Saint Dioscorus of Alexandria

Dioscorus I (Greek: Διόσκορος Α΄ ὁ Ἀλεξανδρείας), also known as Dioscorus the Great, was the pope of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St. Mark who was deposed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. He was recognized as patriarch by the Coptic Church until his death. He died in Gangra, Paphlagonia, in September 454. He is venerated as a saint by the Coptic and other Oriental Orthodox Churches. Dioscorus' origins are unknown, although it is known that he was not a Copt. Dioscorus served as the dean of the Catechetical School of Alexandria, and was the personal secretary of Cyril of Alexandria, whom he accompanied to the Council of Ephesus in 431. He eventually rose to the position of archdeacon. He had been made Cyril's designated successor. In his struggle against Nestorius, Cyril explained the union between the divine and human natures of Christ as "inward and real without any division, change, or confusion." He rejected the Antiochene theory of "indwelling", or "conjunction" or "close participation", as insufficient. Thus the Alexandrian formula adopted by Cyril and Dioscorus was, in Greek, mia physis tou theou logou sesarkomene, which translates into "one nature of God the Word Incarnate", by which Cyril meant "one nature"—that Christ is at once God and man. On the other hand, the Antiochene formula was "two natures after the union", or "in two natures", which translates to dyo physis. This formula explained Christ as existing in two natures, God and man. Nestorius was condemned and deposed by the First Council of Ephesus, which approved of the Second Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius. Dioscorus succeeded Cyril as Patriarch of Alexandria in the summer of 444. Soon after Dioscorus' consecration, Theodoret sent a letter (Letter 60) to him.