On this day in 416, Emperor Theodosios the Younger issued a decree to St. Cyril of Alexandria limiting the number of parabalanoi in this city to 500. The end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century was marked by the conflict between the diverse, influential, and historically solid Alexandria against the upstart city of Byzantion, which was turning into Constantinople. The confrontation between Archbishop Theophilos of Alexandria and St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, is a striking illustration of this process, which ended with the proclamation in Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon (451). This canon stated that, because Constantinople was the imperial capital of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, it should enjoy the second position in the lists of honors (diptichs). At the same time, this period was a “grey area” in terms of the Hellenes’ (pagans) co-existence with the Christians. By then, they had somehow come to trade places. If before the edict of Milan in 313, the Christians had been outlaws, now the pagans had become a disfavored segment of the population. Alexandria, consisting of Christians, Jews, and Hellenes, proved to be a minefield for communal violence as new identities took shape. After the sudden death of Archbishop Theophilos in 412, his young nephew, St. Cyril, became archbishop. Armed with the 391 decrees of Emperor Theodosios the Great about closing pagan temples, Theopilos led an attack on the temple of Serapis in Alexandria. It may have been as a result of this that the remnants of the Library of Alexandria hosted there were lost. Meanwhile, St. Cyril continued to supplant paganism with Christianity. At the same time, the expanding office of the archbishop conflicted with the authorities of the Perfect of Egypt. And we also should not forget about the development of the newly founded charismatic movement of men of God (monks). Five hundred of them came to the city from the desert of Natron and confronted Perfect Orestes of Egypt on a street in Alexandria. The city-dwellers dispersed the monks, but one of them by the name of Ammonias was handed over to authorities and was tortured to death by them. During Great Lent, 415, a mob led by Reader Peter lynched Hypatia (according to Socrates of Constantinople (d.439), they believed that she was an obstacle to understanding between Cyril and Orestes). She was widely respected throughout the city and we mostly know about her from the letters of her student Synesius, who became a bishop of Cyrene (modern Libya). Socrates of Constantinople wrote: “This affair brought not the least opprobrium, not only upon Cyril, but also upon the whole Alexandrian church. And surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than the allowance of massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort” (Ecclesiastical History. Book 7.15). As a result of Hypatia’s murder, radical “brothers of mercy” (parabalanoi – possibly from the Greek for “bath attendants”, because these minor clergy looked after the people during the epidemics) were limited in their influence. At the same time, in the Codex of Emperor Theodosios the Younger, which became official in 439, both public and private participation in pagan worship was prohibited. Sources: Alexandria Real and Imagined, A. Hirst and M.Silk, eds. (London, 2004). T.E.G., “Parabalani,” Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium v. 3. Priestmonk Theodore (Iulaev), P.K.Grezin, “Kirill” Pravoslavnaia Entsiklopedia. |
