Saint Apollinaris Claudius (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Απολλινάριος Κλαύδιος), otherwise Apollinaris of Hierapolis or Apollinaris the Apologist, was a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

leader and writer of the 2nd century.

Life

He was

Bishop of Hierapolis The diocese of Hierapolis, was a Christian bishopric in Phrygia (modern central Turkey). Through the influence of the Christian apostle Paul, a church was founded at Hierapolis while he was at Ephesus. The Christian apostle Philip spent the las ...

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

and became famous for his polemical treatises against the

heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

s of his day, whose errors he showed to be entirely borrowed from the pagans. In 177 he published an ''"Apologia"'' for the Christians, addressed to

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

, and appealing to the Emperor's own experience with the " Thundering Legion", whose prayers won him the victory over the

Quadi The Quadi were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people during the Roman era, who were prominent in Greek and Roman records from about 20 AD to about 400 AD. By about 20 AD they had a kingdom centred in the area of present-day western Slovakia, north ...

. The exact date of his death is not known, but it was probably while Marcus Aurelius was still Emperor. Nothing survives of his writings except for a few extracts, the longest of which relates to the date of

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

makes mention of his work. His feast day is commemorated on January 8.Butler, Alban. "St. Apollinaris, the Apologist, Bishop", ''Lives of the Saints'', vol.1, 1866
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References

External links

{{Authority control Saints from Roman Anatolia 2nd-century bishops in Roman Anatolia 2nd-century writers 2nd-century Christian saints Claudii Church Fathers