Difference between revisions of "Hippolytus of Rome" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
m
 
(11 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
−
{{Started}}{{claimed}}{{Contracted}}
+
{{Copyedited}}{{Images OK}}{{submitted}}{{approved}}{{Paid}}
 +
 
 
{{Infobox Saint
 
{{Infobox Saint
 
|name=Hippolytus of Rome
 
|name=Hippolytus of Rome
Line 6: Line 7:
 
|feast_day= January 30 (martyrdom), August 13
 
|feast_day= January 30 (martyrdom), August 13
 
|venerated_in= [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
 
|venerated_in= [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
−
|image=
+
|image=Hippolytus martyrdom.jpg
−
|imagesize=200px
+
|imagesize=220px
−
|caption=Hippolytus of Rome
+
|caption=Martyrdom of Hippolytus (Paris, fourteenth century)
 
|birth_place=
 
|birth_place=
 
|death_place=Sardinia
 
|death_place=Sardinia
Line 26: Line 27:
 
|prayer_attrib=
 
|prayer_attrib=
 
}}
 
}}
−
'''Saint Hippolytus of Rome''' (sometimes '''Ypolitus'''; {{it icon}} '''Ippolito''') was one of the most prolific writers of the early [[Church]]. He was born in the second half of the [[second century]], probably in Rome. [[Photius]] describes him in his ''Bibliotheca'' (cod. 121) as a disciple of [[Irenaeus]], who was said to be a disciple of [[Polycarp]], and from the context of this passage it is supposed that we may conclude that Hippolytus himself so styled himself. He came into conflict with the [[Pope]]s of his time and for some time headed a separate congregation. Therefore he is sometimes considered the first [[Antipope]]. However he died in 235 reconciled to the Church as a [[martyr]], so now he is honored as a [[saint]].
+
'''Saint Hippolytus of Rome''' (died 235 C.E.), sometimes called '''Ypolitus''' ('''Ippolito''' {{it icon}}) was one of the most prolific writers of the early [[Church]]. He was born in the second half of the [[second century]], probably in [[Rome]]. A disciple of [[Irenaeus]] of Lyon and strong opponent of opinions he considered heretical, he came into conflict with the [[pope]]s of his time and for some time headed a separate congregation. He holds the distinction of being the first [[antipope]], but he died in 235 reconciled to the Church as a [[martyr]] and is recognized as a saint. Traditionally believed to have been dragged to death by wild horses, it is more likely that he died as a result of being sentenced to hard labor as a mine worker.
 +
{{toc}}
 +
Hippolytus' writings came to be highly influential in the Eastern Orthodox Church especially, where he is still venerated today. He was also highly esteemed in the early Roman Catholic tradition. His writings remain a valuable source of information regarding the history and tradition of the early Christian church.
  
 
== Life ==
 
== Life ==
−
As a [[presbyter]] of the church at Rome under [[Pope Zephyrinus|Bishop Zephyrinus]] (199-217), Hippolytus was distinguished for his learning and eloquence. It was at this time that [[Origen]], then a young man, heard him preach.<ref>[[Jerome's De Viris Illustribus]] # 61; cp. [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]], ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' vi. 14, 10.</ref>
+
As a [[presbyter]] of the church at Rome under [[Pope Zephyrinus|Bishop Zephyrinus]] (199-217), Hippolytus was distinguished for his learning and eloquence. [[Origen]], then a young man, heard him preach.<ref>[[Jerome's De Viris Illustribus]] # 61; cp. [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]], ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' vi. 14, 10.</ref>
  
−
It was probably not long before questions of theology and church discipline brought him into direct conflict with Zephyrinus, or at any rate with his successor [[Pope Calixtus I|Calixtus I]]. He accused the bishop of favouring the [[Christological]] [[heresy|heresies]] of the [[Monarchian]]s, and, further, of subverting the discipline of the Church by his lax action in receiving back into the Church those guilty of gross offences. The result was a schism, and for perhaps over ten years Hippolytus stood at the head of a separate congregation.
+
However, questions of [[theology]] and church discipline soon brought Hippolytus into direct and bitter conflict with Rome's bishop, [[Zephyrinus]], who had declined to condemn certain doctrines regarding the nature of the [[Trinity]] which Hippolytus considered heretical. For this Hippolytus gravely censured him, representing him as an incompetent man, unworthy to rule the Church of Rome. He characterized the pope as a tool in the hands of the allegedly ambitious and intriguing [[deacon]] [[Callixtus]], whose early life Hippolytus maliciously depicted in his ''Philosophumena'' (IX, xi-xii).
  
−
Under the persecution by Emperor [[Maximinus Thrax]], Hippolytus and [[Pontian]], who was then pope, were transported in 235 to [[Sardinia]], where both of them died.
+
[[Image:CalixtusI.jpg|thumb|left|Pope Calixtus I, whom Hippolytus denounced both as a monarchian heretic and for his alleged laxity in forgiving repentant sinners]]
  
−
From the so-called [[chronography of the year 354]] (more precisely, the ''[[Liberian Catalogue|Catalogus Liberianus]]'', or ''Liberian Catalogue'') we learn that on August 13, probably in 236, the bodies of the exiles were interred in Rome, and that of Hippolytus in the cemetery on the [[Via Tiburtina]]; so we must suppose that before his death the schismatic was received again into the bosom of the Church, and this is confirmed by the fact that his memory was henceforth celebrated in the Church as that of a [[saint]] and [[martyr]].
+
Hippolytus' learning and erudition made him a logical candidate to succeed Zephyrinus, but his divisiveness and unwillingness to forgive sinners argued against him. Consequently, when Callixtus was elected pope (217-218) on the death of Zephyrinus, Hippolytus immediately left the communion of the Roman Church.
  
−
[[Image:Hippolytus martyrdom.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The Martyrdom of Saint Hippolytus (Paris, 14th century)]]
+
He accused the new pope of favoring the [[Christological]] [[heresy|heresies]] of the [[Monarchian]]s—emphasizing the oneness of God as opposed to the trinitarian notion of God being three distinct "persons" in one Being. Further, Hippolytus accused Callixtus of subverting the discipline of the Church by receiving back into the church those guilty of gross offenses, including adultery, thus establishing the tradition of eventual absolution for all repented sins. The result was a [[schism]], and for perhaps over ten years Hippolytus stood at the head of a separate congregation, giving him the distinction of being the first [[anti-pope]], as well as later a [[martyr]] and [[saint]]. His reign in opposition to Callixtus lasted through the succeeding pontificates of [[Urban I]] (222–230) and at least part of that of [[Pontian]] (230–235).
−
[[Pope Damasus I]] dedicated to him one of his famous epigrams, and [[Prudentius]] (''Peristephano'' II) drew a highly colored picture of his gruesome death, the details of which are certainly purely legendary: the myth of [[Hippolytus (mythology)|Hippolytus]] the son of [[Theseus]] was transferred to the Christian martyr. The mythological Hippolytus, whose name means "loose horse" in Greek, had been dragged to death by wild horses; this death became the method by which the historical Hippolytus became martyred. Hippolytus thus became the [[patron saint]] of horses. During the [[Middle Ages]], sick horses were brought to St. Ippolitts, [[Hertfordshire]], where a church was dedicated to him.
 
  
−
Of the historical Hippolytus little remained in the memory of later ages. Neither Eusebius<ref>''Historia Ecclesiae'' vi. 20, 2</ref> nor [[Jerome]]<ref>[[Jerome's De Viris Illustribus|Vir. ill. 61]]</ref> knew that the author so much read in the East and the Roman saint were one and the same person. Some scholars find it unlikely that they were, alleging that differing levels of development of the doctrine of the Trinity indicates differing dates of composition. The notice in the ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'' preserves one slight reminiscence of the historical facts, namely, that Hippolytus's [[episcopal see]] was situated at [[Portus]] near Rome.
+
During or shortly after the pontificate of [[Pontian]], the schism apparently came to an end. Under the persecution by Emperor [[Maximinus Thrax]], Pontian and other church leaders, among them Hippolytus, were exiled by the emperor Maximinus Thrax to [[Sardinia]] in 235, where both of them died. The tradition that he was dragged to death by wild horses is apparently legendary. It is more likely that he, like Pontian, died as a result of forced mine labor. An entry in the ''Liberian Catalogue'' of bishops of Rome for the year 235 C.E. records that Hippolytus the presbyter was transported as an exile to the island of Sardinia where he gained the title of martyr by dying in the mines on August 13, 235. The ''Liberian Catalogue'' further records that the body of Hippolytus was brought to Rome from Sardinia and interred in the Via Tiburtina.<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.h.html?term=hippolytus+romanus Hippolytus of Rome] ''www.ccel.org''. Retrieved February 20, 2008.</ref>
  
−
In 1551 a marble statue of a seated man was found in the cemetery of the Via Tiburtina: on the sides of the seat were carved a [[paschal cycle]], and on the back the titles of numerous writings. It was the statue of Hippolytus, a work, at any rate, of the [[3rd century]]; at the time of [[Pope Pius IX|Pius IX]], it was placed in the [[Lateran Museum]], a record in stone of a lost tradition.
+
The bodies of the exiles were interred in Rome, that of Hippolytus in the cemetery on the [[Via Tiburtina]]. His memory was henceforth celebrated in the Church as that of a [[saint]] and [[martyr]].
−
 
 
−
[[Image:1336 - Milano - S. Lorenzo - Cappella S. Ippolito - Dall'Orto - 18-May-2007.jpg|thumb| Saint Hippolytus chapel, in the [[Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore]] in [[Milan]], Italy, built in the 5th century. Its Ancient Roman decoration is now completely lost, apart for the elegant columns in coloured marbles.]]
 
−
An entry in the ''Liberian Catalogue'' of bishops of Rome for the year AD 235 records that Hippolytus the presbyter was transported as an exile to the island of Sardinia where he gained the title of martyr by dying in the mines on 13 August AD 235. The "depositio martyrum" of the ''Liberian Catalogue'' further records that the body of Hippolytus was brought to Rome from Sardinia and interred in the Via Tiburtina. [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.h.html?term=hippolytus+romanus]
 
−
 
 
−
Prudentius, who wrote in the 5th century records (''Peristeph''. 11) a different story, claiming that Hippolytus the presbyter was torn in pieces at [[Ostia]] by wild horses. He describes the subterranean tomb of the saint and states that he saw on the spot a picture representing Hippolytus’ execution, and he confirms the martyrdom was commemorated on 13 August.
 
  
 
== Writings ==
 
== Writings ==
−
The mystery which enveloped the person and writings of Hippolytus had some light thrown upon it for the first time about the middle of the [[19th century]] by the discovery of the so-called ''[[Philosophumena]]''. Assuming this writing to be the work of Hippolytus, the information given in it as to the author and his times can be combined with other traditional dates to form a tolerably clear picture.
+
Hippolytus's voluminous writings embrace the spheres of [[exegesis]], [[homiletics]], [[apologetics]] and [[polemic]], [[chronography]], and [[canon law|ecclesiastical law]]. His works have unfortunately come down to us in such a fragmentary condition that it is difficult to obtain from them any very exact notion of his intellectual and literary importance.
  
−
Hippolytus's voluminous writings, which for variety of subject can be compared with those of [[Origen]], embrace the spheres of [[exegesis]], [[homiletics]], [[apologetics]] and [[polemic]], [[chronography]], and [[canon law|ecclesiastical law]].
+
Of his exegetical works the best preserved are the ''Commentary on the Prophet [[Daniel]]'' and the ''Commentary on the [[Song of Songs]]''. Unfortunately, the sermons attributed to him entitled the ''Homilies on the Feast of Epiphany'' are probably wrongly attributed to him, and it is thus impossible to get a sense of his vaunted skills as a preacher.
  
−
His works have unfortunately come down to us in such a fragmentary condition that it is difficult to obtain from them any very exact notion of his intellectual and literary importance.
+
He wrote polemical works directed against [[pagan]]s, [[Jews]], and [[heresy|heretics]]. The most important of these polemical treatises is the ''[[Refutation of all Heresies]]'', which has come to be known by the inappropriate title of the ''Philosophumena''. Of its ten books, the second and third are lost; Book I was for a long time printed among the works of Origen; Books IV-X were found in 1842 by the Greek [[Minoides Mynas]], without the name of the author, in an [[Armenia]]n monastery at the [[Greek Orthodox]] monastic republic of [[Mount Athos]]. The mystery which enveloped the person and writings of Hippolytus began to be clarified with this discovery.
  
−
Of his exegetical works the best preserved are the ''Commentary on the Prophet [[Daniel]]'' and the ''Commentary on the [[Song of Songs]]''.
+
Of the dogmatic works, that on [[Christ]] and [[Antichrist]] survives in a complete state. Among other things it includes a vivid account of the events preceding the end of the world, and it was probably written at the time of the persecution under [[Septimius Severus]], i.e. about 202. The liturgical treatise known as the ''Apostolic Tradition'' is now generally attributed to him. This work is a valuable source of information concerning the rites and liturgies of the Roman Church in the early third century.
  
−
In spite of many instances of a want of taste in his [[typology]], they are distinguished by a certain sobriety and sense of proportion in his exegesis.
+
The influence of Hippolytus was felt chiefly through his works on chronography and ecclesiastical law. His chronicle of the world, a compilation embracing the whole period from the [[creation of the world]] up to the year 234, formed a basis for many chronographical works both in both the East and the West. In the great compilations of ecclesiastical law which arose in the East since the fourth century much of the material was taken from the writings of Hippolytus or from writings attributed to him.
  
−
We are unable to form an opinion of Hippolytus as a preacher, for the ''Homilies on the Feast of Epiphany'' which go under his name are wrongly attributed to him.
+
In the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[feast day]] of St. Hippolytus falls on August 13, which is also the [[Apodosis]] of the [[Great Feasts|Feast]] of the [[Transfiguration]]. The Eastern church also celebrates the feast of ''St. Hippolytus Pope of Rome'' on January 30, who may or may not be the same individual.
  
−
He wrote polemical works directed against the [[pagan]]s, the [[Jews]] and [[heresy|heretics]]. The most important of these polemical treatises is the ''[[Refutation of all Heresies]]'', which has come to be known by the inappropriate title of the ''Philosophumena''. Of its ten books, the second and third are lost; Book I was for a long time printed (with the title ''Philosopizumena'') among the works of Origen; Books IV-X were found in 1842 by the Greek [[Minoides Mynas]], without the name of the author, in an [[Armenia]]n monastery at the [[Greek Orthodox]] monastic republic of [[Mount Athos]].
+
==Legacy==
 +
[[Image:1336 - Milano - S. Lorenzo - Cappella S. Ippolito - Dall'Orto - 18-May-2007.jpg|thumb|200px|Saint Hippolytus chapel, in the [[Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore]] in [[Milan]], Italy, built in the fifth century. Its ancient Roman decoration is now completely lost, apart for the elegant columns in colored marbles.]]
  
−
It is nowadays universally admitted that Hippolytus was the author {{Fact|date=March 2007}}, and that Books I and IV-X belong to the same work.<ref>Allen Brent, though, in his ''Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century: Communities in Tension before the Emergence of a Monarch-Bishop'' (Supplements to ''Vigiliae Christianae'' 31; Leiden: E.J. Brill), chs 2 and 3, distinguishes the author of ''Refutation of all Heresies'' from the author of all the other works attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, referring to the otherwise unknown author of the ''Refutation'' as [[Pseudo-Hippolytus]].</ref>
+
[[Pope Damasus I]] dedicated to Hippolytus one of his famous epigrams.
  
−
The importance of the work has, however, been much overrated; a close examination of the sources for the exposition of the [[Gnostic]] system which is contained in it has proved that the information it gives is not always trustworthy.
+
[[Prudentius]] (''Peristephano'' II) drew a highly colored picture of his gruesome death, the details of which are mostly legendary. In it, the pagan myth of [[Hippolytus (mythology)|Hippolytus]] the son of [[Theseus]] was apparently transferred to Hippolytus of Rome. The mythological Hippolytus, whose name means "loose horse" in Greek, had been dragged to death by wild horses. This death, according to legend, was the very method by which the historical Hippolytus became martyred. Hippolytus thus became the [[patron saint]] of horses. During the [[Middle Ages]], sick horses were brought to St. Ippolitts, [[Hertfordshire]], where a church was dedicated to him.
  
−
Of the dogmatic works, that on [[Christ]] and [[Antichrist]] survives in a complete state. Among other things it includes a vivid account of the events preceding the end of the world, and it was probably written at the time of the persecution under [[Septimius Severus]], i.e. about 202.
+
Of the historical Hippolytus little remained in the memory of later ages. Neither Eusebius<ref>''Historia Ecclesiae'' vi. 20, 2</ref> nor [[Jerome]]<ref>[[Jerome's De Viris Illustribus|Vir. ill. 61]]</ref> knew that the author so much read in the East and the Roman saint were one and the same person. Some scholars find it unlikely that they were, alleging that differing levels of development of the doctrine of the Trinity indicates differing dates of composition.
  
−
The influence of Hippolytus was felt chiefly through his works on chronography and ecclesiastical law. His chronicle of the world, a compilation embracing the whole period from the [[creation of the world]] up to the year 234, formed a basis for many chronographical works both in the East and West. In the great compilations of ecclesiastical law which arose in the East since the [[4th century]] much of the material was taken from the writings of Hippolytus; how much of this 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 even by the most learned investigation.
+
In 1551 a [[marble]] statue of a seated man was found in the cemetery of the Via Tiburtina: on the sides of the seat were carved a [[paschal cycle]], and on the back the titles of numerous writings. It was the statue of Hippolytus, a work of the third century. At the time of [[Pope Pius IX|Pius IX]], it was placed in the [[Lateran Museum]], a record in stone of a lost tradition of Hyppolytus' veneration.
−
 
 
−
In the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[feast day]] of St. Hippolytus falls on August 13, which is also the [[Apodosis]] of the [[Great Feasts|Feast]] of the [[Transfiguration]]. 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 church also celebrates the feast of ''St. Hippolytus Pope of Rome'' on January 30, who may or may not be the same individual.
 
  
 
== Bibliography ==
 
== Bibliography ==
−
The edition of [[Johann Albert Fabricius|JA Fabricius]], ''Hippolyti opera graece et latine'' (2 vols., Hamburg, 1716–1718), reprinted in [[Gallandi]], ''Bibliotheca veterum patrum'' (vol. II, 1766), and [[Jacques Paul Migne|Migne]], ''[[Patrologia Graeca|Cursus patrol. ser. Graeca]]'', (vol. X) is out of date. The preparation of a complete critical edition has been undertaken by the [[Prussian Academy of Sciences]]; The task is one of extraordinary difficulty, for the textual problems of the various writings are complex and confused: the Greek original is extant in a few cases only (the ''Commentary on Daniel'', the ''Refutation'', on ''Antichrist'', parts of the ''Chronicle'', and some fragments); for the rest we are dependent on fragments of translations, chiefly [[Church Slavonic language|Slavonic]], all of which are not even published (as of 1911).
+
The edition of [[Johann Albert Fabricius|J.A. Fabricius]], ''Hippolyti opera graece et latine'' (2 vols., Hamburg, 1716–1718), reprinted in [[Gallandi]], ''Bibliotheca veterum patrum'' (vol. II, 1766), and [[Jacques Paul Migne|Migne]], ''[[Patrologia Graeca|Cursus patrol. ser. Graeca]]'', (vol. X) is out of date. The preparation of a complete critical edition has been undertaken by the [[Prussian Academy of Sciences]]. The task is one of extraordinary difficulty, for the textual problems of the various writings are complex and confused: the Greek original is extant in a few cases only (the ''Commentary on Daniel'', the ''Refutation'', on ''Antichrist'', parts of the ''Chronicle'', and some fragments); for the rest we are dependent on fragments of translations, chiefly [[Church Slavonic language|Slavonic]], all of which were not even published (as of 1911).
  
 
Of the Academy's edition one volume was published at Berlin in 1897, containing the ''Commentaries on Daniel'' and on the ''Song of Songs'', the treatise on ''Antichrist'', and the ''Lesser Exegetical and Homiletic Works'', edited by [[Georg Nathaniel Bonwetsch]] and [[Hans Athelis]].
 
Of the Academy's edition one volume was published at Berlin in 1897, containing the ''Commentaries on Daniel'' and on the ''Song of Songs'', the treatise on ''Antichrist'', and the ''Lesser Exegetical and Homiletic Works'', edited by [[Georg Nathaniel Bonwetsch]] and [[Hans Athelis]].
Line 89: Line 85:
 
* [[Canons of Hippolytus]]
 
* [[Canons of Hippolytus]]
 
* [[Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades]] (actually by Hippolytus)
 
* [[Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades]] (actually by Hippolytus)
 +
 +
== References ==
 +
* {{1911}}
 +
* Achelis, Hans. ''Hippolytstudien''. Leipzig, 1897.
 +
* Bunsen, Christian Charles Josias. ''Hippolytus and his Age''. 1852, 2nd ed.; 1854; Ger. ed.; 1853.
 +
* d'Ales, Adhémar. ''La Theologie de Saint Hippolyte''. Paris, 1906.
 +
* Döllinger, Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger. ''Hippolytus und Kallistus''. Regensb. 1853; Eng. transl., Edinb., 1876.
 +
* Ficker, Gerhard. ''Studien zur Hippolytfrage''. Leipzig, 1893.
 +
* Johannes Neumann, Karl. ''Hippolytus von Rom in seiner Stellung zu Staat und Welt''. Leipzig, 1902.
 +
* Lightfoot, J.B. ''The Apostolic Fathers'' vol. i, part ii. London, 1889-1890.
  
 
== External links ==
 
== External links ==
−
* [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0521.htm Against Noetus]
+
All links retrieved January 9, 2018.
−
* [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0501.htm Refutation of All Heresies]
 
−
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07360c.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Hippolytus of Rome]
 
−
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9040545/Saint-Hippolytus-of-Rome Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hippolytus of Rome]
 
−
* [http://www.bombaxo.com/hippolytus.html The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus of Rome]
 
−
* [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100351 Hieromartyr Hippolytus the Pope of Rome] (January 30) Orthodox [[icon]] and [[synaxarion]]
 
−
* [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=102288 Martyr Hippolytus of Rome] (August 13)
 
−
* [http://www.westsrbdio.org/prolog/my.html?month=August&day=13 The Holy Martyr Hippolytus] the ''Prologue from Ochrid'' by [[Nikolai Velimirovic]]
 
  
−
== References ==
+
* [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0521.htm Against Noetus] ''www.newadvent.org''
−
* [[Christian Charles Josias Bunsen|Bunsen]], ''Hippolytus and his Age'' (1852, 2nd ed., 1854; Ger. ed., 1853)
+
* [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0501.htm Refutation of All Heresies] ''www.newadvent.org''
−
* [[Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger|Döllinger]], ''Hippolytus und Kallistus'' (Regensb. 1853; Eng. transl., Edinb., 1876)
+
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07360c.htm Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Hippolytus of Rome] ''www.newadvent.org''
−
* [[Gerhard Ficker]], ''Studien zur Hippolytfrage'' (Leipzig, 1893)
+
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9040545/Saint-Hippolytus-of-Rome Encyclopaedia Britannica, Hippolytus of Rome] ''www.britannica.com''
−
* [[Hans Achelis]], ''Hippolytstudien'' (Leipzig, 1897)
+
* [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100351 Hieromartyr Hippolytus the Pope of Rome] (January 30) Orthodox [[icon]] and [[synaxarion]], ''ocafs.oca.org''
−
* [[Karl Johannes Neumann]], ''Hippolytus von Rom in seiner Stellung zu Staat und Welt,'' part i (Leipzig, 1902)
+
* [http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=102288 Martyr Hippolytus of Rome] ''ocafs.oca.org''
−
* [[Adhémar d'Ales]], ''La Theologie de Saint Hippolyte'' (Paris, 1906). (G.K.)
 
−
* [[J. B. Lightfoot]], ''The Apostolic Fathers'' vol. i, part ii (London, 1889–1890).
 
−
* {{1911}}
 
  
 
{{template:antipopes}}
 
{{template:antipopes}}

Latest revision as of 15:50, 25 January 2023


Hippolytus of Rome
Hippolytus martyrdom.jpg

Martyrdom of Hippolytus (Paris, fourteenth century)
Martyr
Born Unknown
Died 235 in Sardinia
Venerated in Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast January 30 (martyrdom), August 13
Patronage Bibbiena, Italy; horses; prison guards; prison officers; prison workers

Saint Hippolytus of Rome (died 235 C.E.), sometimes called Ypolitus (Ippolito (Italian)) was one of the most prolific writers of the early Church. He was born in the second half of the second century, probably in Rome. A disciple of Irenaeus of Lyon and strong opponent of opinions he considered heretical, he came into conflict with the popes of his time and for some time headed a separate congregation. He holds the distinction of being the first antipope, but he died in 235 reconciled to the Church as a martyr and is recognized as a saint. Traditionally believed to have been dragged to death by wild horses, it is more likely that he died as a result of being sentenced to hard labor as a mine worker.

Hippolytus' writings came to be highly influential in the Eastern Orthodox Church especially, where he is still venerated today. He was also highly esteemed in the early Roman Catholic tradition. His writings remain a valuable source of information regarding the history and tradition of the early Christian church.

Life

As a presbyter of the church at Rome under Bishop Zephyrinus (199-217), Hippolytus was distinguished for his learning and eloquence. Origen, then a young man, heard him preach.[1]

However, questions of theology and church discipline soon brought Hippolytus into direct and bitter conflict with Rome's bishop, Zephyrinus, who had declined to condemn certain doctrines regarding the nature of the Trinity which Hippolytus considered heretical. For this Hippolytus gravely censured him, representing him as an incompetent man, unworthy to rule the Church of Rome. He characterized the pope as a tool in the hands of the allegedly ambitious and intriguing deacon Callixtus, whose early life Hippolytus maliciously depicted in his Philosophumena (IX, xi-xii).

Pope Calixtus I, whom Hippolytus denounced both as a monarchian heretic and for his alleged laxity in forgiving repentant sinners

Hippolytus' learning and erudition made him a logical candidate to succeed Zephyrinus, but his divisiveness and unwillingness to forgive sinners argued against him. Consequently, when Callixtus was elected pope (217-218) on the death of Zephyrinus, Hippolytus immediately left the communion of the Roman Church.

He accused the new pope of favoring the Christological heresies of the Monarchians—emphasizing the oneness of God as opposed to the trinitarian notion of God being three distinct "persons" in one Being. Further, Hippolytus accused Callixtus of subverting the discipline of the Church by receiving back into the church those guilty of gross offenses, including adultery, thus establishing the tradition of eventual absolution for all repented sins. The result was a schism, and for perhaps over ten years Hippolytus stood at the head of a separate congregation, giving him the distinction of being the first anti-pope, as well as later a martyr and saint. His reign in opposition to Callixtus lasted through the succeeding pontificates of Urban I (222–230) and at least part of that of Pontian (230–235).

During or shortly after the pontificate of Pontian, the schism apparently came to an end. Under the persecution by Emperor Maximinus Thrax, Pontian and other church leaders, among them Hippolytus, were exiled by the emperor Maximinus Thrax to Sardinia in 235, where both of them died. The tradition that he was dragged to death by wild horses is apparently legendary. It is more likely that he, like Pontian, died as a result of forced mine labor. An entry in the Liberian Catalogue of bishops of Rome for the year 235 C.E. records that Hippolytus the presbyter was transported as an exile to the island of Sardinia where he gained the title of martyr by dying in the mines on August 13, 235. The Liberian Catalogue further records that the body of Hippolytus was brought to Rome from Sardinia and interred in the Via Tiburtina.[2]

The bodies of the exiles were interred in Rome, that of Hippolytus in the cemetery on the Via Tiburtina. His memory was henceforth celebrated in the Church as that of a saint and martyr.

Writings

Hippolytus's voluminous writings embrace the spheres of exegesis, homiletics, apologetics and polemic, chronography, and ecclesiastical law. His works have unfortunately come down to us in such a fragmentary condition that it is difficult to obtain from them any very exact notion of his intellectual and literary importance.

Of his exegetical works the best preserved are the Commentary on the Prophet Daniel and the Commentary on the Song of Songs. Unfortunately, the sermons attributed to him entitled the Homilies on the Feast of Epiphany are probably wrongly attributed to him, and it is thus impossible to get a sense of his vaunted skills as a preacher.

He wrote polemical works directed against pagans, Jews, and heretics. The most important of these polemical treatises is the Refutation of all Heresies, which has come to be known by the inappropriate title of the Philosophumena. Of its ten books, the second and third are lost; Book I was for a long time printed among the works of Origen; Books IV-X were found in 1842 by the Greek Minoides Mynas, without the name of the author, in an Armenian monastery at the Greek Orthodox monastic republic of Mount Athos. The mystery which enveloped the person and writings of Hippolytus began to be clarified with this discovery.

Of the dogmatic works, that on Christ and Antichrist survives in a complete state. Among other things it includes a vivid account of the events preceding the end of the world, and it was probably written at the time of the persecution under Septimius Severus, i.e. about 202. The liturgical treatise known as the Apostolic Tradition is now generally attributed to him. This work is a valuable source of information concerning the rites and liturgies of the Roman Church in the early third century.

The influence of Hippolytus was felt chiefly through his works on chronography and ecclesiastical law. His chronicle of the world, a compilation embracing the whole period from the creation of the world up to the year 234, formed a basis for many chronographical works both in both the East and the West. In the great compilations of ecclesiastical law which arose in the East since the fourth century much of the material was taken from the writings of Hippolytus or from writings attributed to him.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the feast day of St. Hippolytus falls on August 13, which is also the Apodosis of the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Eastern church also celebrates the feast of St. Hippolytus Pope of Rome on January 30, who may or may not be the same individual.

Legacy

Saint Hippolytus chapel, in the Basilica di San Lorenzo Maggiore in Milan, Italy, built in the fifth century. Its ancient Roman decoration is now completely lost, apart for the elegant columns in colored marbles.

Pope Damasus I dedicated to Hippolytus one of his famous epigrams.

Prudentius (Peristephano II) drew a highly colored picture of his gruesome death, the details of which are mostly legendary. In it, the pagan myth of Hippolytus the son of Theseus was apparently transferred to Hippolytus of Rome. The mythological Hippolytus, whose name means "loose horse" in Greek, had been dragged to death by wild horses. This death, according to legend, was the very method by which the historical Hippolytus became martyred. Hippolytus thus became the patron saint of horses. During the Middle Ages, sick horses were brought to St. Ippolitts, Hertfordshire, where a church was dedicated to him.

Of the historical Hippolytus little remained in the memory of later ages. Neither Eusebius[3] nor Jerome[4] knew that the author so much read in the East and the Roman saint were one and the same person. Some scholars find it unlikely that they were, alleging that differing levels of development of the doctrine of the Trinity indicates differing dates of composition.

In 1551 a marble statue of a seated man was found in the cemetery of the Via Tiburtina: on the sides of the seat were carved a paschal cycle, and on the back the titles of numerous writings. It was the statue of Hippolytus, a work of the third century. At the time of Pius IX, it was placed in the Lateran Museum, a record in stone of a lost tradition of Hyppolytus' veneration.

Bibliography

The edition of J.A. Fabricius, Hippolyti opera graece et latine (2 vols., Hamburg, 1716–1718), reprinted in Gallandi, Bibliotheca veterum patrum (vol. II, 1766), and Migne, Cursus patrol. ser. Graeca, (vol. X) is out of date. The preparation of a complete critical edition has been undertaken by the Prussian Academy of Sciences. The task is one of extraordinary difficulty, for the textual problems of the various writings are complex and confused: the Greek original is extant in a few cases only (the Commentary on Daniel, the Refutation, on Antichrist, parts of the Chronicle, and some fragments); for the rest we are dependent on fragments of translations, chiefly Slavonic, all of which were not even published (as of 1911).

Of the Academy's edition one volume was published at Berlin in 1897, containing the Commentaries on Daniel and on the Song of Songs, the treatise on Antichrist, and the Lesser Exegetical and Homiletic Works, edited by Georg Nathaniel Bonwetsch and Hans Athelis.

The Commentary on the Song of Songs has also been published by Bonwetsch (Leipzig, 1902) in a German translation based on a Russian translation by Nicholas Marr of the Georgian text, and he added to it (Leipzig, 1904) a translation of various small exegetical pieces, which are preserved in a Georgian version only (The Blessing of Jacob, The Blessing of Moses, The Narrative of David and Goliath)—A great part of the original of the Chronicle has been published by Adolf Bauer (Leipzig, 1905) from the Codex Matritensis Graecus, 221. For the Refutation we are still dependent on the editions of Miller (Oxford, 1851), Duncker and Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1859), and Cruice (Paris, 1860). An English translation is to be found in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library (Edinburgh, 1868–1869).

Notes

  1. ↑ Jerome's De Viris Illustribus # 61; cp. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica vi. 14, 10.
  2. ↑ Hippolytus of Rome www.ccel.org. Retrieved February 20, 2008.
  3. ↑ Historia Ecclesiae vi. 20, 2
  4. ↑ Vir. ill. 61

See also

  • Apostolic Tradition
  • Epistle to Diognetus
  • Canons of Hippolytus
  • Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades (actually by Hippolytus)

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
  • Achelis, Hans. Hippolytstudien. Leipzig, 1897.
  • Bunsen, Christian Charles Josias. Hippolytus and his Age. 1852, 2nd ed.; 1854; Ger. ed.; 1853.
  • d'Ales, Adhémar. La Theologie de Saint Hippolyte. Paris, 1906.
  • Döllinger, Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger. Hippolytus und Kallistus. Regensb. 1853; Eng. transl., Edinb., 1876.
  • Ficker, Gerhard. Studien zur Hippolytfrage. Leipzig, 1893.
  • Johannes Neumann, Karl. Hippolytus von Rom in seiner Stellung zu Staat und Welt. Leipzig, 1902.
  • Lightfoot, J.B. The Apostolic Fathers vol. i, part ii. London, 1889-1890.

External links

All links retrieved January 9, 2018.

Antipopes of the Roman Catholic Church
Hippolytus · Novatian · Felix II · Ursicinus · Eulalius · Laurentius · Dioscorus · Theodore · Paschal · Constantine II · Philip · John VIII · Anastasius · Christopher · Boniface VII · John XVI · Gregory VI · Sylvester III · Benedict X · Honorius II · Clement III · Theodoric · Adalbert · Sylvester IV · Gregory VIII · Celestine II · Anacletus II · Victor IV (1138) · Victor IV (1159–1164) · Paschal III · Callixtus III · Innocent III · Nicholas V · Clement VII · Benedict XIII · Alexander V · John XXIII · Clement VIII · Benedict XIV · Felix V
Emblem of the Papacy.svg

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Retrieved from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Hippolytus_of_Rome&oldid=1097743

Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Copyright Logo
Powered by MediaWiki