St Anastasius I

Anastasius I was pope only briefly, but the respect paid him by some of the greatest Christians of his age gives his life unusual weight. He succeeded Siricius in 399, at a time when doctrinal and exegetical controversies could unsettle the whole Church, and men like St Jerome, St Augustine, and St Paulinus of Nola remembered him with marked esteem. Jerome in particular praises him as a bishop of blameless life and apostolic seriousness, which tells us much about how Anastasius was regarded by those who knew the stakes of the age. His name is chiefly linked with the Origenist controversy.

In the bitter dispute surrounding Rufinus and the reception of Origen's writings, Anastasius condemned certain teachings judged dangerous. The surviving outline is not dramatic, but it is solid. He is one of those early Roman bishops whose sanctity shows not in spectacle, but in clarity, sobriety, and the trust they inspired among serious saints and scholars. Even a short pontificate could matter greatly when the faith required quiet firmness.