Athanasius II (Saint)
fl. 488-494
Coptic Church
Egypt

Athanasius II was the twenty-eighth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (488-494). Athanasius succeeded PETER III MONGUS to the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria. His reign was uneventful, and all that is known about him is derived from the History of the Patriarchs by Sāwirus ibn al-Muqaffa', bishop of al-Ashmūnayn. B. T. A. Evetts' translation of the Arabic text follows: "When the holy Father Peter went to his rest, Athanasius was appointed. He had been priest in charge of the church of Alexandria, and now he was made patriarch over it. He was a good man, full of faith and the Holy Ghost; and he accomplished that with which he was entrusted; and in his days there was no disorder or persecution in the holy church. He remained seven years, and went to his rest on the twentieth of Tūt." Apparently the confusion created by the Council of CHALCEDON (451) during the reign of DIOSCORUS I had subsided by his time.

Aziz S. Atiya