Pope Dionysius of Alexandria

Dionysius the Great was the 14th Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria from 28 December 248 until his death on 22 March 264. Most information known about him comes from a large corpus of correspondence. Only one complete letter survives; the remaining letters are excerpted in the works of Eusebius.

Called "the Great" by Eusebius, Basil of Caesarea and others, he was characterized by the Catholic Encyclopedia as "undoubtedly, after St. Cyprian, the most eminent bishop of the third century... like St. Cyprian, less a great theologian than a great administrator." Dionysius converted to Christianity when he had a vision from God, in which he was commanded to study and refute the heresies facing the early Christians. After his conversion, he joined the Catechetical School of Alexandria and was a student of Origen and Pope Heraclas. He eventually became leader of the school and presbyter of the church, succeeding Pope Heraclas in 231. In 248, Dionysius succeeded Pope Heraclas, becoming Pope of the church of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark.

During 249, a major persecution was carried out in Alexandria by a polytheist mob, and hundreds of Christians were assaulted, stoned, burned or cut down on account of their refusal to deny their faith. Dionysius managed to survive that persecution and subsequent civil war. In January 250, the new emperor Decius issued a decree of legal persecution. Out of fear, many Christians denied their faith by offering a token polytheist sacrifice, and others attempted to obtain false documents affirming their sacrifice. Those who refused to sacrifice faced public ridicule and shame and, if found by the authorities, torture and execution. Many fled from the city into the desert, where most succumbed to exposure, hunger, thirst, or attacks by bandits or wild animals.

The prefect Aurelius Appius Sabinus pursued Dionysius himself. Sabinus sent an assassin to murder him on sight. Dionysius spent three days in hiding before departing with his servants and other loyal brethren on the fourth night of the Decian decree. After a brush with a group of soldiers, he managed to escape with two of his followers and set up a residence in the Libyan Desert until the end of the persecution the following year.

In 252, the Plague of Cyprian broke out in Alexandria, and Dionysius and other clergy assisted the sick and dying.

During the debate between Pope Stephen and Cyprian, Dionysius supported the position of Stephen but supported the autonomy of the African churches.

Legacy Basil of Caesarea wrote to Pope Damasus I about aid sent, by Dionysius, to the church at Caesarea. That correspondence is cited by Pope Pius IX in his encyclical Praedecessores Nostros (On Aid For Ireland) of 25 March 1847.

English writer John Milton, in his 1644 tract Areopagitica, discusses the letter of Dionysius to Philemon, in which Dionysius admits to reading heretical texts in order to learn how to refute them and narrates a divine vision telling him, "Read any books what ever come to thy hands, for thou art sufficient both to judge aright, and to examine each matter."