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This article is about the Alexandrian patriarch Achillas. For the Egyptian general, see Achillas.
Pope Achillas of Alexandria was the eighteenth
Pope of Alexandria (head of the church that became the
Coptic Orthodox Church and the
Greek Church of Alexandria) between
312 and
313.
Achillas had been ordained a
presbyter by
Pope Theonas of Alexandria with Pierius, and was made the head of the
Catechetical School of Alexandria upon the departure of Pierius, who had either left for Rome or been made a martyr at Alexandria. He was apparently very highly thought of for his work in Greek philosophy and theological science, as
Athanasius of Alexandria later described him by the honorofic "Achillas the Great".
He came to office after the execution of his predecessor,
Peter of Alexandria, during the
Diocletian Persecution. He inherited the troubles the church was experiencing at the time, including the
Meletian heresy and the continuing troubles with
Arianism. Upon Achillas' accession to the patriarchate, he was influenced by the supporters of
Arius to rescind the orders of
excommunication and
anathema which had been placed on him. As a result of Achillas' actions, Arius was not only forgiven for his early actions and statements, but even given the position as the priest at the Bucalis, the oldest and among the most influential churches in Alexandria.
Achillas is not recorded as having been involved in any other major activities during his short reign, which lasted only six months. Some of the church have ascribed his early death to his violating the order of his predecessor Peter on never allowing Arius back into the church.
He is commemorated in the Synaxarion of the
Coptic Orthodox Church on 19 Ba'ūnah.