Aleutian Versions of Scripture. See Bible Versions, Aleutian.
Alexander, name of seven men.—(1) Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, 336–323 b.c. He is mentioned in I Mach., i, 1–10; vi, 2. He is also supposed to be spoken of in Dan., ii, 39; vii, 6; viii, 5–7; xi, 3, 4.—(2) Alexander Balas, eleventh King of Syria, 150–145 b.c. His struggle for the throne, his promises to Jonathan, his pro-Jewish policy may be learned from I Mach., x, 1–89. He was vanquished by his father-in-law, Ptolemy Philometor of Egypt, and Syria thus passed into the hands of Demetrius II (I Mach., xi, 1–19).—(3) Alexander, a son of Simon of Cyrene mentioned by St. Mark (xv, 21) who carried the Cross after Jesus.—(4) Alexander, who was a member of the court that tried Peter and John (Acts, iv, 6); some identify him with Alexander Lysimachus the brother of Philo and friend of Claudius before he ascended the throne.—(5) Alexander, a Jew or a Jewish Christian (Acts, xix, 33, 34), who attempted to defend St. Paul in his Ephesian difficulty; some identify him with the son of Simon of Cyrene.—(6) Alexander, an Ephesian Christian who apostatized (I Tim., i, 20), and who together with Hymeneus was dellvered up to Satan by the Apostles.—(7) Alexander, a coppersmith of Ephesus (II Tim., iv, 14, 15), who did much evil to St. Paul; some identify him with the Alexander mentioned under the preceding number.
Hagen, Lexicon Biblicum (Paris, 1905); Vigouroux and Jacquier in Vig. Dict. de la Bible (Paris, 1895); Hast., Robertson and Moss in Dict. of the Bible (New York, 1903).
Alexander, name of several bishops in the early Christian period.—Alexander of Antioch, thirty-eighth bishop of that see (413–421), praised by Theodoret (Hist. Eccl., V, 35) "for the holiness and austerity of his life, his contempt of riches, his love of wisdom, and powerful eloquence." He healed the last remnants of the Meletian schism at Antioch, and obtained at Constantinople the restitution of the name of St. John Chrysostom to the ecclesiastical diptychs (registers).—Alexander of Apamea, a Syrian bishop at the Council of Ephesus (431), and one of the eight bishops deputed by the party of John of Antioch to the Emperor Theodosius.—Alexander of Baslinipolis, in Bithynia, a friend of St. John Chrysostom, to whom he owed his appointment as bishop; after the fall of his patron he retired (c. 410) to his native Ptolemais in Egypt, where he experienced the hatred of Theophilus of Antioch and the private friendship of Synesius (Epp. 61, 67).—Alexander of Byzantium, as Constantinople was then called, bishop of that see during the original Arian troubles. He was 73 years old when appointed (313 or 317), and governed the see for 23 years. He supported his namesake of Alexandria against Arius, took part in the Council of Nicæa (325), and refused to admit the arch-heretic to communion, though threatened with deposition and exile. The sudden death of Arius was looked on by contemporary Catholics as an answer to the prayers of the good bishop, whom Theodoret (Hist. Eccl., I, 3) calls an "apostolic" man. He did not long survive this tragic event.—Alexander of Hierapolis (Euphratensis),an unbending opponent of St. Cyril in the Council of Ephesus (431), and an equally stanch advocate of Nestorius. Even when John of Antioch and most of the Oriental bishops yielded, and a general reconciliation was effected, Alexander stood out against "the abomination of Egypt". His character is vividly portrayed in the correspondence of his friend and admirer, the historian Theodoret, as that of a grave, holy, pious man, beloved by his people, but hopelessly stubborn along the line of what seemed to him the orthodox faith. After the exhaustion of all measures to overcome his resistance, he was banished by imperial decree to the mines of Phamuthin in Egypt, where he died (Tillemont, Mém., XIV, XV).—Alexander of Jerusalem, the friend of Origen, and his fellow-student at Alexandria under Pantænus and Clement. He became bishop of a see in Cappadocia (or Cilicia?) early in the third century, entertained for a time his master Clement, and himself suffered imprisonment for the Faith (204–212). On his release, he visited Jerusalem, and was chosen coadjutor to Narcissus, the elderly occupant of that see. This was the first case of an episcopal translation and coadjutorship, and had to be ratified by the hierarchy of Palestine, assembled at Jerusalem (Valesius in Eus., Hist. Eccl., VI, 11; Socrates, Hist. Eccl., VII, 36). The first Christian theological library was formed by him at Jerusalem (Eus., Hist. Eccl., V, 20). He defended Origen against his bishop, Demetrius, when the latter had taken offence at the permission accorded Origen to expound the scriptures publicly in the church of Cæsarea in the presence of bishops, the latter being the only authoritative exponents of the sacred text. Alexander and Theoctistus (Bishop of Cæsarea) wrote a joint letter to Demetrius, in which they pleaded the ecclesiastical usage of other places (Eus., Hist. Eccl., VI, 19). In the end Origen was ordained a priest by his two protectors (c. 230). He bears personal testimony at the beginning of his first homily on the Books of Kings, to the amiable character of Alexander. The latter died in prison at Cæsarea (251) during the Decian persecution. Some fragments of his letters are preserved in the sixth book of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius.
Venables and Smith in Dict. of Chr. Biogr., I, 82–86; Hefele, History of the Councils, I–II.
Alexander I–III, Kings of Scotland. See Scotland.
Alexander I, Saint, Pope.—St. Irenæus of Lyons, writing in the latter quarter of the second century, reckons him as the fifth pope in succession from the Apostles, though he says nothing of his martyrdom. His pontificate is variously dated by critics, e. g. 106–115 (Duchesne) or 109–116 (Lightfoot). In Christian antiquity he was credited with a pontificate of about ten years (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. IV, i,) and there is no reason to doubt that he was on the "catalogue of bishops" drawn up at Rome by Hegesippus (Eusebius, IV, xxii, 3) before the death of Pope Eleutherius (c. 189). According to a tradition extant in the Roman Church at the end of the fifth century, and recorded in the Liber Pontificalis he suffered a martyr's death by decapitation on the Via Nomentana in Rome, 3 May. The same tradition declares him to have been a Roman by birth and to have ruled the Church in the reign of Trajan (98–117). It likewise attributes to him, but scarcely with accuracy, the insertion in the canon of the Qui Pridie, or words commemorative of the institution of the Eucharist, such being certainly primitive and original in the Mass. He is also said to have introduced the use of blessing water mixed with salt for the purification of Christian homes from evil influences (constituit aquam sparsionis cum sale benedici in habitaculis hominum). Duchesne (Lib. Pont., I, 127) calls attention to the persistence of this early Roman custom by way of a blessing in the Gelasian Sacramentary that recalls very forcibly the actual Asperges prayer at the beginning of Mass. In 1855, a semi-subteranean cemetery of the holy martyrs Sts. Alexander, Eventulus, and Theodulus was discovered near Rome, at the spot where the above mentioned tradition declares the Pope to have been martyred. According to some archæologists, this Alexander is identical with the Pope, and this ancient and important tomb
