The Church in Alexandria

Location of New Testament Churches

Alexandria, located in Africa in the country of Egypt, is named after its founder, Alexander the Great, who began it around 331 B.C. After his death his vast empire was split among his four generals (which fulfilled Bible prophecy). Egypt was taken over by his general Ptolemy, who would ultimately build a ruling Greek dynasty over the Egyptians that would last until the death of Cleopatra in 30 B.C.

Alexandria, among the many things it was known for, possessed a library of 700,000 volumes containing a wealth of information. It also boasted one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, a giant lighthouse that stood between 393 and 450 feet tall. The city additionally is the place where the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into the Greek language (called the Septuagint) in the third century B.C.

The city or its residents are mentioned four times in the King James New Testament (Acts 6:9, 18:24, 27:6, 28:11). Alexandria is the birthplace of Apollos (Acts 18:24), a man who was a Jewish convert to Christianity. He not only aided the Apostle Paul in Corinth, he was a gifted Christian preacher and teacher is his own right who spread the gospel in the Roman world.

Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man who was skilled in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus . . . Now it came to pass that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the upper parts and came to Ephesus (Acts 18:24, 19:1, HBFV).

Church tradition states that the gospel writer Mark travelled to Egypt and started the first Christian church in Alexandria (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). Foxe's Book of Martyrs states he died in the city when those who worshipped the false God Serapis dragged him through the streets.