Translator's Introductory Notice.

Alexander was appointed successor to Achillas, ¹ as Bishop of Alexandria, about a.d. 312. The virtues of this prelate, which Eusebius has passed over entirely without mention, other ecclesiastical writers have greatly extolled. For on all sides he is styled "the staunchest upholder of evangelical doctrine," "the patron and protector of apostolic doctrine;" and "that bishop of divine faith, full of wisdom and of zeal enkindled by the Holy Spirit." He was the first to detect and to condemn Arius; ² and taking his stand upon passages of Holy Scripture, as Theodoret remarks, ³ he taught that the Son of God was of one and the same majesty with the Father, and had the same substance with the Father who begat Him.

At first he sought to bring back Arius from his heresy. But when he perceived that he openly and obstinately taught his false doctrines, he assembled a first and then a second synod of the bishops of Egypt, and degraded him from the order of the priesthood, ⁴ and cut him off from the communion of the Church. This proving ineffectual, the Council of Nicaea was convened, in which he was finally condemned. In combating the Arian heresy, Alexander endured, although at a great age, many trials, and died shortly after the holding of the council.