 The letter was sent from the Christian communities of Lyon and Vienne to the Roman province of Asia.According to Alban Butler, 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.