convinced the dissenters of the wisdom of Timotheos'
counsel. Consequently Nectarius was ordained Bishop over
Constantinople.
- When the Council came to an end, Timotheos and his
delegation returned to Alexandria. He and his people
enjoyed the peace extended by Emperor Theodosius. In this
peaceful atmosphere, he built several churches, won back to
Orthodoxy many of the Arians, and wrote several epistles,
most of which have been lost. He also wrote the biographies
of a number of the saintly monks.
In a rescript of Emperor Theodosius written to
Optaius, an imperial officer, the Alexandrian Pope is spoken
of in the highest terms. His great humility and his contempt
of worldly praise are especially noted.^6
B. 223. One of the most remarkable men who lived
during the times of Abba Timotheos was a man who came to
be known in Coptic Church history as St. Moses the Black.
riginally, Moses had been the slave of a high-ranking
Egyptian nobleman, but having been terribly unruly, his
owner could not stand him and dispensed with him.
Delighting in his new state, he took himself to a
deserted place, gathered around him some seventy robbers
and became the terror of the region. Gigantic in stature, his
physical force was more like a brute than a human being, and
so he killed and pillaged ruthlessly.^7
Yet even while he moved in abysmal sin the Divine
Spark scintillated within him. At times he would look up to
the sun and murmur: "O sun, if you are God tell me. O God
Whom I do not know, declare Thyself to me."
- One day, as he thus meditated, he heard a Voice
saying: "Arise, go to the desert of Wadi-n-Natrun where