Saint Peter of Alexandria was the seventeenth patriarch (bishop) of the see of St. Mark (300-311). He was the last of the "martyrs", according to the tradition, and was of great esteem in the East because of his martyrdom. However, he remained an obscure figure. It is the Coptic Church tradition which had the most to say about Peter. The story of his popularity was still attested after his death.
Peter was bishop during the Great Persecution. He had a small but fascinating and important source in the early volumes of church history. Peter’s place of eminence in the church became obvious when Athanasius was fusing together the Coptic and Greek traditions. In the fourth century, Peter lived on in two traditions: first as a martyr and second as a theologian. It is not till later that these two traditions merged. The Coptic Church tradition considered Peter primarily as a pious and humble bishop, who like Christ gave his life to his people and was content with his marvelous deeds. The Greek tradition considered some fragments of his writings as opposing Origenism and thus saw him as an opponent of heretics. Eventually, these two traditions came together. Though very little has been written about the civilian and about the ecclesiastical administrative life of Saint Peter, he is important both for who he was and what he became.
The Canonical Epistle of St. Peter of Alexandria is a series of canons drawn from his sermons. This edition is specially formatted with a Table of Contents.
