Alexandria

Abstract

City in Egypt on the Mediterranean. Alexandria played an important role in the diffusion of Christianity in the Hellenistic culture of the early Christian centuries. With Athens and Antioch it was one of the three poles of Greek culture which dominated the 1st century Mediterranean world. It sheltered a strong Jewish colony and it was the center of learning, especially in theology, philology, and philosophy. Eusebius mentions St. Mark as the proto‐Evangelist of Egypt and the See of Alexandria has always been the See of St. Mark. It is today the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate.