Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict

Eight: Community and Factionalism in the Christian Community

Eight Community and Factionalism in the Christian Community T here is no doubt that Peter Is refusal to sit upon the patriarchal throne was the source of considerable consternation among the Alexandrian laity. Wh was Peter so resistant to the will of the people? In this instance, the vox populi ran up against the numinous aura of authority which Peter saw residing in the office of patriarch. Later, in his consistory, Peter revealed to the clergy his reasons for opposing the people; Do you not know the fear and trembling my heart feels, and how much that oppresses me? For beloved, whenever I ascend the episcopal chatr and come near to the throne while standing in prayer—as you see—and I look on the throne and see what radiant and inexpressible power resides there, fear mixed with joy comes over me and mightily crashes my bones, and I am unable to do anything.1 How did the Alexandrian episcopate acquire this awesome pres­ tige? In part, this authority derived from the bishop's role of stand­ ing in the place of Christ when ministering to his people. For the Christian community, this was made possible by the continuous presence of the Holy Spirit in the bishop's ministry However, Peter's perception of a mystenum tremendum was also predicated on his 245 Alexandria in Late Antiquity f i g . 22. Patriarchal s u c c e s s i o n . T h e mummified r e m a i n s of patriarch Timothy (d. 385} next to his successor, Theophilus. Marginal illustration from a chronicle written in Alexandria in the early fifth century P.Colcniscev 6 recto. (From A. Bauer and J. Strygowski, "Eine alexandnnische Weltchronik," Denk­ schrijten der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschajten: Wien 512 [19061: 1­204. 6 recto) 246 Factionalism in the Christian Community 247 realization of an unbroken continuity in the episcopate which ex­ tended all the way back to Saint Mark himself. This continuity endowed the patriarchate with an aura of authority comparable with that of Saint Peter in Rome. Mark's successors were buried near the Evangelist's martynum, and special feasts were appointed in the liturgical calendar to commemorate former bishops. We have al­ ready observed how a new bishop might even have received a blessing from the hand of his deceased predecessor. This sense of continuity is also evidenced in a marginal illustration from an early­ fifth­century Alexandrian city chronicle which depicts the newly consecrated Theophilus standing beside the mummified body of Timothy I (figure 22). In addition, the unity and collective authority of the succession of Alexandrian bishops can be seen in a seventh­ century ivory relief now in the Louvre. Saint Mark is seated on his throne, holding the gospel book and surrounded by several dozen diminutive episcopal colleagues attendant upon him (figure 21 A).2 "Radiant and Inexpressible Power" The net effect of this accumulated holiness and spiritual power was to endow the bishop of Alexandria with an authority that extended far beyond that of a traditional urban power broker. It was by reason of this divine authority that a bishop ordained clergy and autho­ rized the ministry of individual priests. Although there was at least an acknowledgment that a charismatic unction might rest upon certain individuals apart from the bishops authority, it was the bishop alone who could legitimize an independent ministry A for­ mal list of authorized clergy was kept by the bishop, and peri­ odically he could require written affirmations of clerical orthodoxy and obedience. While these measures may have been motivated by the relatively loose structure of the Alexandrian church in the second and third centuries, by the fifth century a patriarch could control effectively his entire ecclesiastical hierarchy.3 This control was exercised through various forms of ecclesiasti­ cal discipline. At the dawn of the fourth century, these sanctions usually took the form of penances, exclusion from sacraments, or even deposition from clerical office.4 With the Constantinian revo­ Alexandria in late Antiquity 248 lution and the resultant enhancement of the bishops status, other more forceful means of coercion could be employed. As in so many other respects, the episcopate of Athanasius was a watershed in the development of the bishops powers. In the opening years of Ath­ anasius's episcopate, the Melitians proved to be a thorn in his side, and there are indications that his attempts at...