Fragments from the Writings of Peter.
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P
Peter of Alexandria
Peter of Alexandria
? · Alexandria
Peter of Alexandria (died 311) was the seventeenth bishop of Alexandria and, according to the church historian Philip of Sidetes, head of its Catechetical School before his episcopate — though Philip's list of school heads is incomplete and the claim is not corroborated by earlier sources. He succeeded Theonas around 300 CE. During the Diocletianic Persecution, beginning around 303–304, he went into exile, encouraging his church by letter while sheltering in Phoenicia, Palestine, Mesopotamia, and various islands. He returned to Alexandria, convened a council circa 306 that deposed Meletius of Lycopolis and excommunicated Arius, and was suddenly arrested and beheaded on 25 November 311 by order of the emperor Maximinus Daia, earning the title "Seal of the Martyrs" as the last bishop to die in the Great Persecution.
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Stop 1 of 1260–311Birthplace, Bishopric, Martyrdom
AlexandriaEgypt
What they did here
Peter was born, educated under bishop Theonas, and appointed bishop c. 300; he convened a council here c. 306 against Meletius and excommunicated Arius, before being arrested and beheaded on 25 November 311 by order of Maximinus Daia. The birth year 260 is unattested and approximate.
Alexandria in this era
Under Roman imperial rule, Alexandria hosted the Catechetical School (Didascaleion), where Clement and then Origen turned the city into early Christianity's foremost theological workshop, pioneering allegorical Scripture interpretation and systematic theology in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries.
About Alexandria
Alexandria is the main Mediterranean port of northern Egypt and the country's second city. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, it became the capital of the Ptolemies, whose Museum and Great Library made it the leading centre of Hellenistic learning. It also held one of the largest Jewish communities of antiquity, where the Greek Bible translation known as the Septuagint was produced and Philo wrote. Church tradition traces its patriarchate to Mark the Evangelist, and its catechetical school was led by Clement and Origen. Arab forces under Amr ibn al-As took the city in 641, and it remained a commercial and scholarly hub of the Islamic world; the Sufi master Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari was born there.
In Alexandria at the same time
Antony of Egypt, Athanasius of Alexandria, St., Alexander of Alexandria
Across the traditions, in Alexandria at the same time
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Peter of Alexandria’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
Antony of Egypt, Athanasius of Alexandria, St., Alexander of Alexandria
Works(3)
The Canonical Epistle, with the Commentaries of Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras.
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The Genuine Acts of Peter.
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