Pothinus of Lyon

Holy Hieromartyr Pothinus (Pothin, Photinus) was the first bishop of Lyon and the first bishop of Gaul. He was born around 87 and died around 177 at Lugdunum, at the age of almost ninety. He is venerated by the Roman Catholic Church, with commemoration on 2 June, in the group of the martyrs of Lyon, and by the Orthodox Church. The Holy Synod of the Russian Church entered him in its calendar on 9 March 2017, with commemoration on 2 (15) June.

Little is known of his life. He was a disciple of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, from whom he may perhaps have seen the Apostle John the Evangelist. Pothinus came to Lugdunum (today's Lyon) from Asia Minor around 140 and became the first bishop in Gaul. Nothing is known of his work as bishop. He is known above all for his martyric death, together with many other Christians of Lyon, of whom the names of forty-⁠three have been preserved.

In 177, in the reign of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, persecutions against Christians began again. In Gaul, at Lugdunum and in neighbouring Vienne, hundreds of Christians were arrested. Among them was the bishop of Lyon, Pothinus, ninety years old, who was taken to prison and died there after two days. The others were placed in the middle of the amphitheatre on the hill of Fourvière, before thousands of spectators gathered to see the bloody spectacle. Roman citizens had their throats cut with the sword, and all the others, among them Saint Blandina, were given to be torn by wild beasts. The bodies of those killed were left on display for several days, then burned, and the ashes scattered on the Rhone.

All this is known from a letter sent by the surviving Christians of Lyon and Vienne to the Churches of Asia Minor and Phrygia. Saint Irenaeus, who succeeded Pothinus as bishop of Lyon, may have taken part in writing it. The letter says that the violence and persecution were so great, and the hatred of the pagans for the saints and for the unending suffering of the blessed martyrs so strong, that they cannot be fully described.

The name of Saint Pothinus is borne by a building in the sixth arrondissement of Lyon, listed since 2 May 2007 among the protected buildings making up the historic heritage of France. The chapel of Saint-⁠Pothin in the north transept of one of the most important churches of Lyon, Saint-⁠Nizier, listed among the protected buildings already in 1840, is also dedicated to him.