St. Alexander, Patriarch of Constantinople
August 30

St. Alexander was chosen by Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, to combat Arianism at the Ecumenical Synod of Nicea in the year 325. The theory of Arianism, created by Arius, an elderly Alexandrian priest, asserted that Christ was a creation of God and therefore, there was a time when Christ did not exist. Many good Christians were falling prey to this heretical approach. It fell to St. Alexander and other members of the Synod to prove that Arianism undermined the basis of the Christian faith and would eventually lead to the elimination of Christianity. St. Alexander taught that the Holy Trinity, as the cornerstone of the Christian faith, holds that Jesus Christ is part of the eternal existence of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for which there is no beginning and no end.

St. Alexander earned the respect of the Nicean Synod and proved himself to be a great weapon against the notion of Arianism, eventually bringing about its extinction.

When Patriarch Metrophanes had a premonition of his own death, he named St. Alexander to be his successor, and as such, Patriarch Alexander became the spiritual leader of millions of Orthodox Christians, serving in this capacity for thirty years.

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