The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313

Zephyrinus of Rome

d. c. 217 · Bishop of Rome · Rome

The Ante-Nicene Church

Zephyrinus of Rome — historical depiction 1
Zephyrinus of RomeArtaud de Montor (1772–1849) · Public domain · Commons
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Zephyrinus of Rome — historical depiction 1

Zephyrinus of RomeArtaud de Montor (1772–1849) · Public domain · Commons

Who Zephyrinus of Rome was

Bishop of Rome for some eighteen years through the reign of Septimius Severus. Hippolytus, his fierce critic, paints him as an unlettered and covetous man managed by his deacon Callistus, and blames the two for tolerating the modalism of Sabellius and Noetus — an intra-Roman doctrinal fight that would end in Hippolytus setting himself up as rival bishop. Whatever the polemic’s exaggerations, Zephyrinus presided over the Roman church as it navigated the first great controversies over the person of Christ.

Also listed in the bishops of Rome.

Common questions

When did Zephyrinus die?

Zephyrinus of Rome is dated d. c. 217 in the archive, which places Zephyrinus 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 Zephyrinus?

Zephyrinus of Rome is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Hippolytus of Rome, The Little Labyrinth and The chronographer of 354. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Zephyrinus from?

The archive associates Zephyrinus of Rome with Rome.

Who were Zephyrinus’ contemporaries?

The archive links Zephyrinus of Rome to 6 other figures, including Callistus I of Rome, Hippolytus of Rome, Sabellius and Natalius the Confessor. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

Primary-source mentions (3)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Refutation of All Heresies IX.6

c. AD 225
Zephyrinus, an ignorant and illiterate individual, and one unskilled in ecclesiastical definitions… was persuaded by Callistus.
Hippolytus of Rome · IX.6 · source text

The Little Labyrinth, via Ecclesiastical History V.28 (the Natalius affair 'in the times of Zephyrinus')

c. AD 325
The Little Labyrinth · Ecclesiastical History V.28 · source text

Liberian Catalogue (Chronography of 354)

c. AD 354
The chronographer of 354 · Liberian Catalogue · source text

Connected in the archive

People

Events in this lifetime

Place

Places served

The one place the sources put Zephyrinus.

  1. 1Rome

See this place on the atlas →