Atanasi d'Alexandria

Athanasius (, 5th century AD) of Alexandria was a presbyter in that city, and a son of Isidora, the sister of Cyril of Alexandria. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, he presented a complaint against Pope Dioscorus I of Alexandria.

According to the complaint, Cyril had willed Athanasius and his relatives a large inheritance, but Dioscorus prevented them from receiving it after Cyril died in 444. He also threatened the lives of Athanasius and his brother Paul, and exiled them from Alexandria. They went to Constantinople, where, due to the rampant corruption at the time, they had to pay bribes in order to see a court. They borrowed 1400 pounds of gold from moneylenders at exorbitant rates to bribe Nomos, the magister officiorum and a friend of Chrysaphius, but despite the enormous bribe, they "never even saw the face of that barbarian Chrysaphius". Athanasius suspected that Dioscorus had sent Chrysaphius a letter asking him to "eliminate" Athanasius and Paul. Cyril had been preceded as Pope by his uncle Theophilus, so their family had held the papacy for 60 years and may have been enriching themselves off church funds. Henry Chadwick described Athanasius as "impoverished by his own corrupt negotiations". Volker L. Menze explains that his removal was a "consequence of [his] misconduct", and that the 1400 pounds of gold he was forced to pay to Nomos were actually a fine for the crime of misappropriating church funds.