Saint Pope Demetrius of Alexandria

Demetrius I (died 22 October 232), 12th Bishop and Patriarch of Alexandria. Sextus Julius Africanus, who visited Alexandria in the Bishoprice of Demetrius, places his accession as eleventh bishop from Mark in the tenth year of Roman Emperor Commodus; Eusebius of Caesarea places it in the tenth year of Septimius Severus. Demetrius was a farmer, who cohabited with his wife as celibates, for 47 years, until he was chosen Patriarch. According to the Coptic Synaxarium, a biographical collection of the Church's saints, the ailing Patriarch Julian had a vision informing him that his successor would visit him, with a cluster of grapes, while out of season at that time of year. The next day, a farmer named Demetrius arrived with a cluster of grapes for the Bishop, asking for his blessings, and was announced next as Bishop Demetrius I, the twelfth bishop of Alexandria. Eusebius wrote a traditional list of bishops of Alexandria from Mark the Evangelist to Demetrius, but this list is apocryphal. Bishop Demetrius was eager to establish a fixed calendar for church fasts and feast days. He established a liturgical calendar by which fast dates were determined. As bishop of the great metropolis, Demetrius was engaged in the controversy over the canonical calculation of Easter. He was the first to apply the calculation method for determining the dates of Easter. His edict was approved by the Nicene Council (325 AD). The Oriental Orthodox churches continue to follow Alexandria. Jerome claimed that Demetrius sent Pantaenus on a mission to India, it is likely that Clement succeeded Pantaenus as head of the Catechetical School before the patriarchy of Demetrius. When Clement left Alexandria (c. 203), Demetrius appointed Origen, who was in his eighteenth year, as Clement's successor. Demetrius supported Origen in the beginning of his career, it is said to have admired his scholarship.