RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Alexander
It has been edited, with a good introduction, by A Brinkmann (Leipsic, 1895); Eng. transl. in ANF, vi. 239-253. G. Kruger.
ALEXANDER NEVSKI, SAINT: A saint of the Eastern Church; b. at Vladimir (110 m. e. by n. of Moscow) 1218; d. at Goroditch (360 m. s.e. of Moscow) Nov. 14, 1263. He was the second son of Grand Duke Jaroslav II. of Novgorod. In 1240 he defeated the Swedes on the Neva, whence his title, " Nevski." Two years later he repelled the Livonians, who had the support of Rome. The popes of the time were making great efforts to bring about a union with the Eastern Church, and, to further their plans, they tried to induce Alexander and Prince Daniel of Galitch to undertake a crusade against the Tatars. Innocent IV addressed letters to Alexander (Jan. 23 and Sept. 15, 1248), urging him strenuously to submit to the Roman see, to which the duke and his advisers replied: " We know what the Old and New Testaments say, and we are also acquainted with the teaching of the Church of Constantine and from the first to the seventh council; but your teaching we do not accept." Nevertheless, Innocent and his successor, Alexander IV., pursued their plans and appointed a legate for Russia, hoping that Roman bishoprics might in the course of time be established there. Grand Duke Alexander defended his Church as ably as he did his country. He won the favor of the Tatar khans, and in 1261 a bishopric was established at Sarai on the lower Volga, the residence of the Khan of the Golden Horde. Alexander died on one of his many journeys thither. He was canonized by the Church and the day of his burial (Nov. 23) was consecrated to him. His remains were transferred on Aug. 30, 1724, to the Alexander Nevski monastery in St. Petersburg, which had been founded by Peter the Great in 1711 on the supposed scene of Alexander's victory over the Swedes in 1240. Richard Hausmann.
ALEXANDER SEVERUS (Marcus Aurelius Alexander Severus): Roman emperor 222-235; b. at Arce in Phenicia, most probably 205; murdered by the army, probably near Mainz, at the beginning of a campaign against the Germans in Gaul, Mar., 235. He was a noble character, conscientious, almost scrupulous, meek, and well inclined toward all gods and men. The religious policy which he inherited was one of electicism and syncretism. Alexander and his two immediate predecessors — Caracalla, 211-217, son and successor of Septimius Severus (q.v.), and Elagabalus, 218-222, reputed son and successor of Caracalla— may be called the Syrian emperors. They were much influenced by Julia Domna, wife of Septimius and daughter of a priest of the sun at Emesa; Julia MaBsa, her sister; and the two daughters of the latter, Sosemias, mother of Elagabalus, and Julia Mama^a, mother of Alexander. About these women gathered a circle of philosophers and scholars who took a deep interest in religious questions. There was naturally here no inclination to the Roman religion and the claims of Christianity were, in part at least, recognized. There was a disposition to attempt to revive heathenism by importing the good in the
new religion. Elagabalus (q.v.) had sought to unite the religions of the empire, but in fantastic manner, aiming to make all gods subordinate to the sun-god of Emesa, whose priest he was. Alexander continued his syncretism in nobler fashion. He was susceptible to all good and had respect for. all religions. The image of Christ stood in his lararium with those of Orpheus, Abraham, and Apollonius of Tyana, and he is said to have wished to erect in Rome a temple to Jesus. The Christian ethics also attracted him, he often quoted the precept " what ye will not that others do to you, that do not ye to them " and had it inscribed on public buildings. Mamaea was even more favorable to Christianity; Eusebius (Hist, eccl., vi. 21) calls her " a most pious woman, if there ever was one, and of religious life," but the assertion that she was a Christian (first made by Orosius, vii. 18) is unfounded.
That the Church had peace under Alexander, as under his predecessors, was the natural consequence of his training and his character. Lampridius says expressly that Alexander " suffered the Christians to exist," and Firmilian, bishop of C«sarea in Cappadocia, in a letter to Cyprian (Epist.,lxxv. [lxxiv.]), written about 256, speaks of " the long peace." To be sure, individuals may have been brought to trial here and there, but the later accounts which make Alexander a cruel persecutor under whom thousands of Christians suffered death are false, and the reputed martyrdoms under him, as of the Roman bishops Callistus and Urbanus and of St. Cecilia, are unhistoric.
(A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: Original sources are: Dion Cassius, Hist. Rom., lxxiv., lxxvi., lxxx.; .lElius Lampridius, Alexander Severus, best in M. Nisard, Suetone, pp. 453-482, Paris, 1883; Eusebius, Hist, eccl, v. 26, vi. 1; NPNF, 2d series, i. 245, 249. Consult: G. Uhlhorn, Der Kampf des Christentums, pp. 284 sqq., Stuttgart, 1875; B. Aube\ Les Chretiens dans I'empire romain, pp. 53 sqq., Paris, 1881; J. Reville, La Religion a Rome sous les Severes, ib. 1885; P. Allard, Histoire des persecutions . du Hi. Steele, pp. 79 sqq., 171 sqq., ib. 1886; W . Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, iii. 802-804, London, 1890; Neander, Christian Church, i. 125-127 et passim; Sehaff, Christian Church, ii. 58-59; Moeller, Christian Church, i. 191, 195.
ALEXANDER, ARCHIBALD : Presbyterian clergyman, and first professor in the Princeton Theological Seminary; b. about 7 m. e. of Lexington, in Augusta (later Rockbridge) County, Virginia, Apr. 17, 1772; d. at Princeton Oct. 22, 1851. He received as good schooling as the place and time afforded, including attendance from the age of ten at the Liberty Hall Academy of the Rev. William Graham, near Lexington. He was converted in the great revival of 1789, studied theology with Mr. Graham, was licensed in 1791 and ordained in 1794, and became president of Hampden Sydney College 1796, and pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church (Pine Street), Philadelphia, 1806. In 1812 he was entrusted by the General Assembly with the organization of the Princeton Theological Seminary. For the first year he taught all departments, but as other professors were added he confined himself to pastoral and polemic theology. His chief books were: A Brief Outline of the
Alexander Alexandria