Anastasius I, Pope, Saint

ANASTASIUS I, Pope, Saint. - Roman by birth, he succeeded Siricius and was pope from 26 November 399 to 19 December 401. His brief pontificate was entirely taken up with the Origenist controversy (v. ORIGEN), which unfolded in the West between Rufinus of Aquileia, translator and reviser of Origen's Περὶ Ἀρχῶν, and St. Jerome, to whom Rufinus recalled that he had once been an admirer of the great Alexandrian scholar. A., alarmed by Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, and asked for a ruling by Eusebius of Cremona, condemned the writings of Origen, writing about it to the bishop of Milan, where Rufinus had meanwhile found refuge (Jaffé-Wattenbach, I, p. 43, n. 281; II, p. 691). The latter replied with a self-defense that reached the Pope in 400 (letters of the Pope and defense of Rufinus: PL 21, 623 ff.). To John, bishop of Jerusalem, who had consulted him on the matter, A. also replied, condemning Origen and leaving to God's judgment Rufinus's intention in offering its translation to the Latin West (Jaffé-Wattenbach, I, p. 43, n. 282; cf. also n. 284). But he took no measure against his person.

A. also dealt with the Donatist schism, sending to the Synod of Carthage of 401 a letter in which he suggested a benevolent treatment of priests and bishops who returned to the fold.

The Liber Pontificalis (ed. L. Duchesne, I, pp. 218-19) states that A. prescribed that priests should stand with bowed head while the Gospel was read by the deacon. His feast is kept on 27 April, according to the erroneous date of the Liber Pontificalis.

Nicola Turchi