George of Cappadocia

Who is George of Cappadocia?

Georgius, commonly called of Cappadocia; Arian intruding bishop of Alexandria. He was born, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, at Epiphania in Cilicia, and, if so, must have been Cappadocian only by descent. Gregory Nazianzen describes him as not purely free-born, and as "unlearned," but he undoubtedly collected a library which Julian, no bad judge, describes as "very large and ample," richly stored with philosophical, rhetorical, and historical authors, and with various works of "Galilean" or Christian theology. In February 356, after Athanasius had retired from Alexandria in consequence of the attack on his church, which all but ended in his seizure, he heard that George was to be intruded into his throne, as Gregory had been sixteen years previously. George arrived in Alexandria, escorted by soldiers, during Lent 356. His installation was a signal for new inflictions on Alexandrian church-people.