The New International Encyclopædia/Anastasius (popes)

ANASTASIUS. The name of four popes and one antipope.—Anastasius I., Pope from 398 to about 402. He healed an unseemly strife at Rome by ordering the priests as well as the deacons to stand bowed while the Gospel was read in the Church service. He was vehemently opposed to the doctrines of Origen, one of whose works (Peri Archon, i.e., Concerning Principles) he condemned as heretical. He is praised by Jerome, who calls him a man of a holy life, of a “rich poverty,” and of an apostolic earnestness. He died December, 401, or April, 402. His letters and decretals are in Migne, Patrol. Lat., xx.—Anastasius II., Pope from 496 to 498. He was born in Rome; consecrated Pope November 24, 496. He endeavored to heal the breach with the Eastern Church, but the attempt was so ill-judged that Dante puts him in hell. He died in November, 498. Two genuine letters of his are extant, one informing Emperor Anastasius of his accession, the other congratulating Clovis on his conversion to Christianity.—Anastasius III., Pope from 911 to 913. He was born in Rome.—Anastasius IV., Pope from 1153 to 1154. He healed two important ecclesiastical quarrels by recognizing Wichmann as Archbishop of Magdeburg, and William as Archbishop of York. He died in Rome December 3, 1154. His letters are in Migne, Patrol. Lat., clxxxviii.—The Antipope Anastasius was opposed to Benedict III. in 855, but speedily degraded.