Dionysius of Alexandria

Born in Alexandria near the end of the second century to a well-to-do non-Christian family, Dionysius received an excellent education. He explored different Gnostic traditions (Letter to Philemon) and finally converted to apostolic faith after a thorough study of Paul’s letters. (Chronicon orientale) Origen may have prepared him for baptism. Soon a presbyter, according to Jerome, de vir. inl. 69, he replaced Heraclas as the head of the local school for the catechumenate in 231–232 (Eusebius of Caesarea HE VI, 29, 47; contra Nautin, DPAC).

Charles Kannengiesser, Handbook of Patristic Exegesis: The Bible in Ancient Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 575.