Soter

Saint Soter was bishop of Rome from about 167 to 174 (the dates vary between lists). The Church remembers him above all for his care of needy Christians in other Churches.

Life

He was born at Fundi in Lazio, into a family of Greek origin, and succeeded Saint Anicetus in the see. He shepherded the Church in the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. In his day the Montanist movement arose in Phrygia, and an old work once ascribed to Augustine says that Soter wrote a book against it. Some scholars link his time with the fixing of Pascha on a Sunday, the first after 14 Nisan, unlike the Churches of Asia Minor.

Love for the brethren

Saint Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, praised him for his love toward exiled Christians who came to Rome and those condemned to the mines, and for the help sent to poorer Churches, the Church of Corinth among them.

Commemoration

The Roman Martyrology does not give him the title of martyr, and the early sources do not show that he died for the faith, although the English-⁠language Orthodox calendar traditionally counts him as a martyr. He is commemorated on 22 April.