the doctrines of the Church; he comforted his people,
instructed them, and guided them into the paths of
righteousness.
Soon after his election, Abba Maximos received a
synodal letter from the Council of Antioch, informing him of
the deposition of Paul of Samosata, head of the Antiochan
Church, 'and the reason for it. The Alexandrian Pope seized
this opportunity and immediately sent a circular epistle to all
the bishops within his jurisdiction in which he made known
to them the verdict of the Council of Antioch, and warned
them against the false doctrines of the deposed Samosation.
At the same time, Abba Maximos found it
appropriate to expose the errors of yet another heretic by the
name of Mani. This heretic had pretended that there were
two gods: the God of Good, living in the World of Light,
and the God of Evil, living in the world of Darkness. In this
letter, the Successor of St. Mark emphasised the Christian
Doctrine of the One God: The Father, The Son, and The
Holy Spirit.
These two letters of Abba Maximos comforted the
hearts of the people and consolidated their faith.
- During this epoch, the Church of Alexandria had
become the most luminous among Churches.^1 Several
outstanding teachers assisted the successor of St. Mark in his
work of edification. Foremost among them was Phileas, a
Bishop and writer of high repute who eulogised the martyrs,
and won the Martyr's Crown for himself. - Side by side with Phileas stood the erudite priests
Eusebius and Anatolius, whom Abba Dionysius, the
preceding Patriarch, had selected to bear his letter against the
heresy of Paul of Samosata to the Council of Antioch. Both
of them had been entreated by the people of Syria to stay on