our Lord the Messiah fashioned from the Divine nature a human being whose essence was like ours, that the Son’s origin was from Mary, and that he was chosen to be the savior of humankind; divine grace accompanied him and dwelt in him through love and will, and for that reason he was called the Son of God. He also maintained that God is a single substance and a single hypostasis (1).

Saʿīd ibn al-Biṭrīq (3) said: After Paul’s death, thirteen bishops assembled in the city of Antioch, examined his doctrine, ruled that he was worthy of anathema, and therefore cursed him and anyone who espoused his view before dispersing.

Another Caesar then rose to power, and in his reign the Christians (4) prayed in catacombs and in private houses out of fear of the Romans. The patriarch of Alexandria did not show himself, lest he be killed. Baron was installed as patriarch and continued to placate the Romans until he succeeded in building a church in Alexandria (5).

Subsequent Caesars followed. Two of them ruled the Romans for twenty-one years and unleashed upon the Christians unimaginable calamities—slaughter, torture, the violation of women, and the plundering of property. They killed untold thousands of believers and subjected Saint George to all manner of torment (6) before executing him.

During their reign the patriarch Peter of Alexandria was beheaded, and he had