Hippolytus of Rome | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Statue of Hippolytus, 222 AD[1] | |
| Church Father, Theologian,Martyr | |
| Born | c. 170 AD Rome,Italy,Roman Empire |
| Died | c. 235 AD (aged 64-65) Sardinia,Sardinia and Corsica,Roman Empire |
| Venerated in | |
| Feast | |
Theology career | |
| Notable work | Philosophumena Apostolic Tradition |
| Theological work | |
| Era | Patristic Age |
| Language | Greek |
| Tradition or movement | Trinitarianism |
| Main interests | Apologetics,Eschatology,Christology,Exegesis |
Hippolytus of Rome (/həˈpɑːlɪtəs/hi-PAH-lit-əs,Ancient Greek:Ἱππόλυτος; Romanized:Hippólytos,c. 170 –c. 235 AD) was a bishop of Rome and one of the most important Christian theologians of the second and third centuries whose provenance, identity, and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities include Rome, Palestine, Egypt,Anatolia, and other regions of theMiddle East. The best historians of literature in the ancient church, includingEusebius andJerome, openly admit they cannot name where Hippolytus the biblical commentator and theologian served in leadership. They had read his works but did not possess evidence of his community.Photios I of Constantinople describes him in hisBibliotheca (cod. 121) as a disciple ofIrenaeus, who was said to be a disciple ofPolycarp; from the context, it seems Photios was suggesting Hippolytus publicly identified himself in this way.[2] But this assertion is doubtful.[3] One older theory claims he came into conflict with thepopes of his time and seems to have headed a schismatic group as a rival to thebishop of Rome, thus becoming anantipope. In this view, he opposed the Roman popes because they softened the penitential system to accommodate the large number of new pagan converts. However, he was reconciled to the Church before he died as amartyr.[3]
Starting in the fourth century, various legends arose identifying him as a priest of theNovatianist schism or as a soldier converted bySaint Lawrence. He has also been confused with another martyr of the same name.[3]Pope Pius IV identifies him as "Saint Hippolytus, Bishop ofPontus", martyred in the reign ofSeverus Alexander, using as a source an inscription on a statue found at the Church of Saint Lawrence in Rome and kept at theVatican.[4]
Little is known for certain about his community of origin. One Victorian theory suggested that as apresbyter of the church at Rome underPope Zephyrinus (199–217 AD), Hippolytus was distinguished for his learning and eloquence. It was at this time thatOrigen, then a young man, heard him preach.[5][2]
In this view, Hippolytus accused Pope Zephyrinus ofmodalism, the heresy which held that the names Father and Son are simply different names for the same subject. Hippolytus championed theLogos doctrine of the Greek apologists, most notablyJustin Martyr, which distinguished the Father from the Logos ("Word"). An ethical conservative, he was scandalized whenPope Callixtus I (217–222 AD) extendedabsolution to Christians who had committed grave sins, such as adultery.[6]
Some suggest Hippolytus himself advocated a pronounced rigorism.[7] At this time, he seems to have allowed himself to be elected as a rival Bishop of Rome, and continued to attackPope Urban I (222–230 AD) andPope Pontian (230–235 AD).[3] G. Salmon suggests that Hippolytus was the leader of the Greek-speaking Christians of Rome.[8] Allen Brent sees the development of Roman house-churches into something akin to Greek philosophical schools gathered around a compelling teacher.[9]
Also under this view: during the persecution at the time of EmperorMaximinus Thrax, Hippolytus and Pontian were exiled together in 235 toSardinia,[10] likely dying in the mines.[8] It is quite probable that, before his death there, he was reconciled to the other party at Rome, for, underPope Fabian (236–250 AD), his body and that of Pontian were brought to Rome. The so-calledChronography of 354 (more precisely, theLiberian Catalogue) reports that on 13 August, probably in 236, the two bodies were interred in Rome, that of Hippolytus in a cemetery on theVia Tiburtina (now known as theCatacomb of Sant'Ippolito),[10] his funeral being conducted byJustin the Confessor. This document indicates that, by about 255, Hippolytus was considered a martyr and gives him the rank of a priest, not of a bishop, an indication that before his death the schismatic was received again into the Church.[3][2]
The name Hippolytus appears in various hagiographical and martyrological sources of the early Church. The facts about the life of the writer Hippolytus, as opposed to other celebrated Christians who bore the name Hippolytus, were eventually lost in the West, perhaps partly because he wrote inHellenic Greek.Pope Damasus I dedicated to a Hippolytus one of his famous epigrams,[2] referring to a priest of theNovatianist schism, a view later forwarded byPrudentius in the 5th century in his "Passion of St Hippolytus". In the Passionals of the 7th and 8th centuries, he is represented as a soldier converted bySaint Lawrence, a legend that long survived in theRoman Breviary. He was also confused with a martyr of the same name who was buried inPortus, of which city he was believed to have been a bishop,[3] who was put to death by drowning in a deep well.[10]
According to Prudentius' account, a martyr Hippolytus was dragged to death by wild horses,[11] a striking parallel to the story of the mythologicalHippolytus, who was dragged to death by wild horses at Athens. He described the subterranean tomb of the saint and states that he saw there a picture representing Hippolytus' execution. He also confirms 13 August as the date on which a Hippolytus was celebrated but this again refers to the convert of Lawrence, as preserved in theMenaion of theEastern Orthodox Church.
The latter account led to a Hippolytus being considered thepatron saint of horses. During theMiddle Ages, sick horses were brought toSt Ippolyts,Hertfordshire, England, where a church is dedicated to him.[12]
Controversy surrounds the corpus of the writer Hippolytus. In theVictorian era, scholars claimed his principal work to be theRefutation of all Heresies.[3] Of its ten books, Book I was the most important.[6] It was long known and was printed (with the titlePhilosophumena) among the works of Origen. Books II and III are lost, and Books IV–X were found, without the name of the author,[2] in a monastery ofMount Athos in 1842. Emmanuel Miller published them in 1851 under the titlePhilosophumena, attributing them toOrigen of Alexandria. Recent scholarship prefers to treat the text as the work of an unknown author, perhaps of Roman origin.
In 1551 a marble statue of a seated figure (originally female,[13] perhaps personifying one of the sciences) was purportedly found in the cemetery of theVia Tiburtina and was heavily restored. On the sides of the seat was carved apaschal cycle, and on the back the titles of numerous writings by Hippolytus.[7][2] Many other works are listed byEusebius andJerome. The research of Guarducci showed the original statue was a representation of a female figure, reopening the question of its original purpose. Allen Brent analyzed the title list of the statue, questioning Hippolytan authorship of some works.
Hippolytus' voluminous writings, which for variety of subject can be compared with those of Origen, embrace the spheres ofexegesis,homiletics,apologetics andpolemic,chronography, andecclesiastical law. The Apostolic Tradition, if it is the work of Hippolytus, recorded the firstliturgical reference to theVirgin Mary, as part of the ordination rite of a bishop.[14]
Of exegetical works attributed to Hippolytus, the best preserved are theCommentary on the ProphetDaniel and theCommentary on theSong of Songs.[3] This is the earliest attested Christian interpretation of the Song, covering only the first three chapters to Song 3:7.
The commentary on theSong of Songs survives in two Georgian manuscripts, a Greekepitome, a Paleo-Slavonicflorilegium, and fragments inArmenian andSyriac as well as in many patristic quotations, especially inAmbrose'sExposition on Psalm 118 (119). It is generally regarded as an instruction relating to a post-Baptismal rite of anointing with oil as a symbol of receiving theHoly Spirit. The commentary was originally written as part of amystagogy, an instruction for new Christians. Scholars have usually assumed theCommentary on theSong of Songs was originally composed for use duringEaster, a season favored in the West for Baptism.[15] Hippolytus supplied his commentary with a fully developed introduction known as theschema isagogicum, indicating his knowledge of the rhetorical conventions for teachers discussing classical works.[16] He employs a common rhetorical trope,ekphrasis, using images on the walls or floors of Greco-Roman homes, and in the catacombs as paintings or mosaics.[17] Origen felt that the Song should be reserved for the spiritually mature and that studying it might be harmful for the novice.
Scholars generally ascribe to Hippolytus[18] a work now entitled theApostolic Tradition, which contains the earliest known ritual of ordination.[10] The influence of Hippolytus was felt chiefly through his works on chronography and ecclesiastical law.[2] His chronicle of the world, a compilation embracing the whole period from thecreation of the world up to the year 234, formed a basis for many chronographical works both in the East and West.[19][2] It is from theApostolic Tradition that the current words of episcopal ordination in theCatholic Church come from, as updated byPope Paul VI. Additionally, the 21st chapter of Apostolic Tradition contains what may be a proto-Apostles' Creed.[20]
In the great compilations of ecclesiastical law that arose in the East since the 3rd century, theChurch Orders many canons were attributed to Hippolytus, for example in theCanons of Hippolytus orthe Constitutions through Hippolytus. How much of this material is genuinely his, how much of it worked over, and how much of it wrongly attributed to him, can no longer be determined beyond dispute,[2] however a great deal was incorporated into theFetha Negest, which once served as the constitutional basis of law inEthiopia – where he is still remembered asAbulides. During the early 20th century the work known asThe Egyptian Church Order was identified as theApostolic Tradition and attributed to Hippolytus; at present this attribution is hotly contested.
Differences in style and theology lead some scholars to conclude that some of the works attributed to Hippolytus actually derive from a second author.[3]
Two small but potentially important works,On the Twelve Apostles of Christ andOn theSeventy Apostles of Christ, are often neglected because the manuscripts were lost during most of the church age and then found in Greece in the 19th century. The two are included in an appendix to the works of Hippolytus in the voluminous collection ofEarly Church Fathers.[21] The work on the 70 apostles is noteworthy as a (potentially) early source.
A consensus of scholarship agrees on a core of authentic texts composed by the second-third-century writer Hippolytus, regardless of disputes concerning his community, or the exact dates of his biography: these are the biblical commentaries, including On Daniel, On David and Goliath, On the Song of Songs (partially extant), On the Blessings of Isaac and Jacob, and On the Antichrist. These form a sound basis for exploring and understanding his theology and biblical doctrines.[citation needed]
Hippolytus is an important figure in the development ofChristian eschatology. In his biblical compendium and topical studyOn Christ and the Antichrist and in hisCommentary on the Prophet Daniel Hippolytus gave his interpretation of the second advent of Christ.[22]
With the onset of persecutions during the reign ofSeptimius Severus, many early Christian writers treated topics of apocalyptic eschatology.On Christ and the Antichrist is one of the earliest works. It is thought Hippolytus was generally influenced byIrenaeus.[23] However, unlike Irenaeus, Hippolytus focuses on the meaning of prophecy for the Church in his own time. Of the dogmatic works,OnChrist and theAntichrist survives in a complete state and was probably written about 200.[24]
Hippolytus follows the long-established usage in interpreting Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks to be weeks of literal years. Hippolytus gave an explanation of Daniel's paralleling prophecies of chapters 2 and 7, which he, as with the other fathers, specifically relates to the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. His interpretation of events and their significance is Christological.[25]
Hippolytus did not subscribe to the belief that theSecond Coming was imminent.[26] In his commentary on Daniel he criticizes those who predict the Second Coming in the near future and then says that six thousand years must pass from Creation before the Second Coming. He also says that Christ was born 5500 years after Adam, so 500 years have to pass from the birth of Christ "to the consummation of the six thousand years, and in this way the end will be".[27]
In theEastern Orthodox Church, thefeast day of St Hippolytus falls on 13 August, which is also theApodosis of theFeast of theTransfiguration. Because on the Apodosis the hymns of the Transfiguration are to be repeated, the feast of St. Hippolytus may be transferred to the day before or to some other convenient day. The Eastern Orthodox Church also celebrates the feast of"St Hippolytus Pope of Rome" on 30 January, who may or may not be the same individual.[citation needed]
TheCatholic Church celebrates St Hippolytus jointly withSt Pontian on 13 August. The feast of Saint Hippolytus formerly celebrated on 22 August as one of the companions of SaintTimotheus was a duplicate of his 13 August feast and for that reason was deleted when theGeneral Roman Calendar wasMysterii Paschalis (revised in 1969).[28] Earlier editions of theRoman Martyrology referred to the 22 August Hippolytus asBishop of Porto. TheCatholic Encyclopedia sees this as "connected with the confusion regarding the Roman presbyter resulting from the Acts of the Martyrs of Porto. It has not been ascertained whether the memory of the latter was localized at Porto merely in connection with the legend in Prudentius, without further foundation, or whether a person named Hippolytus was really martyred at Porto, and afterwards confounded in legend with Hippolytus of Rome."[7] This opinion is shared by a Benedictine source.[29]
Earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology also mentioned on 30 January a Hippolytus venerated atAntioch, but the details were borrowed from the story of Hippolytus of Rome.[30] Modern editions of the Martyrology omit mention of this supposed Saint Hippolytus of Antioch.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Krüger, Gustav (1911). "Hippolytus". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 519.
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