TWO SHOEMAKER-BISHOPS—ANNIANUS OF ALEXANDRIA, AND ALEXANDER OF COMANA.
If the shoemaker has found a place in classic history, it must not be forgotten that he has a place in ecclesiastical history also. In two instances a shoemaker is said to have been taken direct from the stall and elevated to the episcopal chair. No doubt many shoemakers have been endowed with sufficient piety and learning for this sacred and dignified office, and probably not a few have deemed themselves fit, whether they were so or not, to discharge its high functions; but the instances here given are, we believe, quite unique. The first is that of Anianus or Annianus (a.d. 62-86), who is said to have been appointed by St. Mark to assist him in the government of the Church at Alexandria. On the outbreak of persecution under Nero, Mark fled from the city; and, as Eusebius says, “Nero was now in his eighth year, when Annianus succeeded the Apostle and Evangelist Mark in the administration of the Church at Alexandria.“ The historian adds, ”He (Annianus) was a man distinguished for piety, and admirable in every respect.”[74] He died in the fourth year of Domitian, 86 a.d. He was the first Bishop of Alexandria, and filled the office twenty-two years.[75] To these simple statements of the historian are added the stories which found a ready acceptance in later times. To the fact that the worthy Alexandrian was a shoemaker tradition added the account of the miracle wrought upon him by St. Mark. One account tells us that the Evangelist, on passing along the street, burst his shoe and turned in to get it repaired, and so became acquainted with Annianus. Another version of the story declares that the cobbler, having hurt his hand with an awl, uttered a not very pious exclamation, which Mark overheard as he passed by, and going in to inquire the cause, took the opportunity not only to heal the wound, but to speak to the impatient workman of the true and living God whose name he had taken in vain. Annianus is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology with St. Mark on the 25th April.[76]
The other appointment of a shoemaker to the episcopate was due to the piety and wisdom of Gregory Thaumaturgus, the pupil and friend of Origen (220-270 a.d.). Gregory was then Bishop of Neo-Cæsarea in Asia Minor, and when a vacancy occurred in the bishopric of Comana in Cappadocia, he defied all conventionalism and prejudice, and appointed “a poor shoemaker named Alexander, despised by the world, but great in the sight of God, who did honor to so exalted a station in the Church.”[77] He was chosen in preference to scholars and men of good social status on account of his extraordinary piety. This Alexander justified the choice thus made by reason of his excellent discourse, his holy living, and a martyr’s death. He is honored in the Roman Calendar on August 11th.[78]