Editing Pope Eleutherius

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from c. 174 to 189}}
{{Redirect|Eleutherus|an ancient name of a river in Lebanon and Syria|Nahr al-Kabir}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]] [[List of canonised popes|Saint]]
| name = Eleutherius
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = Maestro di staffolo, sant'eleuterio, 1483, Q274.JPG
| term_start = c. 174
| term_end = 189
| predecessor = [[Pope Soter|Soter]]
| successor = [[Pope Victor I|Victor I]]
| birth_date = 
| birth_place = [[Nicopolis]], [[Epirus (Roman province)|Epirus]], [[Roman Empire]]
| death_date = 24 May 189
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
| feast_day = 26 May
| caption = 15th century portrayal of St. Eleutherius from the [[Art gallery|Gallery]] of the [[Palazzo Farnese]]
}}
'''Pope Eleutherius''' ({{langx|el|Ελευθέριος}}; died 24 May 189), also known as '''Eleutherus''' ({{langx|el|Ελεύθερος|link=no}}), was the [[bishop of Rome]] from c. 174 until his death in 189.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909}} His pontificate is alternatively dated to 171–185 or 177–193.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-05-20 |title=Saint Eleutherius {{!}} Biography, Papacy, Feast Day, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Eleutherius |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> He is venerated as a [[saint]] in the [[Catholic Church]].

He is linked to a number of legends, one of them credited him with receiving a letter from "[[Lucius of Britain|Lucius]], [[List of legendary kings of Britain|King of Britain]]".

As of 2025, he is the only Pope named Eleutherius. 
==Life==
According to the ''[[Liber Pontificalis]]'', he was [[Greeks|Greek]], born in [[Nicopolis]] in [[Epirus (Roman province)|Epirus]], [[Greece in the Roman era|Greece]]<ref>{{harvnb|Brusher|1980|p=26}}: "St. Eleutherius {{circa|174|189}}{{nbsp}}[...] According to the ''Liber Pontificalis'', St. Eleutherius was a Greek from Nicopolis in Epirus."</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Butler|Attwater|Thurston|1956|p=423}}: "St Eleutherius, Pope ({{circa|A.D. 189}}){{nbsp}}[...] It is stated that he was a Greek by origin."</ref> Charles A. Coulombe writes in his work ''Vicars of Christ'' that he may have been an [[Albanians|Albanian]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coulombe |first1=Charles A. |title=Vicars of Christ |date=2003 |publisher=Kensington Publishing Corporation |isbn=9780806523705 |page=31}}</ref> His contemporary [[Hegesippus (chronicler)|Hegesippus]] wrote that he was a [[deacon]] of the Roman Church under [[Pope Anicetus]] (c. 154–164), and remained so under [[Pope Soter]], whom he succeeded around 174.{{efn|name=Hegesippus}}

==Dietary law==
The 6th-century [[recension]] of ''Liber Pontificalis'' ('Book of the Popes') known as the "Felician Catalog"{{efn|name=Felician Catalog}} includes additional commentary to the work's earlier entry on Eleutherius. One addition ascribes to Eleutherius the reissuance of a decree:{{efn|name=Et hoc}}{{Sfn|Davis|1989|p=6}} "And he again affirmed that no food should be repudiated by Christians strong in their faith, as God created it, [provided] however that it is sensible and edible." Such a decree might have been issued against early continuations of [[Jewish dietary law]] and against similar laws practiced by the [[Gnosticism|Gnostics]] and [[Montanism|Montanists]]. It is also possible, however, that the editor of the passage attributed to Eleutherius a decree similar to another issued around the year 500 in order to give it greater authority.

==British mission==
{{main|Lucius of Britain}}
Another addition credited Eleutherius with receiving a letter from "[[Lucius of Britain|Lucius]], [[List of legendary kings of Britain|King of Britain]]" or "[[King of the Britons]]", declaring an intention to convert to Christianity.{{efn|name=Lucius}} Authoratiative accounts from the 1st and 2nd century, of Terullian, St. Clement, and St. Iraneaus, referred to Britain as being of the first as having been impacted by the Christian faith.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} Lately, ancient religious records have been quickly labeled as [[pious forgery]], however it has been admittedly reproduced by several of the most reliable, including the letter itself transcribed by John Foxe in his 14th century work ''[[Actes and Monuments]]''. This stands alongside the reputations of ''Liber Pontificalis'' written in 535 AD, the Cistercian Hagiagropher Jocelyn in the 12th Century, Gildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bede, Urban, John of Tynemouth, and Capgrave, that preceded Foxe by nearly 1,000 years. Those who question its validity will then move to discussion over its original purpose. [[Arthur West Haddan|Haddan]], [[William Stubbs|Stubbs]], and Wilkins{{sfn|Haddan|Stubbs|Wilkins|1869|p=25}} considered the passage "manifestly written in the time and tone" of [[Prosper of Aquitaine]], secretary to [[Pope Leo the Great]] in the mid-5th century, and supportive of the [[mission (Christianity)|missions]] of [[Germanus of Auxerre]] and [[Palladius (bishop of Ireland)|Palladius]].{{sfn|Haddan|Stubbs|Wilkins|1869|p=25}} [[Louis-Marie-Olivier Duchesne|Duchesne]] dated the entry a little later to the pontificate of [[Pope Boniface II|Boniface&nbsp;II]] around 530,{{sfn|Kirsch|1909}} and [[Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen|Mommsen]] to the early 7th century.{{sfn|Kirsch|1909}} Only the last would support the conjecture that it aimed to support the [[Gregorian mission]] to the [[Anglo-Saxons]] led by [[Augustine of Canterbury]], who [[Gregorian mission#Relations with the British Christians|encountered great difficulty]] with the [[Celtic Christianity|native British Christians]], as at the [[Synod of Chester]]. Indeed, the Celtic Christians invoked the antiquity of their church to generally {{em|avoid}} submission to [[Archbishop of Canterbury|Canterbury]] until the [[Norman Conquest|Norman conquest]], but no arguments invoking the mission to Lucius appear to have been made by either side during the [[synod]]s among the Welsh and Saxon bishops.

Some claim that the first Englishman to mention the story was [[Bede]]{{sfn|Bede|1903|loc=Bk I, Ch 4}}{{sfn|Bede|1903|loc=Bk V, Ch 24}} and he seems to have taken it, not from native texts or traditions, but from ''[[Liber Pontificalis|The Book of the Popes]]''. Subsequently, it appeared in the 9th-century ''[[Historia Brittonum|History of the Britons]]'' traditionally credited to [[Nennius]]: The account relates that a mission from the pope baptised "Lucius, the Britannic king, with all the petty kings of the whole Britannic people".{{sfn|Nennius|1848|loc=§22}} The account, however, dates this baptism to AD&nbsp;167 (a little before Eleutherius's pontificate) and credits it to [[Evaristus]] (reigned {{circa|lk=no|99|107}}).{{sfn|Nennius|1848|loc=§22}} In the 12th century, more details began to be added to the story. [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s [[pseudo-history|pseudohistorical]] ''[[Historia Regnum Britanniae|History of the Kings of Britain]]'' goes into great detail concerning Lucius and names the pope's envoys to him as [[Saint Fagan|Fagan]] and [[Saint Duvian|Duvian]].{{sfn|Geoffrey of Monmouth|1848|loc=Vol.&nbsp;IV, Ch.&nbsp;XIX}} The 12th-century ''[[Liber Landavensis|Book of Llandaf]]'' placed the court of Lucius in southern Wales and names his emissaries to the pope as [[Elfan]] and [[Medwy]].{{sfn|Rees|1840|pp=26, 65}}

Others cite the reliable histories from centuries before: "Gildas, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bede, Urban, John of [Tynemouth] and Capgrave, referred to 'as the most learned of English Augustinians whom the soil of England ever produced', support the date of return of the emissaries of King Lucius from visiting Bishop Eleutherius at Rome, as that given in the British annals, a.d. 183, over a century and a half before the Roman Catholic Church was founded. Cardinal Baronius not only denounces the Augustinian claim but in detail recites the whole record from the year a.d. 36 onward."<ref>{{Cite book |last= Jowett |first= G.F. |title=Drama of the Lost Disciples |url=https://celticorthodoxy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Drama-of-the-Lost-Disciples.pdf |date=1967 |page=204 |access-date=2025-02-22 |language=en}}</ref>

An echo of this legend penetrated even to [[Switzerland]]. In a homily preached at [[Chur]] and preserved in an 8th- or 9th-century manuscript, [[Saint Timothy|Timothy]] is represented as an [[apostle]] to [[Gaul]], whence he went into [[Roman Britain]] and baptised a king named Lucius, who himself became a missionary to Gaul and finally settled at Chur, where he preached the gospel with great success. In this way Lucius, the early missionary of the Swiss district of Chur, became identified with the alleged British king of the ''Liber Pontificalis''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lucius von Chur |url=https://www2.bistum-augsburg.de/heilige-des-tages/kalender/lucius-von-chur_id754419 |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=Diocese of Augsburg |language=de}}</ref>

[[Adolf von Harnack|Harnack]] suggests that in the document which the compiler of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' drew his information, the name found was not ''{{lang|la|Britanio}}'', but ''{{lang|la|Britio}}''. Now this is the name (''{{lang|la|[[Birecik|Birtha]]-}}'', ''{{lang|la|Britium}}'') of the fortress of [[Osroene|Edessa]].{{sfn|von Harnack|1904|pp=906-916}} The king in question is, therefore, Lucius Ælius Septimus Megas [[Abgar VIII]], of Edessa, a Christian king as is well known. The original statement of the ''Liber Pontificalis'', in this hypothesis, had nothing to do with Britain; the compiler of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' changed ''{{lang|la|Britio}}'' to ''{{lang|la|Brittanio}}'', and in this way made a British king of the [[History of Syria#Medieval era|Syria]]n Lucius.

==Death==
According to the ''Liber Pontificalis'', Pope Eleutherius died on 24 May and was buried on the [[Vatican Hill]] (''{{lang|la|in Vaticano}}'') near the body of [[Saint Peter|Peter the Apostle]]. Later tradition has his body moved to the church of [[San Giovanni della Pigna]], near the [[Pantheon, Rome|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.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of popes]]
*[[List of Catholic saints]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=Hegesippus|Hegesippus, cited in {{harvnb|Eusebius|1885|loc=Bk IV, Ch 22}} }}

{{efn|name=Et hoc|"''{{lang|la|Et hoc iterum firmavit ut nulla esca a Christianis repudiaretur, maxime fidelibus, quod Deus creavit, quæ tamen rationalis et humana est.}}''"}}

{{efn|name=Felician Catalog|''{{lang|la|Catalogus Felicianus}}'', named for its ending during the pontificate of [[Pope Felix IV|Felix&nbsp;IV]]. The earliest surviving codex dates to the 9th century.}}

{{efn|name=Lucius|In {{harvnb|Haddan|Stubbs|Wilkins|1869|p=25}}, this passage is given as "''{{lang|la|Hic accepit epistulam a Lucio Britanniæ Rege ut Christianus efficeretur per ejus mandatum.}}''" ('He accepted a letter from Lucius, King of [[Roman Britain|Britain]], that he might become a Christian by his own will.') In {{harvnb|Knight|2012|p=14}} the passage is quoted as "''{{lang|la|Hic accepit epistolam a Lucio Brittaniorum rege ut Xrianus efficeretur per ejus mandatum.}}''" ('He accepted a letter from Lucius, king of the [[Britons (Celtic people)|Britons]], that he might become a Xian by his own will.')}}

}}

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
*{{cite wikisource |author=Bede |author-link=Bede |translator=Lionel Cecil Jane |wslink=Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (Jane)/Book 1|wspage=9 |title=The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation  |publisher=J.M.&nbsp;Dent &&nbsp;Co |location=London |date=1903 |origyear=731 |noicon=yes}}
*{{cite book |last=Brusher |first=Joseph Stanislaus |title=Popes Through the Ages |date=1980 |location=San Rafael, California |publisher=Neff-Kane |isbn=978-0-89-141110-9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=v9FXAAAAYAAJ}}
*{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Alban |last2=Attwater |first2=Donald |last3=Thurston |first3=Herbert |title=Butler's Lives of the Saints |volume=2 |date=1956 |location=London |publisher=Burns & Oates |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=T1AMAQAAIAAJ}}
*{{cite book |title=The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis) |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofpontiffsli0000unse/page/6 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |date=1989 |first=Raymond |last=Davis |isbn=9780853232162 |edition=1st}}
*{{cite wikisource|author=Eusebius |author-link=Eusebius |title=Historia Ecclesiastica|wslink=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume I/Church History of Eusebius/Book IV/Chapter 22|year=1885}}
*{{cite wikisource |author=Geoffrey of Monmouth |author-link=Geoffrey of Monmouth |translator=Aaron Thompson and [[J. A. Giles]] |wslink=History of the Kings of Britain/Book 4#19 |title=Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History |at=Vol.&nbsp;IV, Ch.&nbsp;XIX |date=1848 |origyear=c. 1136 |noicon=yes}} From: {{cite book |title=Six Old English Chronicles |url=https://archive.org/details/sixoldenglishch01assegoog |editor-first=J. A. |editor-last=Giles |publisher=Henry G. Bohn |location=London |date=1848}}
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Haddan |editor1-first=Arthur West |editor1-link=Arthur West Haddan |editor2-last=Stubbs |editor2-first=William |editor2-link=William Stubbs |editor3-last=Wilkins |editor3-first=David |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YmQAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA25 |title=Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents Relating to Great Britain and Ireland |volume=I |chapter=Appendix A: Date of Introduction of Christianity into Britain |page=25 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |date=1869}}
*{{Cite CE1913  |wstitle=Pope St. Eleutherius |last=Kirsch |first=Johann Peter |volume= 5 }}
*{{cite book |last=Knight |first=David J. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AUw7AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT14 |title=King Lucius of Britain |publisher=History Press |location=Stroud, England  |date=2012 |isbn=9780752474458}}
*{{cite wikisource |last=Nennius|first= [attributed] |author-link=Nennius |translator=W. Gunn and [[J. A. Giles]] |wslink=History of the Britons#1:22 |title=History of the Britons |date=1848 |origyear=c. 830 |noicon=yes}} From: {{cite book |title=Six Old English Chronicles of Which Two Are Now First Translated from the Monkish Latin Originals: Ethelwerd's Chronicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History, Gildas, Nennius, and Richard of Cirencester |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125001291513 |publisher=Henry G. Bohn |location=London |date=1848}}
*{{cite book|last=Rees|first=William Jenkins |title=The liber Landavensis, Llyfr Teilo; or the ancient register of the cathedral church of Llandaff, with an English translation and notes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qMVcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA26|year=1840|publisher=Rees|location=Llandovery}}
*{{cite book |last=von Harnack |first=Adolf|author-link=Adolf von Harnack |title=Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie |date=1904 |volume=I }}
{{refend}}

===Further reading===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite wikisource |author=Beda Venerabilis |author-link=Bede |date=731 |wslanguage=la |wslink=Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum - Liber Primus#4 |title=Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum |trans-title=The Ecclesiastical History of the English People |at=Book&nbsp;I, Ch.&nbsp;IV |noicon=yes}} 
*{{cite book |author=Geoffrey of Monmouth |author-link=Geoffrey of Monmouth |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LBw2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA58 |title=Historia Regnum Britanniae |trans-title=History of the Kings of Britain |at=Vol.&nbsp;IV, Ch.&nbsp;xix |date=1854 |orig-year=c. 1136 |language=la }} From: {{cite book |title=Gottfried's von Monmouth Historia Regum Britanniae, mit literar-historischer Einleitung und ausführlichen Anmerkungen, und Brut Tysylio, altwälsce Chronik in deutscher Ueberseizung |editor-first=A. |editor-last=Schulz |location=Halle, Germany<!--Doesn't say which; there are two.--> |publisher=Eduard Anton |date=1854}}
*{{cite wikisource |author=Nennius [attrib.] |author-link=Nennius |editor-first=Theodor |editor-last=Mommsen |wslanguage=la |wslink=Historia Brittonum#II. HISTORIA BRITTONUM |title=Historia Brittonum |trans-title=History of the Britons |at=Vol.&nbsp;II, Ch.&nbsp;xxii. |date=1898 |origyear=c. 830 |noicon=yes}} From: {{cite book |chapter=Historia Brittonvm cvm additamentis Nennii |title=Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Cronica Minora, Saec. IV.V.VI.VII. |volume=III |publisher=Societas Aperiendis Fontibus Rerum Germanicarum Medii Aevi |location=Berlin |date=1898}}
{{refend}}

{{commons category|Eleutherius|Pope Eleuterus}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|grt}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Soter|Soter]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Pope]]|years=175–189}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Victor I|Victor I]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:ELEUTHERIUS}}
[[Category:189 deaths]]
[[Category:2nd-century archbishops]]
[[Category:2nd-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:2nd-century popes]]
[[Category:2nd-century Romans]]
[[Category:Greek popes]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Saints from Roman Italy]]
[[Category:Saints of Roman Epirus]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]