Evidence ID
E01208Saint Name
Alexandros, bishop of Alexandria, ob. 326 or 328 : S00733
Unnamed saints (or name lost) : S00518Type of Evidence
Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)Evidence not before
320Evidence not after
500Activity not before
320Activity not after
500Place of Evidence - Region
Aegean islands and Cyprus
Aegean islands and Cyprus
Aegean islands and CyprusPlace of Evidence - City, village, etc
Lesbos
Laphiona
MethymnaPlace of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Lesbos
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
Constantia
Laphiona
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
Constantia
Methymna
Salamis
Σαλαμίς
Salamis
Salamis
Farmagusta
Far
Κωνσταντία
Konstantia
ConstantiaCult activities - Places
Burial site of a saint - tomb/graveCult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocationCult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishops
HereticsSource
An inscribed sarcophagus, lying near an early Christian basilica in the hills in the area of modern Laphiona (close to Methymna, Lesbos, the Aegean Islands). The inscription is framed by a tabula ansata.Discussion
The inscription is the epitaph for an unnamed person, described as the 'herald of the Trinity' (ὁ τῆς Τριάδος κῆρυξ) and the 'guardian of virginity' (τῆς παρθενίας φύλαξ). The ending of the epitaph implies that the person had the ability to intercede for common Christians ('praying for us' / ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν εὐχόμενος). Therefore, as argued by Kaldellis and Efthymiadis, it is possible that the epitaph was composed for a person involved in the Arian controversy that was considered a holy man with intercessionary powers by the inhabitants of Lesbos.
A local folklore tradition associates the church, near which the sarcophagus is located, with *Alexandros, bishop of Alexandria, to whom Arius, the founder of the Arian heresy, was subordinated as a presbyter. Alexandros was said to have been the first opponent of Arius' teachings on the inequality of Son and Father. The tradition says also that Alexandros himself was buried in the tomb near Laphiona and that the epitaph was composed precisely for him. This is, however, unsound. Anthony Kaldellis and Stephanos Efthymiadis, the editors of The Prosopography of Byzantine Lesbos, rightly note that it is very unlikely that Alexandros would have been buried in such a remote place. It is more probable that the tomb contained the body of a Nicaean missionary, who preached to the locals on the Holy Trinity, and probably constructed the church. Georgios Deligiannakis (2015) has recently proved that bishops of Lesbos were often open supporters of the Arian creed or sympathised with that doctrinal option. Therefore, the presence of a Nicene 'mission' on the island is not unlikely.
If Kaldellis' and Efthymiadis' interpretation is correct, this may be a very rare case of a bishop, portrayed as a saint and successful intercessor in an epigrahic source. Normally, bishops and living holy men were rarely mentioned in inscriptions as saints – the majority of them refers to the Apostles, other New Testament figures, martyrs, and Archangels.
Dating is based on the contents and the archaeological context of the basilica.Bibliography
Edition:
Kaldellis, A.E., Λέσβος και ανατολική Μεσόγειος κατά τη ρωμαϊκή και πρώιμη βυζαντινή περίοδο (100 π.Χ.–600 μ.Χ) (Thessaloniki: ΗΡΟΔΟΤΟΣ, 2002), 146, 195-218.
Charitonidis, S., Παλαιοχριστιανικὴ τοπογραφία τῆς Λέσβου, ΑΡΧΑΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΝ ΔΕΛΤΙΟΝ 23 (1968) ΜΕΡΟΣ Α' - ΜΕΛΕΤΑΙ, 53-56 (with references to earlier editions of the inscription, offering erroneous readings).
Further reading:
Deligiannakis, G., "Heresy and late antique epigraphy in an island landscape: exploring the limits of the archaeological evidence", in: K. Bolle, C. Machado, C. Witschel (eds.), The Epigraphic Culture(s) of Late Antiquity (Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2017), 521-522.
Kaldellis, A., Efthymiadis, S., The Prosopography of Byzantine Lesbos, 284-1355 A.D. A Contribution to the Social History of the Byzantine Province (Denkschriften, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse 403, Denkschriften, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse. Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung 22, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2010), 54 (with a list of references to other studies).
Touchais, G., "Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques en Grèce en 1976", Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 101 (1977), 624.
Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (1969), 421.
