Isidore of Alexandria, St

Isidore of Alexandria, St.

was born in Egypt about the year 318, and led for a time the life of a hermit in the wilderness of the Thebaid and in the desert of Nitria. St. Athanasius ordained him priest, and give him the charge of a hospital, whence Isidore is also called the Hospitaller. After the death of Athanasius, Isidore courageously defended his works and his memory against the attacks of the Arians. Having got into difficulties with Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, Isidore was obliged to flee to Constantinople, where he died in 403. The Greek Church commemorates him on the 15th of January. See Palladius, Hist. Lausiaca; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 16, 56. (J. N. P.)