Bishoy Monastary, Alexandria, Egypt

Strategically located at the mouth of the Nile River with connections to the whole Mediterranean world, Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in the fourth century. A cosmopolitan city, it had large numbers of Jewish as well as Greek inhabitants. It won early fame as a center of classical learning and was the home of one of the most famed libraries of antiquity. In Alexandria Christianity probably emerged out of the Jewish community there and appears to have been shaped by many competing traditions. Jewish scholars of the city had fostered a tradition of interpreting the Scriptures in the context of Greek philosophy, and early Christian scholars continued this tradition. Alexandrine scholars were also influenced by gnosticism. It was the location of a well known catechetical school. Cyril of Alexandria and Origen are the best known of its early teachers. Their theology exemplifies the attempt of many Alexandrian theologians to interpret the Christian faith in the terms of Greek philosophy. Modern scholars have thus associated the name of this city with the so-called Alexandrian theology. Alexandria was declared a patriarchate second only to Rome by the Council of Nicea I in 325, but its importance was later diminished by the rise of Constantinople. In the seventh century Alexandria passed into the control of first the Persians and later of the Arabs.