The last mathematician of antiquity 

“When the existence of the Church is threatened, she is released from the commandments of morality. With unity as the end, the use of every means is sanctified, even deceit, treachery,

violence, usury, prison and death. Because order serves the good of the community, the individual must be sacrificed for the common good.” Dietrich von Nieheim, 1410. 

Cyril was appointed Patriarch of Alexandria in 412 AD. He took his job seriously. He knew there was a lot to do. For the last 32 years the Empire’s official religion had been Christianity

and all other religions had been banned.

“Look,” he told Peter the Reader, his right-hand man, “this city is swarming with the faithless. We must act, and rest assured I know what to do. But before I come to things specific to this

city, I have to tell you something that you must always remember. The most important thing is the unity of the Church. We Christians must never be divided. The Church must speak with one

voice. We have to remove the heretics. Burn them if necessary. How can we impose our will upon this rabble if there is dissension in our ranks? 

“We have not done badly over the last hundred years. We annihilated the Aryans, we got rid of the Gnostics, of the Adoptionists, the Apollinarists. The Manicheans are on the run and so are

the Nestorians. We defeated them all. I tell you, Peter, I don’t like nit-picking. I don’t like to quibble.  But, just between us, is there really much difference between homoousios and

homoiousios? Yes, I know there is, but does it matter? To tell you the truth, I don’t give a damn. What matters is the unity of the Church. Once we decided to adopt a creed, we must stick to

it. You must appreciate, Peter, that what matters is not so much what those views are. 

“Take the Marcionites. I quite like their belief that the God who sent us our Saviour is not the same God as that of the Jews. Our God is gentle, the Jewish God is implacable, vengeful,

cruel. I quite sympathise with the Marcionite belief. But they were defeated, Peter, and that is the end of the story.  

“Well, enough of generalities. Let’s talk about this sinful city. It is hard to believe, I know, but the sad truth is that while Christianity is the official religion of the Empire, in this

city we, honest Christians, remain in the minority. There are, of course, many who pretend to be Christians. Orestes, our Prefect, is a good example. He converted to Christianity just to

climb the ranks within the Imperial Civil Service. And what does he do? What kind of friends does he have? Hypatia, who runs a school by the pagans for the pagans. Do you think they pay

homage to the living God? They don’t. They practice witchcraft. She teaches mathematics. Do you know what mathematics is? It is symbol-worshipping. She draws some mythical symbols on a piece

of valuable papyrus and then they venerate it. Abominable, isn’t it? I shall cleanse this city, you will see. First the Jews, then those Christians who pay mere lip-service to our religion

and, finally, the community who still practice the old faith.”

“Isn’t it obvious what we have to do with the Jews?” Peter interjected. “They have been stubbornly opposing the teachings of Christ. We have to kill all of them.”

“Peter, Peter, be realistic. You don’t understand how tough it is. So far, no means have been invented capable of killing tens of thousands of people quickly and safely. Don’t worry. The

Jewish question will be solved within weeks. I shall expel them from the city. Believe me, that’s a better way of dealing with them.”

Cyril was a man of his word. He expelled the Jews from Alexandria. His next target was Orestes, who believed that he could make decisions about matters secular, without first consulting

Cyril.

Again, Cyril to Peter: “You will ride, get ready now, to the monasteries in the Nitrian desert. Tomorrow, you bring all the monks to the city. I know them well. I spent some time among them.

They are my faithful storm-troopers. They will come, all 300 of them. Bring them to the city centre. Post them opposite the palace of the Prefect. Make them shout ‘Death to the Prefect!

Death to the false Christians!’ And, by the way, suggest to them that they may like to bring with them a decent supply of stones. You never know, they might come handy if they get tired of

shouting.”

The monks did come. They shouted and they threw stones. They managed to wound the Prefect grievously but not mortally. The good citizens of Alexandria intervened in time. They not only saved

Orestes and his five policemen, they even helped them to apprehend Ammonius, the stone-thrower-in-chief. The Prefect, in order to uphold his authority, had Ammonius executed on the spot.

That was an unexpected setback for Cyril. He did not include in his plans the citizens of Alexandria. But he did not despair.  He was quick to devise a new plan.

“Tomorrow we have a wonderful opportunity,” he told Peter. “It will be the funeral of Ammonius, the blessed martyr who died for his Christian faith. You will lead the funeral cortège. Our

target will be the academic district around the Library, the stronghold of the old faith. We have to act against those people. We should not put up with that hair-splitting they call

philosophy, idle speculation in which the true God is entirely ignored. We should not tolerate the symbol-worshippers who, at best, are entirely unnecessary to the greater glory of God and.

even more abominably, a hindrance to it here on earth. They are enemies of men as enemies of the living God. Peter, I have complete trust in you. When the funeral cortege reaches the

Library, let your men loose. You can easily recognise Hypatia’s school. It is covered in blue marble. Tell my monks to avenge the martyrdom of the blessed Ammonius in the way they find

appropriate. They might want to burn the School down. Let them loose. Lead the charge if you want to!” 

The monks did their sacred duty. In defence of the true faith, they eliminated the fortresses of the godless, of the impious. They burnt down the school, they killed Hypatia and caused some

damage in the neighbourhood that nowadays we might refer to as “collateral”.

It was not only Hypatia who the monks killed. They killed the whole subject with her. Hypatia was the last notable mathematician of antiquity. For a thousand years, the art of mathematics

ceased to be understood in Christian Europe. 

The Patriarch Cyril was canonised. He is still revered as a Saint and Doctor of the Church.

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