Alexander of Lycopolis

“ The ecclesiastical rulers of the dioceses were called patriarchs, exarchs, or archbishops, of whom there were fourteen; the rulers of the provinces were styled metropolitans, i.e., governors of the μητρόπολις or mother city, and those of each city and its districts were called bishops. ”

“ But however these matters are understood, it is admitted that Alexander came just before Meletius in the See of Lycopolis, and we know that he occupied the episcopal chair of that city in the beginning of the fourth century, in which order Le Quien places him among the Lycopolitan prelates, on the authority of Photius.
In the time of Constantine, the Eastern and Western Empire were each divided into seven districts, called dioceses, [6] which comprised about one hundred and eighteen provinces; [7] each province contained several cities, each of which had a district [8] attached to it. ”

“ So that it is no easy matter to state whether our author was called Λυκοπολίτης, because he was born either at Lycopolis in the Thebaid, or at another Lycopolis in Lower Egypt, which Stephanus places close to the sea in the Sebennytic nome, or whether he was not rather called Λυκοπολίτης , as having held the bishopric of Lycopolis. The unwonted manner of speaking employed by Photius need not delay the attention of anyone, when he makes Alexander to have been Archbishop of Lycopolis ”