Pavel Dudzik: Bishop Alexander of Alexandria († 328) and His Two Anti-Arian Letters

In my short communication I plan to focus on the teaching of this Alexandrian Bishop concerning the relationship between the Son and the Father, proposed in his anti-Arian letters written prior to the Council of Nicaea (circular letter and letter to Alexander of Byzantium, in H.-G. Opitz’ edition Urkunden 4b and 14). The paper will be based on analyses of the structure of both letters (the way Alexander reveals his teaching in the letter to Alexander of Byzantium is not without disruptions and later additions might be determined there) and of his terminology. I attempt to demonstrate an anti-Arian solution to the theological issue in question which was expressed by Alexander without using ousia-terminology and partly with the use of vocabulary of a perfect likeness (e.g. the Son as an indistinguishable image, aparallaktos eikon, Ur. 14,38.47). In certain expressions, Alexander’s exposition of his teachings seems to be close to the theological vocabulary of the Eusebians who stood on the side of Arius.