26th November is the saint’s day of Saint Peter
of Alexandria, who was martyred by the Romans in 311. He is widely believed to
be the last Christian martyr before religious toleration was declared
throughout the Empire by Emperor Constantine.
Peter became Bishop of Alexandria in 300, and was noted for
his policy of lenience towards Christians who had been forced to renounce their
faith (sometimes after torture) but who now wanted to return to the fold. This
policy did not go down well with everyone, one of these critics being a priest
named Melitius who maintained that such people must be re-baptized if they had
ever sacrificed to pagan gods since their original baptism.
When Peter was forced to go into hiding, Melitius usurped
his position as bishop, for which deed Peter had him excommunicated. However,
true to his policy of offering forgiveness to backsliders, Peter offered
Melitius the chance to repent and be accepted back into the Christian
community.
When Peter was martyred by being beheaded, Melitius escaped
the persecution and continued to cause trouble in the church by leading a
breakaway sect. It is little surprise that Peter was later canonized but
Melitius was not.
© John Welford
No comments:
Post a Comment