Pope Eleuterus

Eleuterus
Birth name	Eleuterus or Eleutherius
Papacy began	ca. 174
Papacy ended	ca. 189
Predecessor	Soter
Successor	Victor I
Born	??? Nicopolis, Epirus, Greece
Died	ca. 189 Rome, Italy

Styles of Pope Eleuterus
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Eleuterus or Eleutherius, was pope from about 174 to 189 C.E., although his dates are uncertain. He was born in the Greek city Nicopolis. His name is Greek for free.

His contemporary Hegesippus wrote that he was earlier a deacon of the Roman Church under Pope Anicetus (c. 154–164), and remained so under Pope Soter, the following pope, whom he succeeded in about 174.

Even though the treatment of Christians under Emperor Marcus Aurelius was distressing in various parts of the Roman Empire, the persecution in Rome itself does not seem to have been as violent as it was elsewhere. The historian Giovanni Battista de Rossi dates the martyrdom of St. Cecilia towards the end of Aurelius' reign. During the reign of Commodus (180–192) Christians enjoyed an almost unbroken peace, although the martyrdom of St. Apollonius at Rome took place at the time (180–185).

Dealing with heresy

The Montanist movement, which originated in Asia Minor, made its way to Rome and Gaul in the second half of the second century, around the reign of Eleuterus. Its peculiar nature, affirming the continuation of Christian prophecy and urging a high standard a piety among its members, made it difficult for Christians to take a decisive stand against it. During the violent persecution at Lyon, in 177, local confessors wrote from their prison concerning the new movement to the Asiatic and Phrygian communities, and also to Eleuterus as the bishop of Rome. The bearer of the letter to the pope was the presbyter Irenaeus, soon to become Bishop of Lyon. It appears from statements of Eusebius concerning these letters that the Christians of Lyon, though opposed to the Montanist movement, advocated patience and pleaded for the preservation of ecclesiastical unity rather than the expulsion of the alleged heretics.

Exactly when the Roman Catholic Church took its definite stand against Montanism is not known with certainty. It would seem from Tertullian's account (adv. Praxeam, I) that a Roman bishop did send some conciliatory letters to the Montanists, but these letters, says Tertullian, were subsequently recalled. The bishop to whom he refers is probably Eleuterus, who long hesitated to anathematize Montanism but eventually seems to have declared against them.

Meanwhile, at Rome, the Gnostics and Marcionites continued to preach against the Catholic version of Christianity. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Eleutherius a decree that no kind of food should be despised by Christians (Et hoc iterum firmavit ut nulla esca a Christianis repudiaretur, maxime fidelibus, quod Deus creavit, quæ tamen rationalis et humana est). Such a decree would fit with the Church's position against those forms of Christian Gnosticism which practiced vegetarianism, as well as against Jewish Christians who refused to eat non-kosher foods, and even against otherwise orthodox Christians who adhered to the dictum of James (Acts 21) to avoid food sacrificed to idols. Some scholars, however, suspect that the writer of the Liber Pontificalis attributed Eleuterus a decree similar to one issued about the year 500.

Conversion of Lucius of Britain?

The Liber Pontificalis also provides an remarkable assertion concerning the early missionary activity of the Roman Church. Eleutherius, says this writer, received from British king Lucius a letter in which Lucius declared that he wished to become a Christian.

As at the end of the second century the Roman administration was securely established in Britain, and it is likely that local rulers could have been introduced to the Christian message by Roman officials who had privately adopted the faith. However, Catholic sources admit that it is unlike that a tribal chief, known as king, should have applied to the Roman bishop for instruction in the Christian faith. Critics suggest that the story, like the supposed edicts of Eleutherius against heresy, were intended by the writer of Liber Pontificalis to demonstrate the Roman origin of the British Church, and consequently the latter's natural subjection to Rome. Harnack suggests a theory suggesting that the compiler of the Liber Pontificalis mistook the name Britio for Britanio. Britio (Britium) was the name of the fortress of Edessa. The king in question would therefore be Lucius Ælius Septimus Megas Abgar IX, of Edessa, a Christian king, as is well known.

The ninth-century "Historia Brittonum" sees in "Lucius" a translation of the Celtic name Llever Maur (Great Light). It holds that the envoys of Lucius were Fagan and Wervan, and tells us that not only Lucius but all the other island kings (reguli Britanniæ) were baptized (Hist. Brittonum, xviii). Thirteenth century chronicles add other details. The Liber Landavensis, for example, gives the names of the envoys sent by Lucius to the pope as Elfan and Medwy. It reports that Lucius' dominions were located in Wales. An echo of this legend penetrated even to Switzerland. In a homily preached at Chur and preserved in an eighth or ninth century manuscript, Saint Timothy is represented as an apostle to Gaul. He thus came to Britain and baptized a king named Lucius, who became a missionary, went to Gaul, and finally settled at Chur, where he preached the gospel with great success. In this way Lucius, an early missionary of the Swiss district of Chur, became identified with the alleged British king of the Liber Pontificalis.

The latter work is the authority for the statement that Pope Eleutherius died on 24 May, and was buried on the Vatican Hill (in Vaticano) near the body of St. Peter. Later tradition has his body moved to the church of San Giovanni della Pigna, near the pantheon. In 1591, his remains were again moved to the church of Santa Susanna at the request of Camilla Peretti, the sister of Pope Sixtus V. His feast is celebrated on 26 May.

Roman Catholic Popes
Preceded by: Soter	Bishop of Rome Pope 175–189	Succeeded by: Victor I

This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia.

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