Ricerc@Sapienza

The recently published Historia episcopatus Alexandriae (end of the fourth, beginning of the fifth century), Severus of Antioch (first part of the sixth century), and Eutychius of Alexandria (tenth century) attest to an ancient custom concerning the election of the patriarch of Alexandria, according to which he would be appointed by a group of twelve priests who would choose him from within their number. According to HEpA this would have happened in the presence of the corpse of the predecessor. These same texts add that this system has been reformed and attribute this reform to various moments in the history of Alexandria, between the episcopates of Peter and Alexander. Jerome alone believes that the ancient custom was maintained only until Dionysius (third century). In this article the author, who had already dedicated a contribution to the Alexandrian theory of patriarchal election, proposes a revision of the testimonies, putting them in correlation with the changes of the Alexandrian historical memory from Athanasius to Theophilus.