forecast came to pass when the imperial officer struck him
to death upon his refusal to sign the document presented
to him. His martyrdom heralded a wave of persecutions
in which an estimated thirty thousand lost their lives.^70
With the exception of a few churches forcefully
taken and given over by the Emperor to the supporters of
Chalcedon, all churches were closed. Proterius, mindless
of the people or their feelings, proceeded to despoil the
churches relegated to him and his partisans.
- At the approach of Easter, Leo of Rome sent a
letter to Proterius asking him to inform him of the date for
celebrating it, as this had been the prerogative assigned by
the Nicean Council to the Patriarch of Alexandria. This
gesture, which was no more than a mere flattery to the
Emperor’s minion enraged the Egyptians all the more.^71
They persisted tin opposing him just as much as he
persisted in persecuting them without truce or mercy.
But whatever they were subjected to, and
notwithstanding it, the Copts – both clergy and people,
remained steadfastly loyal to the exiled Abba Dioscorus,
and regarded Proterius as a foreigner and a usurper of a
See he had absolutely no right to occupy.