Dionysius the Great | |
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Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria | |
![]() Pope Dionysius the Great | |
Archdiocese | Alexandria |
See | Alexandria |
Papacy began | 28 December 248 |
Papacy ended | 22 March 264 |
Predecessor | Heraclas |
Successor | Maximus |
Personal details | |
Born | |
Died | 22 March 264 Egypt |
Buried | Church of the Cave, Alexandria |
Nationality | Egyptian |
Alma mater | Catechetical School of Alexandria |
Sainthood | |
Feast day | 13 Paremhat (Coptic Christianity)[1] 8 April[2] |
Venerated in | Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy Oriental Orthodoxy |
Dionysius the Great (Ancient Greek: Διονύσιος Ἀλεξανδρείας) 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."[3]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).