Saint Anikētos of Rome
القدّيس أنكيتوس البابا الروميه
The seventeenth of April, which is Evacuation Day in Syria as well as Great and Holy Friday this year, is the feast-day of one of the earliest saintly patriarchs of Old Rome, the confessor and hieromartyr Saint Anikētos. A native of Emesa – today Homs in Syria – this holy Pope of Rome was a tireless defender of the Christian faith and a witness against the hæresies of Marcion and of the Gnostic Valentinus.
Born probably sometime around the turn of the second century, the hagiographies have it that Saint Anikētos [Gk. Ανίκητος, L. Anicetus, Ar. ’Anikîtûs أنكيتوس] was raised with love by his Greco-Syrian parents, and given the very best of educations. He was clever and studious, and by the time he embarked upon adulthood he had a thorough knowledge of both the natural sciences of his time, and the liberal arts. Being of a serious turn of mind, he was also drawn to the life of the Church, and at some point he must have been ordained to an office within it, though the sources are silent on the time and manner of this. What seems clear, however, is that his renown had reached Rome by at least 155.
After the death of Pope Saint Pius I in 157, the clergy of Old Rome unanimously chose the holy Anikētos to be consecrated as his successor. Anikētos had the qualifications of being generous, mild-tempered and moderate of habit. He combined these traits with a steadfast and fervent attachment to the correct Christian teachings. This commended him to the Church in Rome as a worthy successor to Pius I, who had refused to give one inch before the Gnostics and who had spared no effort, ‘rightly to divide the word of truth’ as Saint Paul put it in his second letter to Timothy. It appears that Saint Anikētos was consecrated either in 159 or 160.
Despite his reputation for zeal, Saint Anikētos was disposed to be lenient – perhaps a bit too lenient – on matters which were not tied to Church dogma. One of the first things he did in his office as Pope was to meet with Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, with whom he had some dissension over the matter of determining the correct date of Pascha. Anikētos held to the correct method of dating Pascha to the Sunday nearest 15 Nisan by the Hebrew calendar; while the inhabitants of Asia Minor (including Polycarp) largely held to a date of 14 Nisan for Pascha, regardless of the day of the week. Ultimately, Anikētos allowed via œconomia the Asiatics to continue using the local date. Though Saint Anikētos and Saint Polycarp both doubtless meant well, and they had for the time preserved the unity of the Church, unfortunately the dating of Pascha continued to be a matter of contention within the body of Christ for several centuries afterward, and even flared up again at the end of the second century.
As a bishop, however, Saint Anikētos was exemplary in conduct. He was aggressively compassionate, and he lived in voluntary poverty. He spent much of his time in the homes of the sick, ministering to them humbly – and what time of his own he did not spend there, he spent in prayer or study. He gave copiously to the poor. He forgave his enemies and those with whom he was at odds. And yet when riled to the defence of Orthodox doctrine he could become fierce and fiery. His hagiographers attribute his successes in dealing with the heterodox, first to the holy and compassionate mode of his life. The sincerity of his personal example moved many Catholic Christians in Rome who had hitherto been quite lax in both observance and morals to correct themselves and follow his generous and compassionate example. And the enemies of Christ could make no complaint of his hypocrisy.
Among these latter were the aforementioned Valentinus – the leader of a group of outwardly-Christian Gnostics who had split from the Church after Valentinus’s ambitions for advancement within it were thwarted. Marcion of Sinope was at this time also preaching in Rome, his odious doctrine that the God of the Hebrews was not the same as the Father of Christ. And a third is mentioned in his hagiography, an Alexandrian named Marcellina, who taught several evil doctrines borrowed from the false teacher Karpokratēs including reincarnation; her followers practised branding of the earlobes and orgiastic rites.
It is said of Pope Anikētos that he had several of these leaders of the hæretical sects banished from Rome, but that he cheerfully held the doors of the Church open for those who sincerely repented. He held the venerable Roman bishopric for eight years, which were characterised by energy, dynamism and renewal of the faith. Saint Anikētos was, however, seized by Roman officials claiming to act on behalf of the Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is unclear from the historical record if Marcus Aurelius actively commanded his soldiers to arrest and persecute Christians the way Julian or Diocletian did, though he was certainly no Christian himself, and did nothing to stop the persecutions already underway. Having been thus apprehended, Saint Anikētos made no secret of his Christianity, and refused either to recant his belief in Christ or to offer sacrifice to idols. As a result, the Roman soldiery beheaded him with the sword, and he was martyred on the seventeenth of April, 168. Holy Father Anikētos, compassionate and faithful confessor of Christ, we ask you to pray unto Him for the salvation of our souls!
Troparion for Great and Holy Friday, Tone 2:
The Noble Joseph,
When he had taken down Your most pure Body from the tree,
Wrapped it in fine linen,
And anointed it with spices,
And placed it in a new tomb.
The Crucifixion of Christ
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