(A.D. 457.)
[Greek Menæa on this day. Baronius and others have expressed
surprise that the name of S. Proterius is inserted in no Western
Martyrologies. Authority:--Evagrius, lib. iii. 13; Theophanes, the
letters of Anatolius, Patr. of Constantinople, &c.]
S. Proterius was the head of the orthodox party at Alexandria, when
the patriarch Dioscorus adopted Eutychian views. That unprincipled and
haughty prelate, knowing the esteem in which Proterius was held, made
him arch-priest of his diocese; but as his heretical opinions became
more evident, Proterius took decided steps to oppose him, and on the
condemnation and deposition of Dioscorus by the Council of Chalcedon,
in 452, he was ordained in his room. This led to a schism in the
Church of Alexandria, the Catholics acknowledging Proterius, and the
Eutychians holding with Dioscorus. The Eutychians were headed by two
ecclesiastics, Timothy Ailurus, and Mongus, who had been
excommunicated for heresy. In a tumult that broke out, Ailurus, having
obtained consecration from two bishops of their faction, mounted the
episcopal throne, and proclaimed himself sole patriarch of Alexandria.
Proterius fled for safety to the baptistery of the Church of S.
Quirinus, but the heretics broke in and stabbed him to death; then
dragged his body through the streets, hacked it to pieces, and burnt
it.