(ALEXANDRIA, succeeded as patriarch of that city St. Achillas, (as his
predecessor, St. Peter, had predicted, Martyr. S. Petri, ap. Surium, vol.
vi. p. 577,) Hist. Eccl. 1.2,) first laid bare the irreligion of
Arius, and condemned him in his dispute with Alexander Baucalis. St. Alexander was at the
Oecumenical Council of Nicaea, A. D. 325, with his deacon, St. Athanasius, and, scarcely five
months after, died, April 17th, ad v. Hacres. 69.4) says he wrote some seventy circular epistles against
Arius, and Socrates (H. E. 1.6), and Sozomen (H. E.
1.1), that he collected them into one volume. Two epistles remain; 1. to Alexander, bishop of
Constantinople, written after the Council at Alexandria which condemned Arius, and before the
other circular letters to the various bishops. (See Theodt. H. E. 1.4;
Galland. Bibl. Pair. vol. iv. p. 441. ) 2. The Encyclic letter announcing
Arius's deposition (Socr. H. E. 1.6, and Galland. l.c. p. 451), with the subscriptions from Gelasius Cyzicen. (Hist. Con.
Nicaen. 2.3, ap. Mans. Concilia. vol. ii. p. 801.) There remains,
too, The Deposition of
Arius and his, i. e. an Address to the Priests and Deacons, desiring
their concurrence therein (ap. S. Athanas. vol. i. Ps. 1. p. 396, Paris, 1698; see Galland.
l.c. p. 455). Two fragments more, apud Galland. (l.c. p. 456.) St. Athanasius also gives the second epistle. (l.c.
p. 397.)