Now that we learned about the Church Fathers who have taught us so much from their writings and their saintly lives, have you ever wondered how they knew so much about God!! How did the Church Fathers know what to do and how to live their lives? Who taught them? Was there a school? Yes, there is a school called The School of Alexandria! “And you shall teach them your statutes and the laws” Exodus 18:20 Who Started The School of Alexandria?
St. Mark knew how important it was to start a school to teach the Christian faith, study the Holy Bible and teach different languages. St Mark himself knew how to speak Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The School of Alexandria: This school was so important because it taught Christians the true faith so they would be able to defend their faith. When The School of Alexandria first opened, if you wanted to join you must be baptized in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. By the second century, the school of Alexandria became very famous for its advanced Theological studies offered! These studies helped students to defend the faith against many wrong ideas and philosophies. Later on, many students were joining The School of Alexandria, there were 3 groups of people that were joining:
The students and the deans of The School of Alexandria were very well respected among the Churches all over the world; they even used to preside and lead the Ecumenical Councils....
Many fathers from other countries came to learn from the teachers of The School of Alexandria. Church Fathers like St. Jerome who came to learn from St. Didymus the blind and then he went back home and wrote books to teach others. After many years, in the year 1874 Pope Cyril the 5th reopened the Theological school again after it was closed for centuries.
When St. Habib Girgis was the dean of the Theological School, Nazir Gayed joined the school and became the top of his class. Later he was chosen to oversee the Theological School as Anba Shenouda the Bishop of Education. Later Anba Shenouda was chosen to be the Patriarch the 117th of Alexandria, the teacher of teachers and the shepherd of shepherds.
Pope Shenouda structured the theological school to be to be a complete source of Christian education for students from all over the world! Today In the theological school, students learn many subjects like: Dogma, Church History, the Old Testament, the New Testament, Comparative Theology (Religions), Patrology (Church Fathers), Church Canons, Church Rites, and Coptic and Hymns. Pope Shenouda established many branches to the theological school all over the world to be a source for teaching the sound faith Even in our diocese, The Diocese of the Southern United States we have 3 Theological Schools located in Florida, Nashville, and in St. Mary and St. Moses Abbey in Texas.
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