Alexander Intro

Alexander was the Bishop of Alexandria who first opposed Arius and continued to oppose him and his teaching until his death. His cause was then carried by the more famous Athanasius.

According to Epiphanius, Alexander wrote 70 letters to bishops all over the empire, combating Arianism. These were were still preserved in Epiphanius's day (though its unclear whether Epiphanius had seen them or just knew of them, see Against Heresies 69.4). No doubt the Nicene cause owes much to this determined bishop.

Correspondence of Alexander
Opitz's date	Document	Clavis Patrum Graecorum number
318/9	Alexander to his clergy concerning Arius	2001
c.318	Alexander’s encyclical letter on Arius’s deposition	2000
c.320	Arius and other Alexandrian clergy to Alexander pleading his cause	2026
c.320	Eusebius of Caesarea to Alexander pleading Arius’ cause	3501
c. 320	Part of a letter of Paulinus of Tyre, attacking Alexander’s position	2065
c.322	Athanasius of Anazarbus to Alexander defending Arius	2060
c.322	Priest George to Alexander defending Arius	3555
324	Alexander to Alexander of Thessalonica	2002
324	Part of a letter of Alexander to all bishops	2003
324	Letter of Alexander to Sylvester of Rome	2005
Oct. 324	Emperor Constantine to Alexander and Arius	2020
June 325	Letter of the Council of Nicaea to the Egyptian church	8515
June 325	Emperor Constantine to the church of Alexandria	8517
Beginning of 328	Fragment of a letter from Emperor Constantine to Alexander	2021
	Sermons of Alexander:
?	Exhortation to Christological Orthodoxy English translation: David Brakke, Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1995), pp. 286-88 Based on the Coptic from L. Th. Lefort, S. Athanasius: Lettres festales et pastorales in copte (Louvain, 1955)
?	Discourse on the Incarnation of our Lord, and on the soul and the body E.A.W. Budge, Coptic Homilies in the Dialect of Upper Egypt edited from the Papyrus codex Oriental 5001 in the British Museum (Oxford 1910), pp.115-132; 258-274; 407-24.	2004