APOLLINARIS, bishop of Hierapolis. — Prepositus of the see of Hierapolis in the second half of the 2nd century, a prominent opponent of the nascent Montanism.
A., whose name was Claudius Apollinaris or Apollinarius, flourished in the time of Marcus Aurelius (161–80), to whom he also addressed an apology on behalf of Christians; he further wrote five books To the Greeks, i.e. against the pagans, two On Truth and two Against the Jews, others against the Montanists, and a treatise On True Religion and one On Easter. None of this survives, since there is no reason to attribute to him the Cohortatio ad Graecos (PG 6, 241–312), nor can the passages of an anti-Montanist writing cited by Eusebius (Hist. Ecc., V, 16–19) be his.
Bibl.: Eusebius, Hist. eccl., IV, 26 seq.; O. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, I, 2nd ed., Freiburg in Br., 1914, pp. 286–80; P. de Labriolle, s.V. in DHG, III, col. 59; W. Bauer, Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum, Tübingen 1934, pp. 146 seq.