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Demetrius accended to the episcopate of Alexandria, Egypt in 179 A.D. or 189 A.D. He was illiterate. He was a countryman, a rustic layman who could neither read nor write, he even had a wife, which ordinarily would disqualify him for high church office.  But his predecessor had been told in a vision on his death bed, it is related [by Jerome], that the man chosen by heaven as the next bishop would appear the next day bringing a present of grapes. Precisely on schedule the unsuspecting Demetrius showed up carrying bunches of grapes from his farm and was taken almost by force, hastily ordained, and thrust against his will upon the "throne of St. Mark" as the twelfth Patriarch of Alexandria (Mark is considered by the Church Fathers as the one who preached the Gospel in Egypt). Surprisingly, Demetrius ruled the Egyptian church long and well for 42 years and built the catechetical school attached to his cathedral into a world-famous center of learning.

Demetrius accended to the episcopate of Alexandria, Egypt in 179 A.D. or 189 A.D. "He was illiterate. He was a countryman, a rustic layman who could neither read nor write, he even had a wife, which ordinarily would disqualify him for high church office.  But his predecessor had been told in a vision on his death bed, it is related [by Jerome], that the man chosen by heaven as the next bishop would appear the next day bringing a present of grapes. Precisely on schedule the unsuspecting Demetrius showed up carrying bunches of grapes from his farm and was taken almost by force, hastily ordained, and thrust against his will upon the 'throne of St. Mark'(A History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. l., Samuel Hugh Moffett, Orbis) as the twelfth Patriarch of Alexandria (Mark is considered by the Church Fathers as the one who preached the Gospel in Egypt). Surprisingly, Demetrius ruled the Egyptian church long and well for 42 years and built the catechetical school attached to his cathedral into a world-famous center of learning.

   

   

From the School of Alexandria and the ministry of this illiterate bishop, two good things came about.  

From the School of Alexandria and the ministry of this illiterate bishop, two good things came about.