Petrus(Πέτρος), literary and
ecclesiastical.
1. Of ALEXANDRIA (1). Petrus or Peter, the first of that name in
the st of the bishops of Alexandria, succeeded Theonas in that see sometime between Easter and
the latter part of November, A. D. 300, according to Tillemont's
calculation ; and exercised his episcopal functions more than eleven (Eusebius says for
twelve) years. Of the time and place of his birth we have no account. Cave considers that he
was probably born at Alexandria, and that he was there "trained alike to virtue and to sacred
literature by his predecessor Theonas ;" but we do not know that these statements ments are
more than inferences from his being chosen to succeed Theonas. He had not occupied the see
quite three years when the persecution commenced by the emperor Diocletian [DIOCLETIANUS] and continued by his successors, broke out A. D. 304. During its long continuance Peter was obliged to flee from
one hiding-place to another. The monk Ammonius (De Caede SS. Patrum in Monte
Syna et in Solitudine Raithu, apud Valesium, Not. ad Euseb. H. E.
7.32) attests this; and Peter himself, if confidence may be placed in a discourse said to have
been delivered by him in prison and given in certain Acta Petri
Alexandrini (apud Valesium, ibid.) states that he found shelter at different times in
Mesopotamia, in Phoenicia, in Palestine, and in various islands; but if these Acta are the same that were published by Coméfis in his
Selecti Martyrum Triumphi, 8vo. Paris, 1660, their authority is materially lessened
by the inter-polations of Symeon Metaphrastes. Cave conjectures that he was imprisoned during
the reign of Diocletian or Maximian Galerius [
MAXIMIANUS II.], and
if there is truth in the account given by Epiphanius (
Haeres. 68.1-5) of
the origin of the schism in the Egyptian churches, occasioned by Meletius of Lycopolis [
MELETIUS, literary and ecclesiastical, No. 3], the conjecture is
probably correct; and if so, Peter must have obtained his release, as this imprisonment must
have been antecedent to the deposition of Meletius by Petrus, and the commencement of the
Meletian schism. In the ninth year of the persecution Peter was, suddenly and contrary to all
expectation, again arrested and was beheaded, by order of Maximin Daza [
MAXIMINUS II.], without any distinct charge being brought against him. Eusebius speaks
with the highest admiration of his piety and his attainments in sacred literature, and he is
revered as a saint and martyr both in the Eastern and Western Churches. His martyrdom is
placed by an ancient Oriental chronicle of the bishops of Alexandria, translated by Abraham
Echellensis (Paris, 1651), on the 29th of the month Athur or Athyr, which corresponds
sometimes to the 25th, and sometimes to the 26th November. His memory is now cele 26th, except
in Russia, where the more ancient computation, which placed it on the 25th, is still followed.
An account of the martyrdom (
Acta Martyrii) of Peter, in the Latin
version of Anastasi Bibliothecarius, is given by Surius,
De Probatis Sanctorum
Vitis, a. d. 25 Nov.; and the Greek
Acta of Symeon Metaphrastes are
given, with a Latin version, in the
Selecti Martyrum Triumphi of
Combéfis already cited.
Works
Sermones
Peter wrote several works, of which there aro very scanty remains. 1. Περὶ μετανοίας λόγος, Sermo de Poenitentia.2.Λόγος εἰς τὸ Πάσχα, Sermo in Sanctum Pascha.
Editions
These discourses are not extant in their original form, but fifteen canons relating to
the lapsi, or those who in time of persecution had fallen away, fourteen of then from the
Sermo de Poenitentia, the fifteenth from the
Sermo in
Sanctum Pascha, are contained in all the
Canonum Collectiones.
They were published in a Latin version in the Micropresbyticon, Basel,
1550;
in the Orthodoxographa of Heroldus, Basel, 1555,
and of
Grynaeus, Basel, 1569;
in the first and second editions of De la
Bigne's Bibliotheca Patrum, Paris, 1575 and 1589, and
in
the Cologne edition, 1618.
They are given also in the Concilia.In the edition of Labbe (vol. i. col. 955) and in that of Hardouin (vol. i. col. 225)
they are given in Greek with a Latin version, but without notes; but in the Συνοδικόν, sive Pandectae Canonum of
Bishop Beveridge (vol. ii. p. 8, fol. Oxon. 1672) they are accompanied by the notes of
Joannes Zonaras and Theodorus Balsamon. They are entitled
Τοῦ
μακαρίου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἀλεξανσρείας Πέτρου καὶ μάρτυρος κανόνες ἐπιφερόμενοι
ἐν τῷ περὶ μετανοίας αὐτοῦ λόγῳ
Beati Petri Archiepiscopi Alexandrini et Martyris Canones qui feruntur
in Sermone ejus de Poenilentia.It is only in some MSS. and editions that the separate source of the fifteenth canon is
pointed out. A passage from the
Sermo in Sanctum Pascha, or from some other
work of Peter's on the same subject, is given in the
Diatriba de
Paschate prefixed to the
Chronicon Alexandrinum s.
Paschale, and published separately in the
Uranologion of
Petavius, fol. Paris, 1630, p. 396, &c. As the
Diatriba is mutilated,
and the extract from Peter forms its present commencement, it was hastily inferred by some
critics that the
Diatriba itself was the work of Peter, the title of the citation being
considered as applying to the whole treatise; but Cave and others have observed that the
Diatriba was written not before the latter part of the sixth century. A
Vatican MS. from which the text of the Bonn edition of the
Chronicon is
taken, describes the work of Peter from which the citation is taken, as addressed
Τρικεντίῳ τινι,
Cuidam
Tricentio.
3.
Περὶ θεότητος βιβλίον,
Liber de Divinitate s.
Deitate.There is a citation from this treatise in the
Acta Concilii Ephesini; it
occurs in the
Actio prima, and a part of it is again cited in the
Defensio Cyrilli which is given in the sequel (pars 3.100.2) of the
Act.Editions
Three citations in Latin, one of them a version of the passage in the Defensio Cyrilli, are given in the Acta Concilii Chalcedon. Actio
prima. (
Concilia, vol. iii. col. 508, 836, vol. iv. col.
286, ed. Labbe, vol. i. col. 1399, vol. ii. col. 241, ed. Hardouin.)
4.
Περὶ τῆς ἐπιδημίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ,
Homilia de Adventa Saluatoris s.
Christi.Editions
A short citation from this occurs in the Latin version of the work of Leonitus of
Byzantium [LEONTIUS, literary, No. 5],
Contra Nestorianos et Eutychianos, lib. i. (apud Galland.
Biblioth. Patrum, vol. xii. p. 669).
A fragment in the original is given in a part of the Greek text of Leontius published by
Mai in his
Scriptorum Vet. Noua Collectio, vol. vii. p. 134,
4to. Romae, 1833.
5, 6. Two fragments
Editions
Two fragments, one described, ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου λόγου περὶ
τοῦ μηδὲ προυπάρχειν τὴν ψυχὴν, μηδε ἁμαρτήσασαν τοῦτυ εἰς τὸ σῶμα
βληθῆναι,
Ex primo Sermone, de eo quod nec praeexstitit
Anima, nec cum peccasset propterea in Corpus missa est, the other as,
ἐκ τῆς μυσταγωγίας ἧς ἐποιήσατο πρὸς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν μέλλων
τὸν τοῦ μαρτυρίου στέφανον ἀναδέχεσθαι,
Ex Mystagogia
quam fecit ad Ecclesiam cum Martyrii Coronam suscepturus esset, are cited by the
emperor Justinian, in his
Epistola (s.
Tractatus ad Mennam CPolilanum adversus Origenem, given in the
Acta
Concilia CPolitani II. s.
Oecunmenici V. (
Concilia, vol. v. col. 652, ed. Labbe, vol. iii. col. 256, 257, ed.
Hardouin.)
Another fragment of the same discourse is contained in the compilation
Leontii et Joannis Rerum Sacrarum Lib. II. published by Mai
in the above cited Collectio, vol. vii. p. 85.7.
Epislola S. Petri Episcopi ad Ecclesiam
Alexandrinamnoticing some irregular proceedings of the schismatic Meletius. This letter, which is very
short, was published in a Latin version by Scipio Maffei, in the third volume of his
Obsercazione Letterarie (6 vols. 12mo. Veronae 1737-1740).
8.
διδασκαλία,
Doctrina.A fragment of this work is cited by Leontius and Joannes, and was published by Mai
(ibid. p. 96). We have no certain information of any other works of Peter.
Fragments
A fragment of one of his works, of which the title is not given, is cited by the emperor
Justinian in his
Tractatus contra Monophysitas, published by
Mai in the
Collectio already cited, vol. vii. pp. 306, 307.
The
Epistoa de Lapsi Tempore Persecutionis, in the Bodleian
library (Codd. Baroccian. No. clviii.; see
Catatlog. MStorutm Angliue
et Hibern.), is probably the same as the Canones; and a fragment from an
Epistola ad Epicteutum, extant in a MS. in the library of St. Mark at
Venice, is probably not from Peter but from Athanasius.
Some passages (quaedam loca) from the writings of Peter are given in the Πανδέκτης τῶν ἑρμηνειῶν τῶν θειων ἐντολῶν τοῦ Κυρίου,
Pandecta de Interpretatione Mandatorum Divinorum, of Nicon
[
NICON, literary, No. 3).
Editions
The published fragments of Peter's works, with the exception of the passage in the
Diatriba de Paschate, the Latin citations in the
Acta Concilii
Chalcedon., and the fragments cited by Justinian, are given in the fourth volume
of Galland's
Bibliotheca Patrum, p. 91, &c.
Further Information
Euseb. H.E. 7.32, 8.13, 9.6, cum notis Valesii; Athanasius, Apolog. contra Arianos, 100.59; Epiphan. l.c. ;
Concilia, ll. cc.; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 301, vol. i. p. 160, ed.
Oxford, 1740-1743; Tillemont, Mémoires, vol. v. p. 436, &c.;
Fabric. Biblioth. Graec. vol. ix. p. 316, &c.; Galland. Biblioth.
Patrumt, proleg. ad vol. 4.100.6.)