Proterius of Alexandria

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Proterius of Alexandria (d. 457), Patriarch of Alexandria (451-457), was elected by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 to replace Dioscorus of Alexandria, who had been deposed by the same council (cf. Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, book 2, chapter 5[1]). His accession marks the beginning of the Schism of 451 between the Coptic Orthodox and the Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Alexandria, which has never been completely resolved. Because the church of Alexandria was largely miaphysite the deposition of Dioscorus, a miaphysite, from and the elevation of Proterius, a Chalcedonian, to the patriarchate was violently opposed. Finally in 457 the miaphysite party in Alexandria elected Timothy II Aelurus as patriarch, creating a parallel papacy to that of Proterius, who was subsequently murdered by Coptic mobs (Evagrius, 2, 8[2]). He is regarded as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is not recognised as a Pope by the Coptic Church of Egypt (Coptic Orthodox Church Network, Popes Chronology [3]).