Aniceto

Anicetus (Emesa, ha. 98-Rome, 166) was the eleventh pope of the Catholic Church, from 155 to 166.

At the beginning of his pontificate, he received in Rome Polycarp of Smyrna, Bishop of Smyrna, who had been a disciple of John the Apostle and teacher of Irenaeus of Lyon, in order to establish the date of Easter celebration. Polycarp, and the Eastern Church as a whole, understood that the celebration should be held on the 14th day of the month of Nisan regardless of the day of the week on which it fell. This position, which followed the Johanic tradition and which meant celebrating Easter on the same day as the Jews, is known as "quartodecimal practice" and was not considered correct by Pope Anicetus since he understood, along with the Western Church, that Easter was to be celebrated on the Sunday following Nisan 14.

According to the account that Irenaeus of Lyon makes of this visit, it seems that Anicetus could not convince Polycarp, since he based his position on the fact that "John and the other apostles with whom he had lived" celebrated Easter on that day. mode. Despite the differences between the two, there was no break and the Pope allowed the saint to continue celebrating Easter according to the Eastern tradition.

He became friends with the apologist Justin, with whom he died in 166 after suffering martyrdom during the persecutions of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

It seems that he condemned the Montanist doctrine, and that he confronted the Gnostics and the Marcionists, although there are no historical documents that accredit these actions, since, according to the Liber Pontificalis, he prohibited clerics from wearing long hair, which that it would be a way to separate from the Gnostics who, apparently, had this habit.