St. Zephyrinus

Pope of Rome, (II/III Centuries):

Little is known about St. Zephyrinus, who was pope of Rome from c. 198 or 199 until 217. The antipope who opposed him, St. Hippolytus, says he was a simple and avaricious man. He adds that Zephyrinus relied too much on his deacon, Callixtus, who was in charge of the church's cemetary. Zephyrinus battled the heresies of adoptionism, modalism, and monarchianism, although Hippolytus accuses him of being a modalist himself. Eusebius, on the other hand, writes of him favourably, and he has always been venerated as a saint.

Karen Rae Keck and Norman Hugh Redington

• About:
  • Eusebius, Eccles. Hist. v, 28:
  • ECOLE Glossary entry
  • 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia Entry: (Read with caution).

• Disputed Works: (The epistles of Zephyrinus are considered to be forgeries, part of the collection of "false decretals" created in early mediæval times to bolster papal authority.)
  • To the Bishops of Sicily: On the trial of bishops and other grave ecclesiastical cases in the seat of the Apostles. --- NA
  • To the Bishops of Egypt: --- NA