Pope Anastasius I

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 399 to 401}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}

{{Infobox Christian leader

|type=Pope

|honorific-prefix=Pope Saint

|name=Anastasius I

|title = Bishop of Rome

|church = Catholic Church

|image =AnastasiI.jpg

|caption= Azulejo of Anastasius I at Santa Catalina College, Trigueros, by Manuel Rodríguez and Pérez de Tudela (1923)

|term_start=27 November 399

|term_end=19 December 401

|predecessor=Siricius

|successor=Innocent I

|birth_date=

|birth_place=

|death_date=19 December 401

|death_place= Rome, Western Roman Empire

|feast_day=19 December

|other=Anastasius

}}

Pope Anastasius I was the bishop of Rome from 27 November 399 to his death on 19 December 401.{{cite web|title=Saint of the Day, December 19|publisher=SaintPatrickDC.org|url=http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1219.shtml|access-date=3 December 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913002239/http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1219.shtml|archive-date=13 September 2018|url-status=dead}} Retrieved 4 March 2012.

Anastasius was born in Rome, and was the son of Maximus. He succeeded Siricius as pope and condemned the writings of the Alexandrian theologian Origen shortly after their translation into Latin. He fought against these writings throughout his papacy, and in 400 he called a council to discuss them. The council agreed that Origen was not faithful to the Church.{{cite web|title=Pope Anastasius I|work=The Ecole Glossary|url=http://ecole.evansville.edu/glossary/anastasiusi.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616090034/http://ecole.evansville.edu/glossary/anastasiusi.html|archive-date=16 June 2010}}

{{Quotation|If Origen has put forth any other writings, you are to know that they and their author are alike condemned by me. The Lord have you in safe keeping, my lord and brother deservedly held in honour. |2=letter to Simplicianus|3={{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.v.XCV.html |title=Letter XCV. From Pope Anastasius to Simplicianus|work=The Principal Works of St. Jerome}}}}

During his reign, he also encouraged Christians in North Africa to fight Donatism. He instructed priests to stand and bow their head as they read from the gospels. Among his friends were Augustine, Jerome, and Paulinus. Jerome speaks of him as a man of great holiness who was rich in his poverty.{{CathEncy|wstitle=Pope St. Anastasius I|last=Campbell|first= Thomas |volume=1 |location=New York|publisher= Robert Appleton Company|year= 1907|access-date=26 May 2015|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01454c.htm}} He died in Rome{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Anastasius-I|title=Saint Anastasius I|author=((The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica)) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=8 August 2016}} and was eventually buried in the Catacomb of Pontian together with his immediate successor, Innocent I. Jerome also referred to Anastasius as Innocent's father, although scholars have argued this was displaying a hierarchical relationship rather than a biological one.{{Cite journal |last=Dunn |first=Geoffrey |date=2007 |title=Anastasius I and Innocent I: Reconsidering the Evidence of Jerome |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/004260307x164476 |journal=Vigiliae Christianae |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=30–41 |doi=10.1163/004260307x164476 |issn=0042-6032}}