Editing Pope Soter

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from c. 167 to c. 174}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
|type=Pope
|honorific-prefix=[[Pope Saint]]
|name=Soter
|title=[[Bishop of Rome]]
|church = [[Catholic Church]]
|image = San Sotero Papa.jpg
|caption = [[Modern era|Modern]] bust of Pope Soter, from [[Fondi]], with anachronistic [[papal tiara]]
|term_start=c. 167
|term_end=174
|predecessor=[[Pope Anicetus|Anicetus]]
|successor=[[Pope Eleutherius|Eleutherius]]
|birth_date=
|birth_place=[[Fondi|Fundi]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
|death_date=c. 174
|death_place=[[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
|feast_day=22 April
}}
'''Pope Soter''' ({{langx|el|Σωτήρ}}, {{langx|la|Soterius}}) was the [[bishop of Rome]] from {{circa}} 167 to his death in {{circa}} 174.<ref name="ce">Chapman, John (1908). "Caius and Soter, Saints and Popes" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref> According to the ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]'', the dates may have ranged from 162–168 to 170–177.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio'' 2012 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, {{ISBN|978-88-209-8722-0}}), p. 8*</ref> He was born in [[Fondi|Fundi]], today in [[Campania]], in the [[Lazio]] region of [[Italy]]. Soter is known for declaring that [[marriage]] was valid only as a [[sacrament]] blessed by a [[priest]] and also for formally inaugurating [[Easter]] as an annual festival in [[Rome]].<ref>[http://saints.sqpn.com/pope-saint-soter/ Pope Saint Soter » Saints.SQPN.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
His name, from Greek Σωτήριος from [[:wikt:σωτήρ|σωτήρ]] "saviour", would be his [[baptismal name]], as his lifetime predates the tradition of adopting [[papal name]]s.

==Roman Martyrology==
Saint Soter's [[feast day]] is celebrated on 22 April, as is that of [[Pope Caius|Saint Caius]].<ref name=MR/> The [[Roman Martyrology]], the official list of recognized saints, references Soter: "At Rome, Saint Soter, Pope, whom Dionysius of Corinth praises for his outstanding charity towards needy exiled Christians who came to him, and towards those who had been condemned to the mines."<ref name=MR>''Martyrologium Romanum'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}})</ref>

It has often been supposed that all the earliest Popes suffered martyrdom, but the Roman Martyrology does not give Pope Soter the title of martyr.<ref name=MR/> The book detailing the 1969 revision of the [[General Roman Calendar]] states: "There are no grounds for including Saint Soter and Saint Caius among the martyrs."<ref>Calendarium Romanum (Editrice Vaticana 1969), p. 120</ref>

==Reaction to the Montanist movement==
The [[Montanist]] movement, which originated in [[Asia Minor]], made its way to Rome and [[Gaul]] in the second half of the 2nd century, during the reign of Eleuterus. Its nature did not diverge so much from the orthodoxy of the time for it to initially be labeled heresy. During the violent persecution at [[Lyon]], in 177, local confessors wrote from their prison concerning the new movement to the Asiatic and [[Phrygia]]n communities as well as to Pope Eleuterus.<ref>Eusebius, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'', 5.3.4; translated by G.A. Williamson, ''Eusebius: The History of the Church'' (Harmonsworth: Penguin, 1965), p. 206</ref> The bearer of their 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.

When the Roman church took its definite stand against Montanism is not precisely known. [[Tertullian]] records that a Roman bishop sent some conciliatory letters to the Montanists, but based on the complaints of Praxeas "concerning the prophets themselves and their churches, and by insistence on the decisions of the bishop's predecessors" forced the pontiff to recall these letters.<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_praxeas_eng.htm ''Adversus Praxeam'', 1]</ref> The ''Praedestinatorum Haeresis'' (once attributed to [[Augustine of Hippo]], but now considered to be the work of an unknown author) states that "Holy Soter, Pope of the City, wrote against them a book, as did the master, [[Apollonius of Ephesus]]. Against these wrote the priest Tertullian of Carthage, who "in all ways wrote well, wrote first and wrote incomparably, in this alone did reprehensibly, that he defended Montanus".<ref>Pseudo-Augustine, [http://www.tertullian.org/tertullianistae/praedestinatus.htm ''Praedestinatorum Haeresis'', 1.26]</ref> At Rome, the [[Gnostics]] and [[Marcionites]] continued to preach against the [[Catholic Church]].

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

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|grt}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Anicetus|Anicetus]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Rome]]|years=167–175}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Pope Eleutherius|Eleutherius]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soter, Pope}}
[[Category:174 deaths]]
[[Category:2nd-century archbishops]]
[[Category:2nd-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:2nd-century Romans]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Italian saints]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Latina]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:2nd-century popes]]