The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313 · External witness
Heraclius
fl. c. AD 250s (death unrecorded) · Opponent of the readmission of the lapsed · Rome
External witness
Who Heraclius was
Named in the Damasan epigram for Pope Eusebius as the man who forbade the lapsed to repent — the rigorist position in the crisis that followed the Decian persecution. That epigram is also the one Filocalus signed as Damasus’ admirer and friend, which makes it doubly important to the archive. Whether Heraclius was a rival claimant to the see or a lay agitator the poem does not say, and the archive does not decide.
Named once, in a verse epigram Damasus of Rome set at the tomb between 366 and 384. The epigram is the ONLY early evidence — the later Passions derive from it, not the reverse.
Also listed in non-christian witnesses.
Common questions
When was Heraclius active?
Heraclius is dated fl. c. AD 250s (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Heraclius 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 Heraclius?
Heraclius is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Damasus of Rome. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Heraclius from?
The archive associates Heraclius with Rome.
Who were Heraclius’ contemporaries?
The archive links Heraclius to 2 other figures, including Damasus I of Rome and Furius Dionysius Filocalus. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
The Damasan epigram the epigram for Pope Eusebius, catacomb of Callixtus, cut by Furius Dionysius Filocalus at the martyr’s tomb
c. AD 375Heraclius forbade the lapsed to lament their sins. Eusebius taught the wretched to weep for their crime.Damasus of Rome · Damasan epigram, the epigram for Pope Eusebius, catacomb of Callixtus · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 190 · The Quartodeciman controversy, AD 190
- AD 202 · Perpetua and Felicity martyred, AD 202
- AD 235 · Maximinus Thrax targets the clergy, AD 235
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
- AD 251 · The Novatianist schism, AD 251
- AD 257 · The Valerian persecution, AD 257
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Heraclius.
- 1Rome