السنكسار

On this day in the year 44 A.M. (April 17, 328 A.D.), the holy father Pope Alexander the Nineteenth of the See of Mark departed. This pope was born in the city of Alexandria to Christian parents. He grew up in the service of the church and was ordained by Pope Maximus of Augusta, Pope Theonas the Deacon, and Pope Peter the Priest. He was a pure and chaste youth. When the time of Pope Peter's martyrdom approached, Alexander entered the prison with Father Archelous, who later became patriarch after him. They asked him to excommunicate Arius, and he renewed the excommunication before them, informing them that the Lord Christ appeared to him in a vision and commanded him to do so. He also informed him that Father Archelous would succeed him as patriarch, and after Father Archelous, Pope Alexander would sit on the throne. He entrusted this to the priests of Alexandria and ordered them not to accept Arius or have fellowship with him.

When Pope Archelous sat on the throne and accepted Arius, he remained only six months before he departed. When Pope Alexander sat on the throne, the elders of the people came to him and asked him to accept Arius, but he refused and increased the excommunication, telling them that Pope Peter had commanded him and Pope Archelous to do so. When Pope Archelous disobeyed this command, God quickly removed him from the presidency.

After this, Arius was exiled from the country and went to Emperor Constantine the Great and complained about this pope. The emperor ordered the assembly of the Council of 318 Fathers in Nicaea, which convened under the presidency of Pope Alexander, who debated and refuted Arius, then excommunicated him and those who followed his doctrine. He spoke the creed with the other fathers and established laws, decrees, and rulings that remain with the faithful to this day. After organizing the Forty-Day Fast and the Feast of the Resurrection, he returned to his throne safely. His tenure on the See of Mark lasted fifteen years, nine months, and twenty days. May his prayer be with us, and to our Lord be glory forever. Amen.

On this day in the year 535 A.M. (April 17, 819 A.D.), the blessed father Mark, the forty-ninth Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed. This Pope was from the people of Alexandria, a pure, learned, and virtuous young man. Pope John ordained him a deacon and then a priest. Everyone who heard him was delighted by his voice and the beauty of his melodies in prayer. The Patriarch entrusted him with the administration of the Patriarchate, and nothing was done without his opinion. When the Patriarch vested him with the holy eskimo in the sanctuary, one of the elders cried out: “This deacon named Mark will deserve to sit on the throne of his father Mark.” When Pope John departed, the bishops unanimously chose him as Patriarch. He fled to the wilderness, but they caught him, brought him back, and ordained him Patriarch on the 2nd of Amshir, 515 A.M. (January 26, 799 A.D.). He cared for the affairs of the churches, restored those that were ruined, and brought the leaders of heresies back to the right faith. He healed many sick people and cast out demons from some. He told some that what had befallen them was due to their rashness in partaking of the holy sacraments ignorantly, and he warned them to guard themselves from evil speech coming from their mouths. During his days, the Arabs seized the islands of the Romans, captured many of their women and children, and brought them to Alexandria to sell them. He gathered money from the faithful in addition to what he had from the monasteries and paid three thousand dinars to ransom and free them. He wrote their manumission papers and provided those who returned to their country with the necessary money and married off those who remained, taking care of them. This father also cared for the Church of the Savior in Alexandria and renewed it, but some wicked people burned it down, so he rebuilt it again.

On this day in the year 567 A.M. (April 17, 851 A.D.), the holy father Pope Michael, the fifty-third Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was a monk and a saint. He was ordained a priest at the Monastery of Saint Anba Yuhanna and had a good reputation. He was chosen as Patriarch and ascended the patriarchal throne on the 24th of Hathor, 566 A.M. (November 20, 849 A.D.). When the days of the Great Fast came, he went to the wilderness to spend them there. He remembered his earlier life in the wilderness and prayed to God with tears and supplication, saying, “You know, O Lord, that I still love solitude and that I have no strength for this position I am in.” The Lord accepted his prayer, and he departed peacefully after Easter, having served on the throne for one year, four months, and twenty-eight days. May his prayers be with us. Glory be to our Lord forever. Amen.

On this day, the holy father Anba Isaac departed. He was born in the city of Horin in the district of Shebas to pure parents. His father's name was Abraham and his mother's name was Susanna. She died and left him an orphan at a young age. Later, his father remarried, and it happened that there was a great famine in the land. His stepmother hated him and gave him only a little bread. So he distributed it among the shepherds with whom he grazed, while he himself fasted until sunset, although he was only five years old at the time. His father noticed and, upon examining the edge of his cloak, found pieces of clay bread. Witnesses testified that the boy had distributed what bread he had, as some saw him tying these pieces of clay to the edge of his cloak. His father was amazed and glorified God. When the boy grew up, he became a monk under a holy man named Anba Elijah and stayed with him for a while. After the departure of Anba Elijah, he went to Mount Bernouj and stayed with a sheikh named Anba Zacharias. His father searched for him, and when he found him with the saint and asked him to return with him, his teacher advised him to obey his father and return. So he returned and stayed until his father died. He distributed all that his father left him and secluded himself in a place he built for himself a little away from the city. He devoted himself to asceticism and worship until he peacefully departed. They buried him in his place of worship, but his location was forgotten. After years, the Lord wished to reveal his body, and a great light appeared over his grave. A group of harvesters saw it for three consecutive days. The faithful came, lifted his body, placed it on a camel, and traveled with it until they reached a place between Horin and Nashrat. The camel stopped moving, so they knew this was by the will of the Lord and built a church in that place. May his prayers be with us. Amen.