Paulinus of Trier

Saint Paulinus of Trier was bishop of the city of Trier and a steadfast supporter of Saint Athanasius the Great against Arianism. The Church honours him as a confessor, because he chose exile rather than sign the condemnation of Athanasius.

He was born about the year 300 into a noble family of Aquitaine (some sources say Gascony) and was educated in the cathedral school of Poitiers. He was ordained priest by Maximin of Trier, went with him to Germany as a missionary, and about 347 succeeded him as bishop, the sixth in the line of the city's bishops.

In the quarrel between the Arians and the defenders of Athanasius, whom Maximin had sheltered in Trier, Paulinus stood with Athanasius. The emperor Constantius II, who favoured the Arians, called the Synod of Arles in 353 and asked the bishops to sign a condemnation of Athanasius, threatening exile for any who refused. Every bishop present signed except Paulinus, who was sent into exile in Phrygia, in Asia Minor.

His example encouraged other bishops who refused to sign at the Synod of Milan in 355, also called by Constantius. Paulinus died in Phrygia in 358, after five years of exile.

According to tradition, Bishop Felix of Trier brought his remains back to the city toward the end of the fourth century (in 395), and they were laid to rest on 31 August, the day on which he is now remembered. In 1072 the relics were placed in a wooden coffin. His tomb is in the crypt of the church of Saint Paulinus in Trier, which bears his name, and part of his relics is kept in the church of Lauterbach (Saar).

Saint Paulinus is venerated in both the Orthodox and the Catholic Church. Since 2006 he has been honoured as a local saint in the Diocese of Germany of the Moscow Patriarchate. His name lives on in streets, squares and churches in and around Trier.