ANASTASIO I, POPE, saint. — A Roman by birth, he succeeded Siricius and was pope from 26 November 399 to 19 December 401. His brief pontificate was entirely absorbed by the Origenist controversy (v. ORIGENE), which unfolded in the West between Rufinus of Aquileia, translator and corrector 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., alerted by Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, and at the request of Eusebius of Cremona, condemned the writings of Origen, writing about the matter 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-defence that reached the Pope in 400 (the Pope’s letters and Rufinus’s defence: PL 21, 623 ff.). A. also replied to John, bishop of Jerusalem, who had consulted him on the matter, condemning Origen and leaving to God’s judgment Rufinus’s intention in offering his translation to the Latin-speaking West (Jaffé-Wattenbach, I, p. 43, n. 282, cf. also n. 284). But he took no measure against his person.
A. also concerned himself with the Donatist schism, sending to the Synod of Carthage of 401 a letter in which he suggested benevolent treatment for 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 heads while the Gospel was read by the deacon. His feast is celebrated on 27 April, according to the erroneous date given by the Liber Pontificalis.
ancienne de l'Eglise. III, Paris 1910, pp. 38–68; G. Bardy, Recherches sur l'hist. du texte et des versions latines du « de Principals » Paris 1924; A. Fliche and V. Martin, Storia della Chiesa, trans. A. P. Frutaz, IV, Turin [1941], pp. 31–45, 240. Nicola Turchi