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Demetrius was probably born about the year 126. He apparently was a rustic countryman of limited education who, according to St. [[Jerome]], became the bishop of Alexandria through the fulfillment of a vision of his predecessor, Ioulianus: that the man chosen by heaven as the next bishop would appear the next day carrying a present of grapes. The next day, as in the vision of Ioulianus, an unsuspecting Demetrius appeared carrying a load of grapes from his farm. Demetrius was immediately taken forcefully, [[ordination|ordained], and placed on the throne of St. Mark. <ref> A History of Christianity in Asia, Vol. l., Samuel Hugh Moffett, Orbis</ref>
During Demetrius' episcopate of forty two years, the [[Catechetical School of Alexandria]] grew first under the leadership of Pantaenus, who was followed by two great Christian teachers, [[Clement of AlexanderAlexandria]] and [[Origen]]. St. Jerome noted that Demetrius sent Pantaenus on a mission to India to the small community of Christians he found there that used the Gospel of Matthew. As the fame of the school grew so did the church in Egypt. At the beginning of his episcopate there was only one, his, [[diocese|bishopric]] in Egypt, to which Demetrius added three more.
After Clement left the school, apparently driven out by persecutions about 203-204, Demetrius appointed the eighteen year old Origen, whom he held in great favor, to head the Catechetical School. When Origen took refuge in Caesarea about 215, he preached at the request of Bishop [[Alexander of Jerusalem]], bringing a rebuke from Bp. Demetrius for the presumption of a [[laity|layman]] preaching. But, after Alexander and Theoctistus of Caesarea came to his defense, Demetrius relented and recalled Origen.
