Proterius of Alexandria

Saint Proterius, hieromartyr, was Patriarch of Alexandria from 451 until his martyrdom in 457. A presbyter of Alexandria, he remained faithful to the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon and was placed on the throne after the deposition of Dioscorus. For this faith he was killed by a crowd that would not accept the Council's decisions. He is commemorated on 28 March.

Presbyter of Alexandria

Proterius was a presbyter in Alexandria, most likely serving the church of Saint Cyrinus, and had been a disciple of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, as was Timothy Aelurus. Under Patriarch Dioscorus, a champion of monophysitism, which taught that in Christ there is one nature, he stood against him and suffered much for it. The emperors then were Marcian and Pulcheria.

The Council of Chalcedon, in 451, condemned the monophysite teaching and deposed Dioscorus. The Egyptian bishops refused to sign, asking to wait for their new patriarch. Because Alexandria was largely opposed to the Council, the choice of a successor came with difficulty and apparently in secret. According to some sources, Proterius was chosen only at the end of 452 or in 453.

Patriarch

The people received the election with unrest. Proterius held the throne only with the help of troops sent from Constantinople, and few Egyptian bishops gathered around him. He served in an ordinary parish church, not the cathedral, where the presbyter Timothy Aelurus served and would not recognize him. He sent Pope Leo a confession of his faith and received an encouraging letter in reply, and at Alexandria he gathered a synod that condemned Timothy Aelurus.

The opposition did not cease. Timothy, who had many followers among the monks, is said to have gone through their cells at night, claiming to be an angel and urging them to break communion with Proterius. With this began the division between the Coptic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church in Egypt, which has not been fully healed to this day.

Martyrdom

In 457 bloody clashes broke out in Alexandria. The sources tell the end of Proterius differently. According to one tradition he had left the city to hide, but the prophet Isaiah appeared to him and told him to return, for he was waiting for him. He went back into the church, where the crowd seized him and stabbed him with knives, and six Christians died with him.

Other sources say that he was killed in the baptistery of a church where he had hidden, and that his body was dragged by a rope through the streets and then burned. Evagrius Scholasticus says he was killed by the mob opposed to the Council, and Zacharias of Mitylene says by the Byzantine garrison. Bishops from several provinces wrote to Emperor Leo I about his murder.

The Orthodox Church commemorates him as hieromartyr on 28 March; some synaxaria commemorate him on 28 February. The Coptic Church does not recognize him as a legitimate patriarch.