Alexander

Saint Alexander, Bishop of Methymna, shepherded the Church of Methymna, a city in the north of the island of Lesbos, in the fourth century. According to tradition he was probably the first bishop of that see and took part in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325. The Church celebrates him on 30 November, and the calendar of the Church of Greece calls him a wonderworker.

No detailed historical record of his work has survived. Local tradition says that towards the end of his life he founded a monastery in the district of the village of Lafionas and spent his last years there.

Some distance from the village, beside ruins thought to be those of his monastery, stands a large stone sarcophagus in which he is believed to have been buried. It bears an inscription calling the one laid there a herald of the Trinity, a guardian of virginity and a friend of Christ, who prays for us. The exact reading of the inscription is disputed, but it shows that a hierarch who preached Christ was buried there. Under Ottoman rule even the Turkish inhabitants of Lafionas honoured the tomb, calling it the grave of "Iskender Baba", that is, of Father Alexander.

Most of what we know of him comes from the service sung on his feast. There he is praised as a most gentle shepherd who kept his flock in the true faith and drove off the wolves of heresy, as a bright star of monks, and as a hierarch who proclaimed the Holy Trinity and kept himself pure. The service also says that the shrine of his relics became a place of healing for the passions.

Chapels dedicated to Saint Alexander still stand in the region of the Metropolis of Methymna. The faithful of Lesbos honour him as a glory of their island and celebrate him on 30 November, the same day as the Holy Apostle Andrew.