Pope Zephyrinus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Early Church
Papacy began199
Papacy ended20 December 217
PredecessorVictor I
SuccessorCallixtus I
Personal details
Born
Rome, Roman Empire
Died20 December 217
Rome, Roman Empire
Sainthood
Feast day20 December

Pope Zephyrinus was the

divinity of Christ
.

Papacy

During the 18-year pontificate of Zephyrinus, the young Church endured persecution under the Emperor

Monarchian views.[5]

Conflicts

During the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), relations with the young Christian Church deteriorated, and in 202 or 203, the edict of persecution appeared, which forbade conversion to Christianity under the severest penalties.[1]

Zephyrinus's predecessor, Pope Victor I, had excommunicated Theodotus the Tanner for reviving a heresy that Christ only became God after His Resurrection. Theodotus' followers formed a separate heretical community at Rome, ruled by another Theodotus, the Money Changer, and Asclepiodotus. Natalius, tortured for his faith during the persecution, was persuaded by Asclepiodotus to become a bishop in their sect in exchange for a monthly stipend of 150 denarii. Natalius then reportedly experienced several visions warning him to abandon these heretics. According to an anonymous work entitled The Little Labyrinth quoted by Eusebius, Natalius was whipped a whole night by an angel; the next day, he donned sackcloth and ashes and weeping bitterly threw himself at the feet of Zephyrinus.[6][1]

Feast day

A feast of St Zephyrinus, Pope and Martyr, held on 26 August, was inserted in the General Roman Calendar in the 13th century, but was removed in the 1969 revision, since he was not a martyr and 26 August is not the anniversary of his death[7] which is 20 December, the day under which he is now mentioned in the Roman Martyrology.[8] His feast is currently celebrated on 26 August in both the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and within the Maronite Catholic Church, as well as in the Orthodox Church.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Kirsch, Johann Peter (1912). "Pope St. Zephyrinus". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  2. ^ A. Butler, Lives of the Saints Vol VIII, 1866
  3. ^ Optatus, De Schismate 1,1
  4. ^ Berti, Sæc 3. Diss. 1.t. 2 p 158
  5. ISBN 978-1-107-42361-9
    .
  6. ^ Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 5.28.9–12; translated by G.A. Williamson, Eusebius: The History of the Church (Harmonsworth: Penguin, 1965), pp. 236f
  7. ^ "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 136
  8. ISBN 88-209-7210-7
    )

References

  • Rendina, Claudio, The Popes' Histories and Secrets (2002)

External links
Titles of the Great Christian Church
Preceded by
Bishop of Rome

199–217 		Succeeded by
Callixtus I
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