A Council of Bishops in Alexandria

On this day of the year 243 A.D. a holy synod was convened in the City of Alexandria in the second year of the Papacy of St. Dionysius the fourteenth Pope of Alexandria. This council was held to refute the belief of certain people in the Arabian countries that the soul dies with the body and on the day of resurrection it shall be raised up with it. These people composed articles on this belief and sent them to Alexandria. Pope Dionysius tried to refute their belief. As they would not listen to him, he assembled the council, confronted them and detailed their misconception.

As they did not repent and turn away from their belief the Pope excommunicated them and wrote them an article in which he said

"The love of God to mankind is exceedingly great and the soul neither dies nor perishes but lives as the angels and the devils because it is spiritual, lasting and incorruptible. When the soul leaves the body it returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7). It lingers in a waiting place till the day of resurrection when the trumpet will sound and the dead bodies shall rise by the Lord's command (John 5:28, 29). Each soul will adhere to its own body, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2). "


A Great Earthquake in Cairo and in Most Egyptian Cities

Also, on this day a great earthquake took place in Cairo and in most of the Egyptian cities at 9:00 a.m. Many buildings were destroyed.

Furthermore, on this day in the Coptic year 828, in the ninth year of the Papacy of St. Macarius, some ungodly people tried to bribe some Christians. As the Christians would not consent, the ungodly people went in the evening and destroyed a church named after the Archangel Michael in El-Gezira, Cairo, Egypt.