Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online

Polemon was a follower of Apollinaris of Laodicea about whose life, place of origin, or ecclesiastical position (if any) nothing is known, except that he is said by Valentinus to have been the teacher of Timotheus of Beirut. He must have been active in the 370s or 380s CE.Maximus the Confessor (Lietzmann, 1904, 274; PG 91.169.D) says …

Polycarp (c. 70–c. 156 CE; the name means “much fruit”) was a 2nd-century CE church leader in Smyrna, and two literary works affiliated with him appear among the Apostolic Fathers (his Epistle to the Philippians and…

Little is known for certain about the life of Julianus Pomerius (fl. 500 CE). The few facts that can be established derive primarily from the Life of Caesarius of Arles, Pomerius’ well-known pupil, and from the continuations of Jerome’s De viris illustribus…

Pontianus Africae was an African bishop in the 6th century CE. Little is known about his life and career. No specialized monographs or articles on Pontianus have ever been published. Evidently, he wrote a letter to the emperor Justinian I in 544/545 CE, objecting to the emperor’s condemnation of the “Three Chapters” (PL 67.995–998). Several still extant writings by Roman North African clergy, such as Ferrandus of Carthage, Liberatus of Carthage, and Facundus of Hermiana, tell us that opp…

The title pontifex maximus (“supreme pontiff”) derives, as is well known, from the most im…

Despite Jesus Christ’s injunction not to call anyone on earth “father” (Matt 23:9, teaching perhaps exemplified at Luke 2:48f.), his followers have often called people by this word. It has frequently been a term of affectionate respect. But one of its forms came to be widely used as a title of office, and one that eventually belonged solely to the most senior bishop in the entire church, the pope (Latin and Greek “papa").…

Porphyry was born in 234 CE (d. c. 305 CE) with the Semitic name Malchus (Gk Basileus, “king”) to a distinguished family in the city of Tyre in Roman Phoenicia (Eun. Vitae phil. 455). Longinus named him Porphyry after the magenta-colored attire of royalty (Eun. Vitae phil. 456; on Basileus see Suda 4.178.14–179.2; Porph. Vita Plot. 17.13–14). Famous for the study of Roman law and the production of a purple dye called porphyreum, Tyre was a Hellenized city in which Greco-Roman and Semitic cultures converged and where Porphyry acquired a sound knowledge of Syri…

Possidius (fl. 400 CE) served as Catholic bishop at Calama in Numidia (modern Guelma, Algeria). He was a close colleague of Augustine of Hippo and worked with him to discredit Donatism and Pelagianism. Possidius assisted in the development of legal strategies to prompt government action against religious rivals and visited the imperial court at least twice to advocate for African Catholic interests. He was with Augustine at Hippo’s monastery when Augustine died and buried him while the Vandals were laying siege to the city. Possidius wrote a biography of Augustine ( Vita Augustini) to …

Potamius (4th cent. CE) is considered one of the earliest writer from 4th-century CE Hispania and was a contemporary of Osius of Córdoba, the famous bishop who was at the Council of Nicaea. Of Potamius’ personal biography we know absolutely nothing. We do not know when he was born or died, or his birthplace. We are on sure ground that he was in…

Late antiquity can fairly be seen as the age of the rise of the category of prayer. That, of course, does not deny the presence of prayers in earlier periods, as can be easily seen in the Bible. However, in late antiquity the scriptural descriptions of prayers are slowly and gradually being transformed into an organized category of prayer. This dramatic shift can be demonstrated through comparison of prayer to other religious rituals in the Bible. While regarding other rituals, such as sacrificing, we have specific…