Saint Telesphorus

Pope Telesphorus (Greek: Τελεσφόρος) was the bishop of Rome from c. 126 to his death c. 137, during the reigns of Roman Emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius. Telesphorus is traditionally considered the eighth Bishop of Rome in succession after Peter. Telesphorus was of Greek ancestry and born in Thurii (today Terranova da Sibari, Calabria), Italy. The Liber Pontificalis mentions that he had been an anchorite (or hermit) monk prior to assuming office. Eusebius (Church History iv.7; iv.14) places the beginning of his pontificate in the twelfth year of the reign of Emperor Hadrian (128–129) and gives the date of his death as being in the first year of the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–139). As the capital of the empire was a place that allowed a wide spread of ideas, many heretics moved to Rome during his pontificate. During this period, the main heretical doctrine was Gnosticism, which Telesphorus vigorously fought because he believed it could steer religion towards a mysticism far removed from reality. The main exponent of this doctrine was the philosopher Valentinus, who at this time moved from Egypt to Rome and also managed to have a large number of followers in the capital of the empire for more than twenty years. A fragment of a letter from Irenæus to Pope Victor I during the Easter controversy in the late 2nd century, also preserved by Eusebius, testifies that Telesphorus was one of the Roman bishops who always celebrated Easter on Sunday, rather than on other days of the week according to the calculation of the Jewish Passover. Unlike Victor, however, Telesphorus remained in communion with those communities that did not follow this custom.