD, during the fourteenth year of the reign of Nero.

Synaxarium: Parmouti 30 (and Paopi 30 – commemorating the Appearance of his Holy Head).