Liberius was Bishop of Rome from 352 until his death in 366, succeeding Pope Julius I. His tenure fell during the height of the fourth-century Arian crisis, when the emperor Constantius II pressed the bishops of both East and West to abandon Saint Athanasius of Alexandria and to accept formulations that softened or denied the full divinity of the Son. Liberius is remembered in the Orthodox Church as a confessor for his resistance to this imperial pressure, and he is commemorated on August 27.
When Constantius sought to compel the Western bishops to condemn Athanasius, Liberius refused. According to the tradition, the emperor's envoys brought him bribes to secure his compliance, which he rebuffed. For his refusal he was sent into exile at Beroea in Thrace, and an antipope, Felix, was installed in Rome in his place. The synaxarion relates that he was returned to his see after some time on the insistent petitions of the Roman people.
The Orthodox synaxarion records that, before his restoration, Liberius was summoned to the Semi-Arian Council of Sirmium, where he was forced to sign the acts of that council. The tradition relates that he deeply repented of this afterward and labored much at Rome on behalf of Orthodoxy for the remainder of his life. He reposed in peace in the year 366; by one account he was buried at the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. Although he was not formally canonized in the later Roman tradition, he is numbered among the saints of the Orthodox Church.
