Hieromartyr Hieromartyr Proterius, Patriarch of Alexandria

CRITICAL: date corrected — the previous "February 22" is unsupported by any source; the correct date is February 28/March 13 (March 12 in leap years).

Proterius was a presbyter in Alexandria under Patriarch Dioscorus (444-451), a leading Monophysite who rejected the Council of Chalcedon (451). Proterius openly opposed the heresy and defended Orthodox (dyophysite) Christology.

After the Council of Chalcedon condemned Eutychianism and deposed Dioscorus, Emperor Marcian installed Proterius as Patriarch of Alexandria (451) for his strict and virtuous life. The overwhelmingly anti-Chalcedonian Alexandrian population revolted; rioters burned soldiers sent to restore order, and Marcian punitively revoked the city's civic privileges until Proterius negotiated their restoration.

After Marcian's death (457), imperial protection collapsed. The presbyter Timothy Aelurus ("the Cat"), a Monophysite rival for the throne, incited a mob. By tradition, Proterius received a vision of the Prophet Isaiah instructing him to return to the city and foretelling his martyrdom. On Holy Saturday, 457, the mob broke into the baptistery where he had taken refuge and murdered him along with six companions; his body was dragged through the streets by rope, beaten, mutilated, and finally burned, with the ashes scattered to the wind.

Emperor Leo I and Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople later suppressed the rebellion militarily; Timothy Aelurus was exiled to Gangra, and the Orthodox Timothy Salofaciolus was elected in his place.