Anatolius

Anatolius bishop of Laodicea, in Syria, was born at Alexandria, in Egypt, about 230. He excelled, according to Jerome, in arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, physics, logic, and rhetoric. About 264 he traveled into Syria and Palestine;

and while at Caesarea, Theoctenus, bishop of that see, made him his coadjutor, meaning that he should have succeeded him; but as he passed through Laodicea, on his way to the council of Antioch in 269, he was retained to be bishop of that see. He signalized his episcopate by his constant endeavors to destroy heresy and idolatry, and to cause virtue to flourish. He seems to have lived until the time of Diocletian, and to have died in peace. The Roman Martyrology marks his festival on the 3d of July. He left a Treatise on Arithmetic, in ten books, and one on Easter, Canon Paschalis, a fragment of which is given by Eusebius. A Latin translation of the entire Canon Paschalis, published by AEgidius Bucher (Amsterd. 1634; reprinted in Gallandii Bibl. Patr. t. 3), has been shown by Ideler (Handbuch der Chronologie, 2, 266 sq.) to be spurious. — Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 7, 32.