Hippolytus of Rome
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Hippolytus of Rome For places named after the saint, see Saint-Hippolyte Pope Pontian (230–235).[2] (disambiguation). For the character in Greek mythology, Under the persecution at the time of Emperor Maximinus see Hippolytus (mythology). Thrax, Hippolytus and Pontian were exiled together in 235 to Sardinia, and it is quite probable that, before Hippolytus of Rome (170–235) was the most impor- his death there, he was reconciled to the other party at tant 3rd-century theologian in the Christian Church in Rome, for, under Pope Fabian (236–250), his body and Rome,[2] where he was probably born.[3] Photios I of that of Pontian were brought to Rome. From the so- Constantinople describes him in his Bibliotheca (cod. called chronography of the year 354 (more precisely, the 121) as a disciple of Irenaeus, who was said to be a dis- Catalogus Liberianus, or Liberian Catalogue) we learn ciple of Polycarp, and from the context of this passage that on August 13, probably in 236, the two bodies were it is supposed that he suggested that Hippolytus himself interred in Rome, that of Hippolytus in a cemetery on the so styled himself. However, this assertion is doubtful.[2] Via Tiburtina, his funeral being conducted by Justin the He came into conflict with the popes of his time and Confessor. This document indicates that, by about 255, seems to have headed a schismatic group as a rival bishop Hippolytus was considered a martyr and gives him the of Rome.[2] For that reason he is sometimes considered rank of a priest, not of a bishop, an indication that be- the first antipope. He opposed the Roman bishops who fore his death the schismatic was received again into the softened the penitential system to accommodate the large bosom of the Church.[2] number of new pagan converts.[2] However, he was very probably reconciled to the Church when he died as a martyr.[2] Starting in the 4th century, various legends arose about him, identifying him as a priest of the Novatianist schism 2 Legends or as a soldier converted by Saint Laurence.[2] He has also been confused with another martyr of the same name.[2] Ironically, it is Pius IV who identifies him as “Saint Hip- The facts of his life as well as his writing were soon for- polytus, Bishop of Pontus” who was martyred in the reign gotten in the West, perhaps by reason of his criticism of of Alexander Severus through his inscription on a statue the bishops of Rome and because he wrote in Greek.[2] found at the Church of St. Lawrence in Rome and kept at Pope Damasus I dedicated to him one of his famous epi- [4] the Vatican as photographed and published in Brunsen. grams, making him, however, a priest of the Novatianist schism, a view later accepted by Prudentius in the 5th century in his “Passion of St Hippolytus”. In the Passion- als of the 7th and 8th centuries he is represented as a sol- 1 Life dier converted by Saint Lawrence, a legend that long sur- vived in the Roman Breviary. He was also confused with As a presbyter of the church at Rome under Pope a martyr of the same name who was buried in Portus, of Zephyrinus (199–217), Hippolytus was distinguished for which city he was believed to have been a bishop.[2] Ac- his learning and eloquence. It was at this time that Origen cording to Prudentius’ account, Hippolytus was dragged of Alexandria, then a young man, heard him preach.[5] to death by wild horses, a striking parallel to the story of He accused Pope Zephyrinus of modalism, the heresy the mythological Hippolytus, who was dragged to death which held that the names Father and Son are simply dif- by wild horses at Ostia. He described the subterranean ferent names for the same subject.[6] Hippolytus champi- tomb of the saint and states that he saw there a picture oned the Logos doctrine of the Greek apologists, most representing Hippolytus’ execution. He also confirms Au- notably Justin Martyr, which distinguished the Father gust 13 as the date on which a Hippolytus was celebrated from the Logos (“Word”).[2][6] An ethical conservative, but this again refers to the convert of Lawrence, as pre- he was scandalized when Pope Callixtus I (217–222) ex- served in the Menaion of the Eastern Orthodox Church. tended absolution to Christians who had committed grave The latter account led to Hippolytus being considered the sins, such as adultery.[6] At this time, he seems to have al- patron saint of horses. During the Middle Ages, sick lowed himself to be elected as a rival Bishop of Rome, horses were brought to St Ippolyts, Hertfordshire, Eng- and continued to attack Pope Urban I (222–230) and land, where a church is dedicated to him.[7] 1 2 3 WRITINGS 3 Writings bishop.[8] 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 exegetical works usually attributed to Hippolytus, the best preserved are the Commentary on the Prophet Daniel and the Commentary on the Song of Songs.[2] This is the earliest attested Christian interpretation of the Song, cov- ering only the first three chapters to Song 3:7. Hippoly- tus’ Commentary on the Song of Songs interprets the Song as referring to a complicated relationship between Israel, Christ and the Gentile Church. Christ as the Logos is rep- resented in various richly symbolic ways: as the Feminine Sophia (“Wisdom”), who was God’s agent in creation and later lived with Solomon and inspired the prophets, as the transgendered maker of wine (like Dionysus) that nurtures the Church with his breasts (the Law and the Gospel), as the victorious Helios who rides across the sky and gathers the nations. The commentary returns often to the topic of the anointing of the Holy Spirit and was originally written as a mystagogy, an instruction for new Christians. Scholars have usually assumed the Commen- tary On the Song of Songs was originally composed for use during Passover, a season favored in the West for Bap- tisms (see Hippolytus’ Commentary on Daniel 1.17). The commentary on the Song of Songs survives in two Geor- gian manuscripts, a Greek epitome, a Paleo-Slavonic flo- rilegium, and fragments in Armenian and Syriac as well as in many patristic quotations, especially in Ambrose of Milan's Exposition on Psalm 118 (119). Hippolytus dif- fered from Origen, who interpreted the Song largely as an Roman sculpture, maybe of Hippolytus, found in 1551 and used allegory of the soul and Christ. Hippolytus, on the other for the attribution of the Apostolic Tradition hand, interpreted the Song as a typological treatment of the relationship between the Church of the Circumcision In 1551 a marble statue of a seated figure (originally typified by Israel and replaced by the Church composed female, perhaps personifying one of the sciences) was of both believing Jews and Gentile Christians. Hippoly- found in the cemetery of the Via Tiburtina and was heav- tus interpreted the Song using the common rhetorical de- ily restored. On the sides of the seat was carved a paschal vice of ekphrasis, a method of persuasion employed by cycle, and on the back the titles of numerous writings by rhetoricians of the Second Sophistic that used well known Hippolytus. Many other works are listed by Eusebius of themes from popular graphic representations common on Caesarea and Jerome. household walls as murals and on floors as mosaics. He Hippolytus’s principal work is the Refutation of all Here- also supplied his commentary with a fully developed in- sies.[2] Of its ten books, Book I was the most important.[6] troduction known as the schema isagogicum, indicating It was long known and was printed (with the title Philoso- his knowledge of the rhetorical conventions for teachers [9] phumena) among the works of Origen. Books II and III discussing classical works. Origen felt that the Song are lost, and Books IV–X were found, without the name should be reserved for the spiritually mature and that of the author, in a monastery of Mount Athos in 1842. studying it might be harmful for the novice. In this he fol- E. Miller published them in 1851 under the title Philoso- lowed 3rd-century Jewish interpretive traditions, whereas [10] phumena, attributing them to Origen of Alexandria. They Hippolytus ignored them. have since been attributed to Hippolytus. We are unable to form an opinion of Hippolytus as a Hippolytus’s voluminous writings, which for variety preacher, for the Homilies on the Feast of Epiphany which of subject can be compared with those of Origen of go under his name are wrongly attributed to him. Alexandria, embrace the spheres of exegesis, homiletics, Of the dogmatic works, On Christ and the Antichrist sur- apologetics and polemic, chronography, and ecclesiastical vives in a complete state. Among other things it includes law. Hippolytus recorded the first liturgical reference a vivid account of the events preceding the end of the to the Virgin Mary, as part of the ordination rite of a 3 world, and it was probably written at the time of the per- Antichrist begins as a Little Horn secution under Septimius Severus, about 202. The influence of Hippolytus was felt chiefly through his Hippolytus stated that the prophetic visions plainly and works on chronography and ecclesiastical law. His chron- precisely reveal impending historical events, and that ac- icle of the world, a compilation embracing the whole pe- curacy in their interpretation is necessary.