Pope Alexander II of Alexandria

Pope Alexander II of Alexandria (Coptic: ⲁⲗⲉⲝⲁⲛⲇⲣⲟⲥ; died 14 February 729) was the 43rd Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark.

He presided over his church during an era of great hardship and oppression.

Consecration There is little information available on Alexander's early life as a layman prior to becoming a monk at the monastery of the Enaton west of Alexandria. However, at the Enaton he became well known for his chastity, sanctity, and religious scholarship. Upon the death of Simeon of Alexandria in 701, the Patriarchate of Alexdandria remained vacant for approximately four years, while the members of the church sought an appropriate successor. The lack of a patriarch, though, created economic problems for the church, so the secretary of state, or mutawallī al-diwān in Alexandria, a Copt named Athanasius, asked the governor to allow the bishop of al-Qays, Anbā Gregorius, to assume authority over the church's finances until a new patriarch would be elected. The governor, Abd al-Malik agreed, which allowed the selection of a patriarch to take top priority. Athanasius gathered together all the Coptic scribes, clergy, and bishops, and the group unanimously selected Alexander based on his sterling reputation. Alexander was then taken to Alexandria to be consecrated.

Patriarchate Alexander's patriarchate occurred under several Umayyad caliphs, whose positions on the Copts varied greatly. These included Abd al-Malik, Al-Walid I, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik, Umar II, Yazid II, and Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. This period included the Siege of Constantinople, which had a serious economic impact on the economy of Egypt. The failure at Constantinople, coupled with the financial strains brought about by the Al-Zubayr rebellion, made the Caliphs look to Egypt as the closest source of funds from which to prop themselves up economically.