Two strong men

Not only was he a heretic: he declared the Pope to be his enemy. He set himself up as the head of a rival church.

Many years later, he was arrested. As he wandered through the place he was incarcerated, he was startled to find the Pope there with him.

Pontian, the only pope of that name, had been the latest of those against whom Hippolytus had rebelled. He had actually resigned from the papacy after he had been arrested by the Emperor in 235 so that the Church may have a free shepherd, but now he saw an opportunity to bring a lost sheep back into the fold.

In that terrible place, Pontian reconciled Hippolytus to the Church and in that terrible place they both died, martyrs for the one true faith of Christ.