Pothinus established himself at Lyons, and founded there a flourishing Church, over which he presided for almost twenty years.

[2] In asserting his own authority as bishop of Lyon, Irenaeus says that Pothinus had been his predecessor in the position, and the first holder of that office.

By 177, a large number of the Christians in the area of Vienne and Lyons were Greeks from Asia.

A violent persecution was there against them while Pothinus was bishop of Lyons, and Irenæus, who had been sent there by Polycarp out of Asia, was a priest of that city.

[3] Pothinus died at the age of ninety, around 177 AD, martyred along with Alexander, Attalus, Espagathus, Maturus, and Sanctius, during Persecution in Lyon during the tenure of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.