the Emperor Justin's edict, thus entering into communion with the Imperial Church. The group recanted their communion and were confined to the Monastery of Saint Abraham at Constantinople, where they again agreed to accept the henoticon. Paul was excommunicated by Jacob Baradaeus for accepting communion with the Imperial Church, and he remained in captivity until he managed to escape in 574, and fled to the encampment of the Ghassanid King Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Harith, and then to the Mareotis region in Egypt disguised as a soldier. In the following year, Paul issued a libellus to declare his penance and Jacob Baradaeus absolved him at Al-Mundhir's request. Alexandrine schism After Pope Theodosius' death in 566, the Egyptian non-Chalcedonians lacked a spiritual leader, and between 23 June and 25 August 575 the bishops Longinus of Nubia, John of Chalcis, and George Urtaya consecrated Theodore of Rhamnis, archimandrite of a monastery in the Scetis, as pope of Alexandria with Paul's support. Although Theodore's consecration had taken place at the request of the Egyptian archpriest Theodosius and archdeacon Theodore Copris, and had the support of the bishops Theodore of Philae and John of Kellia, he was violently rejected by a number of Egyptian non-Chalcedonians who resented that they had not been consulted. Theodore of Philae and John of Kellia both renounced their support for Theodore, and the latter sided with his opponents, and only six weeks after Theodore's consecration, John consecrated the deacon Peter as pope of Alexandria. As Paul had formally recognised Theodore as the legitimate pope of Alexandria, Peter excommunicated Paul and declared to have deposed him as patriarch of Antioch. Theodore made no effort to establish himself as pope of Alexandria and retired to his monastery, and Peter was accepted by the majority of the Egyptian non-Chalcedonians. Jacob Baradaeus initially supported Paul, but after travelling to Egypt in 576 it was agreed that he would acknowledge Peter as pope of Alexandria and his deposition of Paul on the condition that Paul was not excommunicated. This further disrupted the church as the Syrian non-Chalcedonians were thus divided between Jacobites, who supported Jacob Baradaeus' decision to uphold Paul's deposition, and Paulites, who supported Paul as patriarch of Antioch. Paul and Al-Mundhir appealed to Jacob to hold a synod to bring about an end to the schism between their two factions, but he refused. In 577, the faction in favour of Theodore's papacy collapsed