Zephyrinus (d. 217), pope. He became bishop of Rome in 198, but as in the case of his successor, Callistus, what little is known of him comes from his rival Hippolytus, who described him as a simple man with little education. But, according to Eusebius, he excommunicated the two Theodoti and was called the principal defender of Christ's divinity. Often reputed to be a martyr perhaps because of suffering persecution, he nevertheless did not, it would seem, die a violent death. Feast (until 1969): 26 August.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Aug. V (1741), 783–9; L. Duchesne, Le Liber Pontificalis (1886), i. pp. clviii, 139–40; B. Capelle, ‘Le cas du pape Zephyrin’, R. Ben., xxxviii (1926), 321–30; E. Amann in D.T.C., xv (part 2; 1950), col. 3690f
