Blastus of Rome

When did Blastus live?

Blastus of Rome is dated deposed c. AD 190 in the archive, which places Blastus in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

Which early sources mention Blastus?

Blastus of Rome is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Pseudo-Tertullian and Eusebius of Caesarea. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Blastus from?

The archive associates Blastus of Rome with Rome.

Who were Blastus’ contemporaries?

The archive links Blastus of Rome to 3 other figures, including Irenaeus of Lyon, Victor I of Rome and Florinus of Rome. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

Blastus would latently introduce Judaism, for he says the passover is not to be kept otherwise than according to the law of Moses, on the fourteenth of the month.

The anonymous Adversus Omnes Haereses, transmitted with Tertullian's De Praescriptione but not his — written in Latin c. AD 220–240 and drawing on a lost work of Hippolytus. Chapter 8 is the fullest ancient notice of Blastus and the Roman Quartodeciman question. Critical text: Emil Kroymann, Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 2 (1954). English translation in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (1885), public domain.

Blastus was also carried away… each striving to introduce his own innovations in respect to the truth. Irenaeus wrote to Blastus a treatise On Schism.