2. Of ALEXANDRIA (2), was presbyter of the Church at Alexandria
during the life-time of Athanasius, whom he accompanied for many years in his wanderings and
shared his dangers. Athanasius before his death had nominated Peter as his successor, and
after his decease his appointment was carried into effect with the great applause of the
orthodox part of the Alexandrian populace and with the approval of the neighbouring bishops,
A. 100.373. But the Arians, then in the ascendant under the emperor Valens, though they had,
from reverence or fear, conceded the quiet possession of the see to the age and authority of
Athanasius [ATHANASIUS], were by no means disposed to acquiesce in
the appointment of an orthodox successor; and Peter was at once deposed, and, according to
Socrates and Sozomen, imprisoned by the officers of the emperor. Tillemont and Galland,
however, doubt if he was imprisoned. At any rate he soon made his escape, and, getting on
board ship, fled to Rome, where he was kindly received by the pope Damasus I., leaving his
Arian competitor Lucius [LUCIUS, No. 2] in possession of the
churches of Alexandria. On the departure of Valens from Antioch (A.
D. 378) to his fatal war with the Goths, Peter, who had returned from Rome with letters
from Damasus, confirming his title to the see, recovered possession of the churches by favour
of the populace, who expelled Lucius, and compelled him to flee to Constantinople. Peter,
however, survived his restoration only for a short time, dying A. D. 381, and being succeeded
in his bishopric by his own brother Timotheus or Timothy. Valesius (Not. ad
Sozomten. H. E. 7.9) describes Peter as the abettor of Maximus the Cynic [MAXIMUS
ALEXANDRINUS] in his usurpation of the see of Constantinople, but
Theodoret (H. E. 5.8) ascribes the transaction to Timotheus. (Socrates,
H. E. 4.20-22, 37; Sozonten, H. E. 6.19, 39
Theodoret, H.E.4.20-22.)
Peter was held in the highest esteem by his con temporaries. Gregory Nazianzen unites him in
the same eulogy with St. Athanasius; and the emperor Theodosius the Great, in one of his laws,
refers to the faith preached by hint as the standard of orthodoxy. (Tillemont, Men. vol. vi.
p. 580, &c.) Two productions of Peter have been preserved in part:--1. Epistola, a letter sent by him, after his escape from Alexandria, to all
the churches, giving an account of the persecutions and other atrocities perpetrated by Lucius
and the Arian party. Theodoret has given a large extract, probably the chief part of this, in
the original Gretk (H. E. 4.22). 2. Epsitola ad Episcopos
et Presbyteros atque Diaconos pro vera Fide in exsilio constitutos, s. ad Episcopos, Presbyteros, atque Diaconos qui sub Valente Imperatore Diocaeaream
fuerant exules missi. Facundus has preserved two passages of this in a
Latin version in his