Eleutherius

Eleuterios (24 May 189, Nicopolis, Rome) was the thirteenth pope of the Catholic Church, from 175 to 189.

This pope, whose name in Greek means "free man" and it seems to indicate that he was a freed slave, arrived in Rome accompanying Pope Anicetus and during his pontificate he was a deacon of the Church of Rome and acted as papal secretary in the meeting that Anicetus had with Polycarp of Smyrna.

He was elected pope in the year 175, making him the last pope to appear on the list published by Saint Irenaeus in the year 180. His first five years of pontificate took place during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius who had already relaxed his persecuting impetus against the Christians, but it will be with the ascent to the throne of his son Commodus when the persecutions cease and the Church can dedicate itself to solving the divisions that the Gnostic, Montanist and Marcionite doctrines had caused within it.

About 177, Irenaeus, a native of Smyrna, accompanies several confessors from Lyons to see Pope Eleutherius to discuss with him the question of the effects of the Montanist heresy. Irenaeus is the bearer of a letter in which the Lyon church begs the pope to preserve the unity of the community.

Later, also because of the Montanist controversy, he came to Rome to meet with Eleuterius, Bishop Abercius of Hierapolis in Phrygia. Also in the time of Eleuterio the schism of Blasto takes place in Rome due to the paschal question.

During the pontificate of Eleutherius, Irenaeus wrote a great work against the Gnostics, the Adversus haereses, where he studied all the heterodox schools.

Eleuterio sent Fugacio and Damien to convert the Bretons. He suppressed some Hebrew customs about the purity and impurity of food, which Christians attached great importance to.

There is no information about whether he suffered martyrdom, he was buried in the Vatican Necropolis, near the body of the Apostle Peter. Later tradition has transferred his body to the Church of San Giovanni della Pigna, near the Pantheon in Rome. In 1591, his remains were again transferred to the Church of Santa Susana at the request of Camila Peretti, sister of Pope Sixtus V. His feast is celebrated on May 26.