ALEXANDRIA, SYNOD OF

(AD 362), a meeting of Christian bishops held in Alexandria, Egypt, summoned by the bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius. It allowed clergy that were readmitted to communion after making common cause with Arians to return to their former ecclesiastical status, provided they had not themselves subscribed to Arianism. The synod stated explicitly that the Holy Spirit, not a created being, is of the same substance as the Father and the Son, and it clearly defined the Christological terms person and substance.