Julius I

Pope Julius I served as Bishop of Rome from 6 February 337 until his death on 12 April 352. His pontificate was dominated by the Arian controversy: Arian bishops, led by the circle around Eusebius of Nicomedia, renewed their deposition of Athanasius of Alexandria at a synod in Antioch in 341 and sought to present their case to Julius. Julius, expressing sympathy for Athanasius, invited both parties to submit the dispute to a Roman synod under his presidency — an invitation the Eastern bishops refused. On his second banishment from Alexandria, Athanasius came to Rome, and in 342 Julius presided over a synod that declared his deposition unjust and received him into communion. Julius then addressed a pointed letter to the Eastern bishops: 'Can you be ignorant that this is the custom, that we should be written to first, so that from here what is just may be defined?' The letter is one of the earliest explicit assertions of the bishop of Rome's primatial role in resolving episcopal disputes. Through Julius's influence, the Council of Sardica in Illyria was convened, attended by roughly three hundred Western bishops. The Eastern bishops withdrew to Philippopolis, where they deposed Julius, Athanasius, and others — a gesture that carried little weight in the West. The Western council confirmed the Roman synod's decisions and issued canons that, in their third, fourth, and fifth decrees, recognized Rome's right to receive appeals from deposed bishops, a significant step in the development of papal jurisdiction. Julius is also attributed with fixing 25 December as the official date for celebrating Christ's nativity. Scholarly debate continues over the origins of this date, but a December 25 celebration is attested in Rome during his pontificate. He also built several basilicas and churches in Rome. He was declared a saint, and his feast day is observed on 12 April.