- Andronicus was both learned and a deacon: a
veritable scribe. He descended from a rich family of great
influence; their prestige was such that one of his cousins
had been appointed chief of the imperial court at
Alexandria. Besides, he was very charitable. These assets
were enough to make the civil authorities decide to leave
him unmolested. And so he lived quietly in Alexandria, in
a cell he had built for himself over the Church of the
Angelion.
Shortly after the consecration of Abba Andronicus,
Chosroes, King of Persia, triumphed over Egypt. He
entered it, treading on everyone and everything
heedlessly. And such was his cruelty and lust for gold
that he would kill a man for one dinar (or the equivalent
of half an Egyptian pound in present day currency), and
that he destroyed all the monasteries to the west of
Alexandria, confiscating whatever he found there after
massacring most of the monks. - In addition, King Chosroes issued a proclamation
one day inviting all men between the ages of eighteen and
fifty, to meet him in a certain square in Alexandria, on the
pretence of appointing them in Government positions. A
few thousand of them assembled. Suddenly, the Persian
troops surrounded them, and killed them to the last man. - The papacy of Abba Andronicus endured only
through the dark and terrible years of the Persian
conquest. With a heart full of sadness over the atrocities
committed against his people, he kept prayerful watch
over them. Then he rested in the Lord.
elle
(Elle)
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