Alexander of Lycopolis (fl. c. 300 CE). Born around the late 3rd century, likely in Lycopolis, Egypt (modern Asyut), Alexander was a philosopher, possibly a Neoplatonist, known for his treatise Against the Doctrines of Mani. Little is known of his early life or education, but he was trained in Greek philosophical methods, likely in Alexandria’s intellectual hub. Not a traditional preacher, his work resembles a sermon in its reasoned critique of Manichaeism, a dualistic religion he encountered through Mani’s associates, as noted in his text’s second chapter. Written around 275–300 CE, the 26-chapter treatise uses sharp logic to challenge Mani’s teachings as vague and unphilosophical, favoring Christianity’s ethical clarity without explicitly endorsing it. Some, like Photius, later claimed he was a bishop, but scholars like Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont (1697) and Otto Bardenhewer argue he remained a pagan Platonist, given his detached tone. No personal details, like family or death, survive, and he authored no other known works. Alexander said, “The philosophy of the Christians is simple, but it forms manners with care.”