The Mariology of Alexander of Alexandria

Alexander of Alexandria: pioneer of patristic Mariology

Alexander of Alexandria (†328) was one of the first theologians to articulate a Mariology in a dogmatic key. In defending the divinity of the Son against Arius, he opened the way to the proclamation of Mary Theotokos at Ephesus.

Bishop of Alexandria from 312 to 328, from the beginning he fought against the schism of the Meletians of Lycopolis, which broke out at the time of the persecution of his predecessor, Peter I of Alexandria (d. 311). The Meletians are the followers of the religious movement that bears the name of Meletius (lat. Meletius), bishop of the Egyptian city of Lycopolis, who died around 326. The movement was marked by its rigorous conception of the Church. At the time of the first ecumenical council of Nicaea (325), this schism involved almost half of the bishops who legally depended on Alexander, and priests and deacons of Alexandria. Canon 6 of Nicaea reaffirmed the prerogatives of the Alexandrian Episcopal See over Egypt properly so called, over the Thebaid, Libya, and the Pentapolis. But the situation does not seem to have changed much until the death of Alexander, which occurred on April 17, 328.

In this context, the Arian crisis begins. In fact, around 318 Alexander found himself facing the opposition of an ideological party, formed in his church through the work of one of his most influential priests, Arius, to whom he had entrusted the parish of Baukalis.
After a period of discussions, meetings and debates, the bishop gathered a synod of one hundred bishops which, in 319, excommunicated Arius together with five other priests, six deacons, and two bishops. The encyclical letter Henos somatos, sent by Alexander “to the dear and venerated co-liturgists of the Catholic Church, who are everywhere” after the synod, reacts against the interference of Eusebius of Nicomedia and other Eastern bishops in the Arian affair.
These had offered their support to those excommunicated at Alexandria. Arius himself relates the reason for the conflict in his letter to Eusebius. Speaking of Alexander he affirms: “he expelled us from the city, because we do not speak as he speaks in the public declaration where he says: Always God, always Son. Together Father, together Son”. It is difficult to understand the exact reason for Arius’s scandal.
Alexander, without doubt, insisted on the eternity of the divine generation of the Son and on His substantial unity, as is shown by another dogmatic letter of his, sent by him to his correspondent Alexander of Thessalonica, in 324.
It is also certain that Arius reacted by fully confirming his Christological theses, contained particularly in the extracts of his Thalia: a small treatise that he wrote in the same city of Alexandria before his exile, and which marked a literary and doctrinal innovation within the debate among the parties of Alexandrian theologians, where Alexander intervened by formulating his doctrine of the Son of God.
The excessive originality of the Arian theses did not gain them credit with the Eastern bishops, who nevertheless protected Arius. But Alexander managed to make his ideas triumph at the synod of Antioch in 324 and, subsequently, at the Council of Nicaea in 325. The formula of the Nicene faith offered anti-Arian details liable to controversy, which must be understood according to the theology of Alexander, even though he never used the word homoousios.
In the course of this doctrinal debate, which occupied the last ten years of his episcopate, Alexander found a faithful and intelligent ally in the person of a young deacon, his future successor, Athanasius. In the writings of the latter, Against the Arians, we will find the essentials of Alexander’s teaching.
Only a few letters and fragments of his writings remain. The texts that we report here are quotations from Saint Athanasius. From the Marian point of view, they are very important in two respects:

1. the use of the title Theotokos given to the Virgin Mary. The fact that Alexander, in a letter, attributes to the Virgin the title of Theotokos as something normal and in common use will be a historical point of reference at Ephesus in the controversy with Nestorius and with the Antiochene school.
2. proposing Mary to virgins as the supreme model of a life consecrated to Christ, of heavenly life. Alexander of Alexandria exhorts the groups of virgins already organized in community life in Egypt, according to the model of the flourishing monks of the Thebaid. His theological-spiritual line will be widely followed by Athanasius and Ambrose of Milan.

Epistle to the Virgins
the Virgin, model of virginity

“At the end of times, to abolish sin, He, the Word, was born of the Virgin Mary, taking flesh from her, and was made man. Do not fear at all, if you hear that He was a man: because, having become man, He was in no way diminished, but He is God. On the other hand, with the divinity He manifested Himself for what He was, raising Lazarus (…), changing water into wine. In truth, these things no longer prove that He was a man, but teach us that He is God (…). His birth, however, does not resemble that of other men, because He took flesh only from a Virgin. Here, he said (Alexander), you have already received the education of your parents: from them you received the seeds of the desire for virtue. In fact, as a result of the good education they gave you, the Bridegroom found you and spoke to your heart, persuading you to remain a virgin for Him forever. Moreover, you have before your eyes the conduct of Mary, who is the type and image of the life of heaven”.
(From Athanasius, Epistula ad virgines)

Epistle to Alexander of Thessalonica
the Theotokos

“After this, we confess the resurrection of the dead, of which Our Lord Jesus Christ became the first fruits, having received in truth and not in appearance a body from the Mother of God [Theotokos] Mary”.
(Epistula ad Alexandrum Thessal.)

To deepen the study of patristic Mariology, consult the encyclical Redemptoris Mater of John Paul II, which presents Mary within the horizon of the theology of salvation.

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian apparitions, and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.

Alexander of Alexandria remains an indispensable reference for Marian theology. To study Alexander of Alexandria in depth is to enter into the patristic root of the Marian dogma. Read more about the council in documents of the Council.