Cedrón de Alejandría

Cedrón de Alejandría, known in Greek as Kerdōn (Κέρδων) and in English and Latin sources as Kedron, Cerdon, or Cerdo, was the fourth bishop of Alexandria and is counted in Coptic tradition as the fourth Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark. He succeeded Avilius (also called Milius or Abilius) after having served as a priest of the Alexandrian church. Almost nothing can be established about his family, education, or early life beyond the later claim that he was a native of Alexandria in Roman Egypt. The chronology of the first Alexandrian bishops rests on episcopal lists transmitted by Eusebius of Caesarea in the fourth century and on subsequent Coptic compilations such as the History of the Patriarchs; those lists traditionally place Cedrón’s episcopate in the closing years of the first century and the opening years of the second, commonly from about 96 to 106, though the figures are conventional rather than independently documented.

His tenure fell in the reign of the emperor Trajan (98–117), when the Christian community of Alexandria was still a relatively small, largely Greek-speaking body that traced its foundation to Mark the Evangelist. Alexandria was then one of the principal cities of the Roman Empire, a centre of commerce, Hellenistic learning, and a large Jewish population. No writings by Cedrón survive, and no contemporary account of his teaching or administration exists. Later Coptic tradition, however, associates his last years with a local outbreak of persecution. According to that tradition he was arrested, confessed the Christian faith, and was put to death, and is therefore remembered as the first successor of Mark to die a martyr. Greek and Latin historians are more reserved: Eusebius records the succession of Alexandrian bishops, including Cerdo, but does not describe a martyrdom.

The Coptic Orthodox Church commemorates his departure on 21 Baounah (Paoni) in the Coptic calendar, corresponding approximately to 28 June in the Gregorian reckoning. He is honoured as a saint in the Coptic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox calendars among the early popes of Alexandria. Western martyrological notices of an early bishop Cerdon of Alexandria are sparse and secondary. He was succeeded, according to the same episcopal lists, by Primus (sometimes called Justus or Eros in variant catalogues).

Because the sources are late and liturgical rather than archival, the historical figure of Cedrón remains obscure. His burial place is not independently attested; early Alexandrian bishops were customarily linked with the church at Baucalis (Boukolou), the traditional site associated with Mark, but that association cannot be verified for Cedrón in particular. No reliable evidence survives concerning marriage, children, or membership in any later monastic order. What can be said with caution is that he stands at the shadowy beginning of the Alexandrian succession, known almost exclusively through lists of bishops and through the Coptic synaxarium rather than through a detailed contemporary biography.