St. Anianus of Alexandria

Anianus was a cobbler at Alexandria when the holy Evangelist Mark first came to the city from Cyrene to preach the Gospel. The tradition of the Alexandrian Church relates that, as Mark entered the city, the thong of his sandal broke, and he sought out the nearest workshop to have it mended. Anianus, taking the sandal, pierced his own hand with the awl and cried out involuntarily on the one God whose name he knew. Mark took the wounded hand, prayed, and healed it.

He received Mark into his house, was catechized, baptized with his household, and became the first fruits of the great Egyptian Church. Many of his neighbors followed him to the Faith, and the wonder of the healing was the seed of the patriarchate that has continued in Alexandria since.

When the Apostle Mark, after several returns to Alexandria, was at last seized by a pagan mob on the morning of Pascha in 68 and dragged through the streets to his death, the new community received Anianus as their bishop. He sat on the throne of St. Mark for some twenty-two years, through the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and into the years of Domitian. He reposed in peace around 86.

The Orthodox and Coptic Churches keep his memory together with the Evangelist Mark on the twenty-fifth of April. Every succession of the great Patriarchate of Alexandria, Athanasius, Cyril, and all the rest, traces itself back through every patriarch to him.