The First Non-Saint Pope in Christian History: Liberius

[@bhpurerange1]

Pope Liberius I is actually canonized as a Saint in the eastern orthodox church. Also, it is possible for an individual to be a Saint, despite not having been officially canonized by the Catholic Church.

[@ChristianBiographies]

Yeah I agree, I mentioned shortly in the video that in the Eastern Orthodox he is considered a Saint, but since I was looking at his life in the perspective of a Pope, and since they don’t hold that title to mean the same as the Roman Catholics I presented the information as such. Thanks for the comment though, you are correct in what you said!

[@JonathanMoosey]

Yes you’re right, you don’t have to be canonized and hold the title of Saint to be a saint in heaven. Grandma is certainly a saint in heaven.

[@igorlopes7589]

What I love about Pope Liberius is that the orthodox consider him a Saint while we don't. Most blursed catholic-orthodox disagreement ever lmao.

[@romualdandrzejczak4093]

Him not being a saint might have also had to do with false perception of Felix II over the years; due to mistaken indentification with a martyr from the same age and of the same name, he was sometimes regarded as a legit Pope who was tortured and killed for his adherence to Nicene Creed. Consequently, Liberius, as his adversary, was viewed more negatively than he should.

[@ChristianBiographies]

That’s a very insightful comment and I believe that played a role for a long time in the perception of his status as Saint. Thank you for that thoughtful comment.

[@claytonbenignus4688]

Liberius may not have made Saint status, but Villian Status would be achieved by a Pope John 12 some 700 years later. John 12 died fighting for a lady’s honor; her husband wanted to keep it.

[@ChristianBiographies]

Thanks for the comment

[@jhoughjr1]

Trial by ordeal

[@madmonkee6757]

Sainthood is a status, a state. Saint is a title. Sainthood is not a title. Speak English.

[@ChristianBiographies]

Thanks for the clarification and the comment.

[@ProjectMirai64]

Great video !

[@ChristianBiographies]

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed the video!

[@Avinkwep]

What are your sources for this video?

[@ChristianBiographies]

The best source I was able to get ahold of was "An Analysis of the Controversial Role Played by Pope Liberius in the Arian Dispute of the Fourth Century" by Thomas McKibben. This was a Masters Thesis done in 1960's but he condensed a lot of material into his work, and a couple of the quotes including the last one in the video comes from McKibben. I also used Theodoret, The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters (Vol. III of The Christian Literature Series, the Catholic Encyclopedia, as well as Quartus Supra from Pope Pius IX. I also pulled from the notes I had when I made the Athanasius of Alexandria video as Liberius' actions often impacted his place as Bishop in Alexandria. This video actually came from a project I did where I put together a full collection of all of the Popes and most Anti-Popes throughout history and put them all in a huge table where I can quickly access different information like if they were saints, where they were from, the age, what monastic order they came from, etc. But I hope that helps give you a bit of a reference for the information.

[@Avinkwep]

@ thanks

[@miyojewoltsnasonth2159]

@@ChristianBiographies Excellent books. *Reply to:* _"An Analysis of the Controversial Role Played by Pope Liberius in the Arian Dispute of the Fourth Century" by Thomas McKibben_ _Quartus Supra from Pope Pius IX_

[@miyojewoltsnasonth2159]

*@ChristianBiographies* Excellent books. *Reply to:* _"An Analysis of the Controversial Role Played by Pope Liberius in the Arian Dispute of the Fourth Century" by Thomas McKibben_ _Quartus Supra from Pope Pius IX_

[@fintan3563]

1. The early Church had no codified process of canonization. Many were granted the title by acclimation. (Which doesn’t mean they are not really saints). 2. Not having been formally canonized does not mean a person is not in heaven. Every soul in heaven is a saint whether canonized or not. 3. Sorry for the double and triple negatives 😇. 4. Great presentation! 👍👍👍

[@Avinkwep]

Fascinating subject. I guess it had to be someone, every pope can’t be a saint

[@Earl-z3t]

Every Pope shouldn't be a Saint.

[@Avinkwep]

@@Earl-z3t that’s my point

[@ChristianBiographies]

I'm glad you found the video interesting! The idea that someone had to be the first not to get that status made me want to research him more, and I found the situation very interesting and I figured others might find it interesting as well.

[@MrISkater]

Not according to our post conciliar church

[@miyojewoltsnasonth2159]

*@ChristianBiographies* *Reply to:* _"An Analysis of the Controversial Role Played by Pope Liberius in the Arian Dispute of the Fourth Century" by Thomas McKibben_ _Quartus Supra from Pope Pius IX_

[@nikotsiopinis9909]

Whoever does the narration of the story is constantly mispronouncing the name of the emperor, although, it is written correctly on the slides for the video! It would be great if next time more attention is paid to this b4 the audio is aired.

[@ChristianBiographies]

I research, write, record, and edit all of the videos myself. To be honest I pronounced it in my head the first time I started research and literally never second guesses it the entire several months I was researching. Never even thought twice about the pronunciation till just now lol. Thanks for the comment.

[@roberth6375]

So happy I found this channel. Would so great to see a video on the holy unmercenary healing Saint tradition in Eastern Orthodoxy dating to the 1st century. ❤️🙏 (Another great Saint archetype ftw is "the fools for Christ-sake") Thanks so much for your ecumenical work. Love it

[@nessunoniente3722]

The sainthood of Liberius may be more complicated than this: all the pictures on Wikimedia Commons in which he is portrayed show him with halo and usually the iscription "S." or "Sanctus" (Saint). So, I checked some of the source used by Italian and English Wikipedia, and some of them actually refer to him as a saint, also by the Catholic Church! Even in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Wall in Rome, where are depicted all the popes, he have an halo, and is labeled as saint. It would be nice to study more about this topic.

[@KetchupReturns]

But why is it that the bishop of Rome's opinion on aryanism was so important to the early Church ?

[@EnzoTurnip]

Bc of his authority as pope 🇻🇦

[@madmonkee6757]

Julian the Faithful did not kill Christians, but he did mock them and suppress them.

[@jtzoltan]

Starting around 22:45 you say that after the death of Liberius on December 24th 366, the new pope "Damasus the First would see the church begin to transition to one of the major religions of the empire"... At that point in history, could it in some sense still be said that Christianity (or perhaps you mean Nicene Orthodoxy?) wasn't already one of the major religions of the empire? Before this, was it actually still in a secondary class as (in terms of popular support) compared to Mithraism or Roman Polytheism more broadly? I have a feeling you might have mispoken, though I suppose it's possible that Christianity perhaps had preponderance in number of adherents compared to any other religion/unified-priesthood of the urban lower and middle orders within major cities, while many of the elites as well as most village & rural denizens of the empire were pagan still. In such a case, maybe it could be said that Christianity wasn't in the primary tier of religions by numbers at that time, but still had outsized political relevance for its predominance in cities. I still doubt it wasn't a major religion.

[@jomidiam]

I can't see emperors getting so involved in the inner workings and theology of a minor religion.

[@susanpower-q5q]

1/30 Out of 50 Papas 48 declared Saints Please tell Which two omitted and why 3/02 Mistake The Orthodox and Catholics were united as one until 1054 AD Therefore he would not reject before this date 3/39 Can you please quote Saint Athanasius words as this is very serious especially as this New Year 2025 is Anniversary of Nicaea May 325 AD to May 2025 AD 4/10 Modernist Bergoglio and none of Vatican II so called Popes are saints See Bishop Williamson sermons website Vatican II Prometheus and The Religion of Man

[@ChristianBiographies]

The other pope not canonized was Pope Anastasius II who was the 50th pope. Although the Church was united before the Schism today the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize him as a Saint which makes him the first Pope not to be named a Saint. If you want to check out the video of Athanasius I did a few years ago. It goes in depth about his life and as a defender of the faith. Thanks for your comment.

[@VirginMostPowerfull]

It's the Catholic Church, not the Roman Catholic Church. You're marginalizing Eastern Catholics. The official name of the Church is not Roman, that was a mockery made by Protestants.

[@ChristianBiographies]

Categorically there is a Roman Catholic Church because if you believe in the Pope he is the first among equals by his position as bishop of Rome. Eastern Catholics Western Catholics and Southern Catholics all fall under the leader of Rome. If you don’t believe any other Church is part of the true holy Catholic Church then I understand your argument but then again there wouldn’t be Eastern Catholics there would only be Catholics. Let me know if that was in line with what your frustration is or if I missed the mark. Thanks for your comment!

[@VirginMostPowerfull]

@ChristianBiographies I am Catholic from the Latin or Roman rite as its called, but that's a rite it isn't representative of the universal identity of the Church. The Catholic Church has multiple rites within it and the leader is based in Rome yes but this isn't by divine obligation it is by divine providence. Peter did not go to Rome for many years and he was our first Pope, later in history some Popes lived in France Avignon instead of Rome until they returned. The adjective Roman is used to reduce the universal scope of the Catholic Church and this is the reason for my comment.

[@ChristianBiographies]

Thank you for your contribution and explanation of your perspective.

[@VirginMostPowerfull]

@@ChristianBiographies I note also that what I said is the official position of the Catholic Church. The name of the creed is Catholic Church. Thank you for your kind comment and Lord bless you.