Pontianus

PONTIANUS: Pope probably from July 21, 230, to Sept. 28, 235. During his pontificate the circular letter of Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria, condemning Origen, was approved by a synod at Rome (see Origen; and Origenistic Controversies). Pontianus, together with the antipope Hippolytus, was exiled to Sardinia under the persecution of Maximinus Thrax, where he resigned.

(A. Harnack.)

Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, vol. i., Paris, 1886, ed. T. Mommsen, in MGH, Gest. pont. Rom., i (1898), 24–25; Harnack, Geschichte, i. 648, ii. 1, pp. 107 sqq.; Bower, Popes, i. 22–23; Platina, Popes, i. 43–45; Milman, Latin Christianity, i. 80.