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- Herausgeber: Jazzybee Verlag
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
"The Sacred Writings Of ..." provides you with the essential works among the Early Christian writings. The volumes cover the beginning of Christianity until before the promulgation of the Nicene Creed at the First Council of Nicaea. This volume contains his most important polemic against heretics, the "Philosophumena", the original title of which is kata pason aireseon elegchos (A Refutation of All Heresies). The first book had long been known; books IV to X, which had been discovered a short time previously, were published in 1851. But the first chapters of the fourth and the whole of the second and third books are still missing. The first four books treat of the Hellenic philosophers; books V to IX are taken up with the exposition and refutation of Christian heresies, and the last book contains a recapitulation. The work is one of the most important sources for the history of the heresies which disturbed the early Church. In addition this edition offers many fragments and an extensive appendix.
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The Sacred Writings of Hippolytus
Contents:
St. Hippolytus – A Biography
The Sacred Writings of Hippolytus
Introductory Notice to Hippolytus
The Refutation of All Heresies
Book I.
Contents.
Chapter I.-Thales; His Physics and Theology; Founder of Greek Astronomy.
Chapter II.-Pythagoras; His Cosmogony; Rules of His Sect; Discoverer of Physiognomy; His Philosophy of Numbers; His System of the Transmigration of Souls; Zaratas on Demons; Why Pythagoras Forbade the Eating of Beans; The Mode of Living Adopted by His Disciples.
Chapter III.-Empedocles; His Twofold Cause; Tenet of Transmigration.
Chapter IV.-Heraclitus; His Universal Dogmatism; His Theory of Flux; Other Systems.
Chapter V.-Anaximander; His Theory of the Infinite; His Astronomic Opinions; His Physics.
Chapter VI.-Anaximenes; His System of "An Infinite Air; "His Views of Astronomy and Natural Phenomena.
Chapter VII.-Anaxagoras; His Theory of Mind; Recognises an Efficient Cause; His Cosmogony and Astronomy.
Chapter VIII.-Archelaus; System Akin to that of Anaxagoras; His Origin of the Earth and of Animals; Other Systems.
Chapter IX.-Parmenides; His Theory of "Unity; "His Eschatology.
Chapter X.-Leucippus; His Atomic Theory.
Chapter XI.-Democritus; His Duality of Principles; His Cosmogony.
Chapter XII.-Xenophanes; His Scepticism; His Notions of God and Nature; Believes in a Flood.
Chapter XIII.-Ecphantus; His Scepticism; Tenet of Infinity.
Chapter XIV.-Hippo; His Duality of Principles; His Psychology.
Chapter XV.-Socrates; His Philosophy Reproduced by Plato.
Chapter XVI.-Plato; Threefold Classification of Principles; His Idea of God; Different Opinions Regarding His Theology and Psychology; His Eschatology and System of Metempsychosis; His Ethical Doctrines; Notions on the Free-Will Question.
Chapter XVII.-Aristotle; Duality of Principles; His Categories; His Psychology; His Ethical Doctrines; Origin of the Epithet "Peripatetic."
Chapter XVIII.-The Stoics; Their Superiority in Logic; Fatalists; Their Doctrine of Conflagrations.
Chapter XIX.-Epicurus; Adopt's the Democritic Atomism; Denial of Divine Providence; The Principle of His Ethical System.
Chapter XX.-The Academics; Difference of Opinion Among Them.
Chapter XXI.-The Brachmans; Their Mode of Life; Ideas of Deity; Different Sorts Of; Their Ethical Notions.
Chapter XXII.-The Druids; Progenitors of Their System.
Chapter XXIII.-Hesiod; The Nine Muses; The Hesiodic Cosmogony; The Ancient Speculators, Materialists; Derivative Character of the Heresies from Heathen Philosophy.
Book IV.
Chapter I.-System of the Astrologers; Sidereal Influence; Configuration of the Stars.
Chapter II.-Doctrines Concerning Aeons; The Chaldean Astrology; Heresy Derivable from It.
Chapter III.-The Horoscope the Foundation of Astrology; Indiscoverability of the Horoscope; Therefore the Futility of the Chaldean Art.
Chapter IV.-Impossibility of Fixing the Horoscope; Failure of an Attempt to Do This at the Period of Birth.
Chapter V.-Another Method of Fixing the Horoscope at Birth; Equally Futile; Use of the Clepsydra in Astrology; The Predictions of the Chaldeans Not Verified.
Chapter VI.-Zodiacal Influence; Origin of Sidereal Names.
Chapter VII.-Practical Absurdity of the Chaldaic Art; Development of the Art.
Chapter VIII.-Prodigies of the Astrologers; System of the Astronomers; Chaldean Doctrine of Circles; Distances of the Heavenly Bodies.
Chapter IX.-Further Astronomic Calculations.
Chapter X.-Theory of Stellar Motion and Distance in Accordance with Harmony.
Chapter XI.-Theory of the Size of the Heavenly Bodies in Accordance with Numerical Harmonies.
Chapter XII.-Waste of Mental Energy in the Systems of the Astrologers.
Chapter XIII.-Mention of the Heretic Colarbasus; Alliance Between Heresy and the Pythagorean Philosophy.
Chapter XIV.-System of the Arithmeticians; Predictions Through Calculations; Numerical Roots; Transference of These Doctrines to Letters; Examples in Particular Names; Different Methods of Calculation; Prescience Possible by These.
Chapter XV.-Quibbles of the Numerical Theorists; The Art of the Frontispicists (Physiognomy); Connection of This Art with Astrology; Type of Those Born Under Aries.
Chapter XVI.-Type of Those Born Under Taurus.
Chapter XVII.-Type of Those Born Under Gemini.
Chapter XVIII.-Type of Those Born Under Cancer.
Chapter XIX.-Type of Those Born Under Leo.
Chapter XX.-Type of Those Born Under Virgo.
Chapter XXI.-Type of Those Born Under Libra.
Chapter XXII.-Type of Those Born Under Scorpio.
Chapter XXIII.-Type of Those Born Under Sagittarius.
Chapter XXIV.-Type of Those Born Under Capricorn.
Chapter XXV.-Type of Those Born Under Aquarius.
Chapter XXVI.-Type of Those Born Under Pisces.
Chapter XXVII.-Futility of This Theory of Stellar Influence.
Chapter XXVIII.87 -System of the Magicians; Incantations of Demons; Secret Magical Rites.
Chapter XXIX.-Display of Different Eggs.
Chapter XXX.-Self-Slaughter of Sheep.
Chapter XXXI.-Method of Poisoning Goats.
Chapter XXXII.-Imitations of Thunder, and Other Illusions.
Chapter XXXIII.-The Burning Aesculapius; Tricks with Fire.
Chapter XXXIV.-The Illusion of the Sealed Letters; Object in Detailing These Juggleries.
Chapter XXXV.-The Divination by a Cauldron; Illusion of Fiery Demons; Specimen of a Magical Invocation.
Chapter XXXVI.-Mode of Managing an Apparition.
Chapter XXXVII.-Illusive Appearance of the Moon.
Chapter XXXVIII.-Illusive Appearance of the Stars.
Chapter XXXIX.-Imitation of an Earthquake.
Chapter XL.-Trick with the Liver.
Chapter XLI.-Making a Skull Speak.
Chapter XLII.-The Fraud of the Foregoing Practices; Their Connection with Heresy.
Chapter XLIII.-Recapitulation of Theologies and Cosmogonies; System of the Persians; Of the Babylonians; The Egyptian Notion of Deity; Their Theology Based on a Theory of Numbers; Their System of Cosmogony.
Chapter XLIV.-Egyptian Theory of Nature; Their Amulets.
Chapter XLV.-Use of the Foregoing Discussions.
Chapter XLVI.-The Astrotheosophists; Aratus Imitated by the Heresiarchs; His System of the Disposition of the Stars.
Chapter XLVII.-Opinions of the Heretics Borrowed from Aratus.
Chapter XLVIII.-Invention of the Lyre; Allegorizing the Appearance and Position of the Stars; Origin of the Phoenicians; The Logos Identified by Aratus with the Constellation Canis; Influence of Canis on Fertility and Life Generally.
Chapter XLIX.-Symbol of the Creature; And of Spirit; And of the Different Orders of Animals.
Chapter L.-Folly of Astrology.
Chapter LI.-The Hebdomadarii; System of the Arithmeticians; Pressed into the Service of Heresy; Instances Of, in Simon and Valentinus; The Nature of the Universe Deducible from the Physiology of the Brain.
Book V.
Contents.
Chapter I.-Recapitulation; Characteristics of Heresy; Origin of the Name Naasseni; The System of the Naasseni.
Chapter II.-Naasseni Ascribe Their System, Through Mariamne, to James the Lord's Brother; Really Traceable to the Ancient Mysteries; Their Psychology as Given in the "Gospel According to Thomas; "Assyrian Theory of the Soul; The Systems of the Naasseni and the Assyrians Compared; Support Drawn by the Naasseni from the Phrygian and Egyptian Mysteries; The Mysteries of Isis; These Mysteries Allegorized by the Naasseni.
Chapter III.-Further Exposition of the Heresy of the Naasseni; Profess to Follow Homer; Acknowledge a Triad of Principles; Their Technical Names of the Triad; Support These on the Authority of Greek Poets; Allegorize Our Saviour's Miracles; The Mystery of the Samothracians; Why the Lord Chose Twelve Disciples; The Name Corybas, Used by Thracians and Phrygians, Explained; Naasseni Profess to Find Their System in Scripture; Their Interpretation of Jacob's Vision; Their Idea of the "Perfect Man; "The "Perfect Man" Called "Papa" By the Phrygians; The Naasseni and Phrygians on the Resurrection; The Ecstasis of St. Paul; The Mysteries of Religion as Alluded to by Christ; Interpretation of the Parable of the Sower; Allegory of the Promised Land; Comparison of the System of the Phrygians with the Statements of Scripture; Exposition of the Meaning of the Higher and Lower Eleusinian Mysteries; The Incarnation Discoverable Here According to the Naasseni.
Chapter IV.-Further Use Made of the System of the Phrygians; Mode of Celebrating the Mysteries; The Mystery of the "Great Mother; "These Mysteries Have a Joint Object of Worship with the Naasseni; The Naasseni Allegorize the Scriptural Account of the Garden of Eden; The Allegory Applied to the Life of Jesus.
Chapter V.-Explanation of the System of the Naasseni Taken from One of Their Hymns.
Chapter VI.-The Ophites the Grand Source of Heresy.
Chapter VII.-The System of the Peratae; Their Tritheism; Explanation of the Incarnation.
Chapter VIII.-The Peratae Derive Their System from the Astrologers; This Proved by a Statement of the Astrological Theories of the Zodiac; Hence the Terminology of the Peratic Heretics.
Chapter IX.-System of the Peratae Explained Out of One of Their Own Books.
Chapter X.-The Peratic Heresy Nominally Different from Astrology, But Really the Same System Allegorized.
Chapter XI.-Why They Call Themselves Peratae; Their Theory of Generation Supported by an Appeal to Antiquity; Their Interpretation of the Exodus of Israel; Their System of "The Serpent; "Deduced by Them from Scripture; This the Real Import of the Doctrines of the Astrologers.
Chapter XII.-Compendious Statement of the Doctrines of the Peratae.
Chapter XIII.-The Peratic Heresy Not Generally Known.
Chapter XIV.-The System of the Sethians; Their Triad of Infinite Principles; Their Heresy Explained; Their Interpretation of the Incarnation.
Chapter XV.-The Sethians Support Their Doctrines by an Allegorical Interpretation of Scripture; Their System Really Derived from Natural Philosophers and from the Orphic Rites; Adopt the Homeric Cosmogony.
Chapter XVI.-The Sethian Theory Concerning "Mixture" And "Composition; "Application of It to Christ; Illustration from the Well of Ampa.
Chapter XVII.-The Sethian Doctrines to Be Learned from the "Paraphrase of Seth."
Chapter XVIII.-The System of Justinus Antiscriptural and Essentially Pagan.
Chapter XIX.-The Justinian Heresy Unfolded in the "Book of Baruch."
Chapter XX.-The Cosmogony of Justinus an Allegorical Explanation of Herodotus' Legend of Hercules.
Chapter XXI.-Justinus' Triad of Principles; His Angelography Founded on This Triad; His Explanation of the Birth, Life, and Death of Our Lord.
Chapter XXII.-Oath Used by the Justinian Heretics; The Book of Baruch; The Repertory of Their System.
Chapter XXIII.-Subsequent Heresies Deducible from the System of Justinus.
Book VI.
Contents.
Chapter I.1 -The Ophites the Progenitors of Subsequent Heresies.
Chapter II.-Simon Magus.
Chapter III.-Story of Apsethus the Libyan.
Chapter IV.-Simon's Forced Interpretation of Scripture; Plagiarizes from Heraclitus and Aristotle; Simon's System of Sensible and Intelligible Existences.
Chapter V.-Simon Appeals to Scripture in Support of His System.
Chapter VI.-Simon's System Expounded in the Work, Great Announcement; Follows Empedocles.
Chapter VII.-Simon's System of a Threefold Emanation by Pairs.
Chapter VIII.-Further Progression of This Threefold Emanation; Co-Existence with the Double Triad of a Seventh Existence.
Chapter IX.-Simon's Interpretation of the Mosaic HexaËmeron; His Allegorical Representation of Paradise.
Chapter X.-Simon's Explanation of the First Two Books of Moses.
Chapter XI.-Simon's Explanation of the Three Last Books of the Pentateuch.
Chapter XII.-Fire a Primal Principle, According to Simon.
Chapter XIII.-His Doctrine of Emanation Further Expanded.
Chapter XIV.-Simon Interprets His System by the Mythological Representation of Helen of Troy; Gives an Account of Himself in Connection with the Trojan Heroine; Immorality of His Followers; Simon's View of Christ; The Simonists' Apology for Their Vice.
Chapter XV.-Simon's Disciples Adopt the Mysteries; Simon Meets St. Peter at Rome; Account of Simon's Closing Years.
Chapter XVI.-Heresy of Valentinus; Derived from Plato and Pythagoras.
Chapter XVII.-Origin of the Greek Philosophy.
Chapter XVIII.-Pythagoras' System of Numbers.
Chapter XIX.-Pythagoras' Duality of Substances; His "Categories."
Chapter XX.-Pythagoras' Cosmogony; Similar to that of Empedocles.
Chapter XXI.-Other Opinions of Pythagoras.
Chapter XXII.-The "Sayings" Of Pythagoras.
Chapter XXIII.-Pythagoras' Astronomic System.
Chapter XXIV.-Valentinus Convicted of Plagiarisms from the Platonic and Pythagoric Philosophy; The Valentinian Theory of Emanation by Duads.
Chapter XXV.-The Tenet of the Duad Made the Foundation of Valentinus' System of the Emanation of Aeons.
Chapter XXVI.-Valentinus' Explanation of the Existence of Christ and the Spirit.
Chapter XXVII.-Valentinus' Explanation of the Existence of Jesus; Power of Jesus Over Humanity.
Chapter XXVIII.-The Valentinian Origin of the Creation.
Chapter XXIX.-The Other Valentinian Emanations in Conformity with the Pythagorean System of Numbers.
Chapter XXX.-Valentinus' Explanation of the Birth of Jesus; Twofold Doctrine on the Nature of Jesus' Body; Opinion of the Italians, that Is, Heracleon and Ptolemaeus; Opinion of the Orientals, that Is, Axionicus and Bardesanes.
Chapter XXXI.-Further Doctrines of Valentinus Respecting the Aeons; Reasons for the Incarnation.
Chapter XXXII.-Valentinus Convicted of Plagiarisms from Plato.
Chapter XXXIII.-Secundus' System of Aeons; Epiphanes; Ptolemaeus.
Chapter XXXIV.-System of Marcus; A Mere Impostor; His Wicked Devices Upon the Eucharistic Cup.
Chapter XXXV.-Further Acts of Jugglery on the Part of Marcus.
Chapter XXXVI.-The Heretical Practices of the Marcites in Regard of Baptism.
Chapter XXXVII.-Marcus' System Explained by Irenaeus; Marcus' Vision; The Vision of Valentinus Revealing to Him His System.
Chapter XXXVIII.-Marcus' System of Letters.
Chapter XXXIX.-The Quaternion Exhibits "Truth."
Chapter XL.-The Name of Christ Jesus.
Chapter XLI.-Marcus' Mystic Interpretation of the Alphabet.
Chapter XLII.-His System Applied to Explain Our Lord's Life and Death.
Chapter XLIII-Letters, Symbols of the Heavens.
Chapter XLIV.-Respecting the Generation of the Twenty-Four Letters.
Chapter XLV.-Why Jesus is Called Alpha.
Chapter XLVI.-Marcus' Account of the Birth and Life of Our Lord.
Chapter XLVII.-The System of Marcus Shown to Be that of Pythagoras, by Quotations from the Writings of Marcus' Followers.
Chapter XLVIII.-Their Cosmogony Framed According to These Mystic Doctrines of Letters.
Chapter XLIX.-The Work of the Demiurge Perishable.
Chapter L.-Marcus and Colarbasus Refuted by Irenaeus.
Book VII.
Contents.
Chapter I.-Heresy Compared to (1) the Stormy Ocean, (2) the Rocks of the Sirens; Moral from Ulysses and the Sirens.
Chapter II.-The System of Basilides Derived from Aristotle.
Chapter III.-Sketch of Aristotle's Philosophy.
Chapter IV.-Aristotle's General Idea.
Chapter V.-Nonentity as a Cause.
Chapter VI.-Substance, According to Aristotle; The Predicates.
Chapter VII.-Aristotle's Cosmogony; His "Psychology; "His "Entelecheia; "His Theology; His Ethics; Basilides Follows Aristotle.
Chapter VIII.-Basilides and Isidorus Allege Apostolic Sanction for Their Systems; They Really Follow Aristotle.
Chapter IX.-Basilides Adopts the Aristotelian Doctrine of "Nonentity."
Chapter X.-Origin of the World; Basilides' Account of the "Sonship."
Chapter XI.-The "Great Archon" Of Basilides.
Chapter XII.-Basilides Adopts the "Entelecheia" Of Aristotle.
Chapter XIII.-Further Explanation of the "Sonship."
Chapter XIV.-Whence Came the Gospel; The Number of Heavens According to Basilides; Explanation of Christ's Miraculous Conception.
Chapter XV.-God's Dealings with the Creature; Basilides' Notion of (1) the Inner Man, (2) the Gospel; His Interpretation of the Life and Sufferings of Our Lord.
Chapter XVI.-The System of Saturnilus.
Chapter XVII.-Marcion; His Dualism; Derives His System from Empedocles; Sketch of the Doctrine of Empedocles.
Chapter XVIII.-Source of Marcionism; Empedocles Reasserted as the Suggester of the Heresy.
Chapter XIX.-The Heresy of Prepon; Follows Empedocles; Marcion Rejects the Generation of the Saviour.
Chapter XX.-The Heresy of Carpocrates; Wicked Doctrines Concerning Jesus Christ; Practise Magical Arts; Adopt a Metempsychosis.
Chapter XXI.-The System of Cerinthus Concerning Christ.
Chapter XXII.-Doctrine of the Ebionaeans.
Chapter XXIII.-The Heresy of Theodotus.
Chapter XXIV.-The Melchisedecians; The Nicolaitans.
Chapter XXV.-The Heresy of Cerdon.
Chapter XXVI.-The Doctrines of Apelles; Philumene, His Prophetess.
Book VIII.1
Contents.
Chapter I.-Heresies Hitherto Refuted; Opinions of the Docetae.
Chapter II.-Docetic Notion of the Incarnation; Their Doctrines of Aeons; Their Account of Creation; Their Notion of a Fiery God.
Chapter III.-Christ Undoes the Work of the Demiurge; Docetic Account of the Baptism and Death of Jesus; Why He Lived for Thirty Years on Earth.
Chapter IV.-Docetic Doctrine Derived from the Greek Sophists.
Chapter V.-MonoÏmus; Man the Universe, According to MonoÏmus; His System of the Monad.
Chapter VI.-MonoÏmus' "Iota; "His Notion of the "Son of Man."
Chapter VII.-MonoÏmus on the Sabbath; Allegorizes the Rod of Moses; Notion Concerning the Decalogue.
Chapter VIII.-MonoÏmus Explains His Opinions in a Letter to Theophrastus; Where to Find God; His System Derived from Pythagoras.
Chapter IX.-Tatian.
Chapter X.-Hermogenes; Adopts the Socratic Philosophy; His Notion Concerning the Birth and Body of Our Lord.
Chapter XI.-The Quartodecimans.
Chapter XII.-The Montanists; Priscilla and Maximilla Their Prophetesses; Some of Them Noetians.
Chapter XIII.-The Doctrines of the Encratites.45
Book IX.
Contents.
Chapter I.-An Account of Contemporaneous Heresy.2
Chapter II.-Source of the Heresy of Noetus; Cleomenes His Disciple; Its Appearance at Rome During the Episcopates of Zephyrinus and Callistus; Noetianism Opposed at Rome by Hippolytus.
Chapter III.-Noetianism an Offshoot from the Heraclitic Philosophy.
Chapter IV.-An Account of the System of Heraclitus.
Chapter V.-Heraclitus' Estimate of Hesiod; Paradoxes of Heraclitus; His Eschatology; The Heresy of Noetus of Heraclitean Origin; Noetus' View of the Birth and Passion of Our Lord.
Chapter VI.-Conduct of Callistus and Zephyrinus in the Matter of Noetianism; Avowed Opinion of Zephyrinus Concerning Jesus Christ; Disapproval of Hippolytus; As a Contemporaneous Event, Hippolytus Competent to Explain It.
Chapter VII.-The Personal History of Callistus; His Occupation as a Banker; Fraud on Carpophorus; Callistus Absconds; Attempted Suicide; Condemned to the Treadmill; Re-Condemnation by Order of the Prefect Fuscianus; Banished to Sardinia; Release of Callistus by the Interference Of Marcion; Callistus Arrives at Rome; Pope Victor Removes Callistus to Antium; Return of Callistus on Victor's Death; Zephyrinus Friendly to Him; Callistus Accused by Sabellius; Hippolytus' Account of the Opinions of Callistus; The Callistian School at Rome, and Its Practices; This Sect in Existence in Hippolytus' Time.
Chapter VIII.-Sect of the Elchasaites; Hippolytus' Opposition to It.
Chapter IX.-Elchasai Derived His System from Pythagoras; Practised Incantations.
Chapter X.-Elchasai's Mode of Administering Baptism; Formularies.
Chapter XI.-Precepts of Elchasai.
Chapter XII.-The Heresy of the Elchasaites a Derivative One.
Chapter XIII.-The Jewish Sects.
Chapter XIV.-The Tenets of the Esseni.
Chapter XV.-The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
Chapter XVI.-The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
Chapter XVII.-The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
Chapter XVIII.-The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
Chapter XIX.-The Tenets of the Esseni Continued.
Chapter XX.-The Tenets of the Esseni Concluded.
Chapter XXI.-Different Sects of the Esseni.
Chapter XXII.-Belief of the Esseni in the Resurrection; Their System a Suggestive One.
Chapter XXIII.-Another Sect of the Esseni: the Pharisees.
Chapter XXIV.-The Sadducees.
Chapter XXV.-The Jewish Religion.
Chapter XXVI.-Conclusion to the Work Explained.
Book X.
Contents.
Chapter I.-Recapitulation.
Chapter II.-Summary of the Opinions of Philosophers.
Chapter III.-Summary of the Opinions of Philosophers Continued.
Chapter IV.-Summary of the Opinions of Philosophers Continued.
Chapter V.-The Naasseni.
Chapter VI.-The Peratae.
Chapter VII.-The Sethians.
Chapter VIII.-Simon Magus.
Chapter IX.-Valentinus.
Chapter X.-Basilides.
Chapter XI.-Justinus.
Chapter XII.-The Docetae.
Chapter XIII.-MonoÏmus.
Chapter XIV.-Tatian.
Chapter XV.-Marcion and Cerdo.
Chapter XVI.-Apelles.
Chapter XVII.-Cerinthus.
Chapter XVIII.-The Ebionaeans.
Chapter XIX.-Theodotus.21
Chapter XX.-Melchisedecians.
Chapter XXI.-The Phrygians or Montanists.
Chapter XXII.-The Phrygians or Montanists Continued.
Chapter XXIII.-Noetus and Callistus.
Chapter XXIV.-Hermogenes.
Chapter XXV.-The Elchasaites.
Chapter XXVI.-Jewish Chronology.
Chapter XXVII.-Jewish Chronology Continued.
Chapter XXVIII.-The Doctrine of the Truth.
Chapter XXIX.-The Doctrine of the Truth Continued.
Chapter XXX.-The Author's Concluding Address.
Elucidations.
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus.
Part I.-Exegetical. Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture.
On the HexaËmeron,1 Or Six Days' Work.
On Genesis.2
From the Commentary of the Holy Hippolytus of Rome Upon Genesis.53
Quoted in Jerome, Epist. 36, Ad Damasum, Num. XVIII. (from Galland).
On Numbers. By the Holy Bishop and Martyr Hippolytus, from Balaam's Blessings.59
On Kings.63
On the Psalms. The Argument Prefixed by Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome, to His Exposition of the Psalms.66
On Psalm II.68 From the Exposition of the Second Psalm, by the Holy Bishop Hippolytus.
On Psalm XXII. Or XXIII. From the Commentary by the Holy Bishop and Martyr Hippolytus, on "The Lord is My Shepherd."69
On Psalm XXIII. Or XXIV. From the Commentary by the Same, on Ps. XXIII.71
On Psalm CIX. Or CX. From the Commentary by the Same on the Great Song.73
On Psalm LXXVII. Or LXXVIII.74
On Proverbs. From the Commentary of St. Hippolytus on Proverbs.80
Another Fragment.126 St. Hippolytus127 On Prov. IX. 1, "Wisdom Hath Builded Her House."
On the Song of Songs.133
On the Prophet Isaiah.138
On Jeremiah and Ezekiel.145
On Daniel. I.
Scholia on Daniel.198
Other Fragments on Daniel.206
On the Song of the Three Children.208
On Susannah.209
On Matthew.221 Matt. VI. II.222
On Luke.223
Doubtful Fragments on the Pentateuch.226 Preface.
The Law.
Section I. Of the Creation of Heaven and Earth. "In the Beginning God Created," Etc.
Sections II., III.and the Lord Said: "And I Will Bring the Waters of the Flood Upon the Earth to Destroy All Flesh," Etc.
Section IV. On Gen. VII. 6.
Section V. On Gen. VIII. I.
Section X. On Deut. XXXIII. II.
On the Psalms.239 I. The Argument of the Exposition of the Psalms by Hippolytus, (Bishop) of Rome.
Other Fragments on the Psalms.251
On Psalm XXXI. 22. Of the Triumph of the Christian Faith.
On Psalm LV. 15.
On Psalm LVIII. 11.
On Psalm LIX. II. Concerning the Jews.
On Psalm LXII. 6.
On Psalm LXVIII. 18. Of the Enlargement of the Church.
On Psalm IXXXIX, 4. Of the Gentiles.
On the Words in Psalm XCVI. 11: "Let the Sea Roar (Be Moved), and the Fulness Thereof."
On Psalm CXIX. 30-32.
On the Words in Psalm CXXVII. 7: "On the Wrath of Mine Enemies." Etc.
On the Words in Psalm CXXXIX. 15: "My Substance or (Bones) Was Not Hid from Thee, Which Thou Madest in Secret."
Part II.-Dogmatical and Historical.
Treatise on Christ and Antichrist.1
Expository Treatise Against the Jews.
Against Plato, on the Cause of the Universe.187
Against the Heresy of One Noetus.209
Against Beron and Helix.
Fragments OF A Discourse, Alphabetically Divided,296ON The Divine Nature297 And The Incarnation, Against The Heretics Beron And Helix,298 The Beginning OF Which Was IN These Words, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God OF Sabaoth, With Voice Never Silent The Seraphim Exclaim And Glorify God."
The Discourse on the Holy Theophany.
Fragments of Discourses or Homilies.
Fragments from Other Writings of Hippolytus.449
Elucidation.
Appendix to the Works of Hippolytus.
Elucidations.
Footnotes
The Sacred Writings of Hippolytus
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St. Hippolytus – A Biography
By Johann Peter Kirsch
Martyr, presbyter and antipope; date of birth unknown; d. about 236. Until the publication in 1851 of the recently discovered "Philosophumena", it was impossible to obtain any definite authentic facts concerning Hippolytus of Rome and his life from the conflicting statements about him, as follows:
Eusebius says that he was bishop of a church somewhere and enumerates several of his writings (Hist. eccl., VI, xx, 22).St. Jerome likewise describes him as the bishop of an unknown see, gives a longer list of his writings, and says of one of his homilies that he delivered it in the presence of Origen, to whom he made direct reference (De viris illustribus, cap. 1xi).The Chronography of 354, in the list of popes, mentions Bishop Pontianus and the presbyter Hippolytus as being banished to the island of Sardinia in the year 235; the Roman Calendar in the same collection records under 13 August the feast of Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina and Pontianus in the catacomb of Callistus (ed. Mommsen in "Mon. Germ. Hist.: auctores antiquissimi", IX, 72, 74).According to the inscription over the grave of Hippolytus composed by Pope Damasus, he was a follower of the Novatian schism while a presbyter, but before his death exhorted his followers to become reconciled with the Catholic Church (Ihm, "Damasi epigrammata", Leipzig, 1895, 42, n.37).Prudentius wrote a hymn on the martyr Hippolytus ("Peristephanon", hymn XI, in P.L., LX, 530 sqq.), in which he places the scene of the martyrdom at Ostia or Porto, and describes Hippolytus as being torn to pieces by wild horses, evidently a reminiscence of the ancient Hippolytus, son of Theseus.Later Greek authors (e. g. Georgius Syncellus., ed. Bonn, 1829, 674 sqq.; Nicephorus Callistus, "Hist. eccl.", IV, xxxi) do not give much more information than Eusebius and Jerome; some of them call him Bishop of Rome, others Bishop of Porto. According to Photius (Bibliotheca, codex 121), he was a disciple of St. Irenaeus. Oriental writers, as well as Pope Gelasius, place the See of Hippolytus at Bostra, the chief city of the Arabs.Several later legends of martyrs speak of Hippolytus in various connections. That of St. Laurence refers to him as the officer appointed to guard the blessed deacon, who was converted, together with his entire household, and killed by wild horses (Acta SS., August, III, 13-14; Surius, "De probatis Sanctorum historiis", IV, Cologne, 1573, 581 sqq.). A legend of Porto identifies him with the martyr Nonnus and gives an account of his martyrdom with others of the same city (Acta SS., August, IV, 506; P.G., X, 545-48).A monument of importance is the large fragment of a marble statue of the saint discovered in 1551 which underwent restoration (the upper part of the body and the head being new), and is now preserved in the Lateran museum; the paschal cycle computed by Hippolytus and a list of his writings are engraved on the sides of the chair on which the figure of Hippolytus is seated; the monument dates from the third century (Kraus, "Realencyklopädie der christlichen Altertumer", 661 sqq.).The topographies of the graves of the Roman martyrs place the grave of Hippolytus in the cemetery on the Via Tiburtina named after him, mention the basilica erected there, and give some legendary details concerning him. (De Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", I, 178-79); the burial vault of the sainted confessor was unearthed by De Rossi (Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 1882, 9-76).The discovery of the "Philosophumean" has now made it possible to clear up the most important period of the life of St. Hippolytus through his own evidence, and at the same time to test and correct the conflicting accounts contained in the old authorities. We proceed on the assumption that Hippolytus was really the author of the aforesaid work, an hypothesis almost universally accepted by investigators to-day.
Hippolytus was a presbyter of the Church of Rome at the beginning of the third century. There is no difficulty in admitting that he could have been a disciple of St Irenaeus either in Rome or Lyons. It is equally possible that Origen heard a homily by Hippolytus when he went to Rome about the year 212. In the reigh of Pope Zephyrinus (198-217) he came into conflict with that pontiff and with the majority of the Church of Rome, primarily on account of the christological opinions which for some time had been causing controversies in Rome. Hippolytus had combated the heresy of Theodotion and the Alogi; in like fashion he opposed the false doctrines of Noetus, of Epigonus, of Cleomenes, and of Sabellius, who emphasized the unity of God too one-sidedly (Monarchians) and saw in the concepts of the Father and the Son merely manifestations (modi) of the Divine Nature (Modalism, Sabellianism). Hippolytus, on the contrary, stood uncompromisingly for a real difference between the Son (Logos) and the Father, but so as to represent the Former as a Divine Person almost completely separate from God (Ditheism) and at the same time altogether subordinate to the Father (Subordinationism). As the heresy in the doctrine of the Modalists was not at first clearly apparent, Pope Zephyrinus declined to give a decision. For this Hippolytus gravely censured him, representing him as an incompetent man, unworthy to rule the Church of Rome and as a tool in the hands of the ambitious and intriguing deacon Callistus, whose early life is maliciously depicted (Philosophumena, IX, xi-xii). Consequently when Callistus was elected pope (217-218) on the death of Zephyrinus, Hippolytus immediately left the communion of the Roman Church and had himself elected antipope by his small band of followers. These he calls the Catholic Church and himself successor to the Apostles, terming the great majority of Roman Christians the School of Callistus. He accuses Callistus of having fallen first into the heresy of Theodotus, then into that of Sabellius; also of having through avarice degraded ecclesiastical, and especially the penitential, discipline to a disgraceful laxity. These reproaches were altogether unjustified. Hippolytus himself advocated an excessive rigorism. He continued in opposition as antipope throughout the reigns of the two immediate successors of Callistus, Urban (222 or 223 to 230) and Pontius (230-35), and during this period, probably during the pontificate of Pontianus, he wrote the "Philosophumena". He was banished to the unhealthful island (insula nociva) of Sardinia at the same time as Pontianus; and shortly before this, or soon afterward, he became reconciled with the legitimate bishop and the Church of Rome. For, after both exiles had died on the island of Sardinia, their mortal remains were brought back to Rome on the same day, 13 August (either 236 or one of the following years), and solemnly interred, Pontianus in the papal vault in the catacomb of Callistus and Hippolytus in a spot on the Via Tiburtina. Both were equally revered as martyrs by the Roman Church: certain proof that Hippolytus had made his peace with that Church before his death. With his death the schism must have come to a speedy end, which accounts for its identification with the Novatian schism at the end of the fourth century, as we learn from the inscription by Damasus.
The fact that Hippolytus was a schismatic Bishop of Rome and yet was held in high honour afterwards both as martyr and theologian, explains why as early as the fourth century nothing was known as to his see, for he was not on the list of the Roman bishops. The theory championed by Lightfoot (see below), that he was actually Bishop of Porto but with his official residence in Rome, is untenable.
This statement, made by a few authorities, results from a confusion with a martyr of Porto, due perhaps to a legendary account of his martyrdom. Moreover De Rossi's hypothesis, based on the inscription by Damasus, that Hippolytus returned from exile, and subsequently became an adherent of Novatian, his reconciliation with the Roman Church not being effected until just before his martyrdom under the Emperor Valerian (253-60), is incompatible with the supposition that he is the author of the "Philosophumena." The feast of St. Hippolytus is kept on 13 August, a date assigned in accordance with the legend of St. Laurence; that of Hippolytus of Porto is celebrated on 22 August.
Hippolytus was the most important theologian and the most prolific religious writer of the Roman Church in the pre-Constantinian era. Nevertheless the fate of his copious literary remains has been unfortunate. Most of his works have been lost or are known only through scattered fragments, while much has survived only in old translations into Oriental and Slavic languages; other writings are freely interpolated. The fact that the author wrote in Greek made it inevitable that later, when that language was no longer understood in Rome, the Romans lost interest in his writings, while in the East they were read long after and made the author famous. His works deal with several branches of theology, as appears from the aforementioned list on the statue, from Eusebius, St. Jerome, and from Oriental authors. His exegetical treatises were numerous: he wrote commentaries on several books of the Old and New Testaments. Most of these are extant only in fragments. The commentary on the Canticle of Canticles, however, has probably been preserved in its entirety ("Werke des Hippolytus", ed. Bonwetsch, 1897, 343 sqq.); likewise the fullest extant commentary on the Book of Daniel in 4 books (ibid., 2 sqq.). Eight of his works, known by their titles, dealt with dogmatic and apologetic subjects, but only one has come down entire in the original Greek. This is the work on Christ and Antichrist ("De Antichristo", ed. Achelis, op. cit., I, II, 1 sqq.); fragments of a few others have been preserved. Of his polemics against heretics the most important is the "Philosophumena", the original title of which is kata pason aireseon elegchos (A Refutation of All Heresies). The first book had long been known; books IV to X, which had been discovered a short time previously, were published in 1851. But the first chapters of the fourth and the whole of the second and third books are still missing. The first four books treat of the Hellenic philosophers; books V to IX are taken up with the exposition and refutation of Christian heresies, and the last book contains a recapitulation. The work is one of the most important sources for the history of the heresies which disturbed the early Church. Origen is cited in some manuscripts as the author of the first book. Photius attributes it to the Roman author Caius (q.v.), while by others it has been ascribed also to Tertullian and Novatian. But most modern scholars hold for weighty reasons that Hippolytus is undoubtedly its author. A shorter treatise agains heresies (Syntagma), and written by Hippolytus at an earlier date, may be restored in outline from later adaptations (Libellus adversus omnes haereses; Epiphanius, "Panarion"; Philastrius, "De haeresibus"). He wrote a third antiheretical work which was universal in character, called the "Small Labyrinth". Besides these Hippolytus wrote special monographs against Marcion, the Montanists, the Alogi, and Caius. Of these writings only a few fragments are extant. Hippolytus also produced an Easter cycle, as well as a chronicle of the world which was made use of by later chroniclers. And finally St. Jerome mentions a work by him on Church laws. Three treatises on canon law have been preserved under the name of Hippolytus: the "Constitutiones per Hippolytum" (which are parallel with the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions), the Egyptian Church Ordinance, in Coptic, and the "Canones Hippolyti". Of these works the first two are spurious beyond doubt, and the last, the authenticity of which was upheld even by Achelis (Die Canones Hippolyti, Leipzig, 1891), belongs in all probability to the fifth or sixth century.
The works of Hippolytus have been edited by Fabricius, "S. Hippolyti episcopi et mart. opera" (2 vols., Hamburg, 1716-18); by Gallandi in "Bibliotheca veterum patrum", II, 1766; in Migne, P.G., X; by Lagarde (Leipzig and London, 1858); and by Bonwetsch and Achelis, "Hippolytus" I, pts. I and II (Leipzig, 1897), in "Die gr. chr. Schriftsteller", a series published by the Berlin Academy. The "Philosophumena" was edited by Miller, as the work of Origen (Oxford, 1851); by Duncker and Schneidewin as the work of Hippolytus (Göttingen, 1859), and in P.G., XVI. The "Canones Hippolyti" were edited by Haneberg (Munich, 1870); by Achelis, "Die altesten Quellen des orientalischen Kirchenrechts:, I, in "Texte und Untersuchungen", VI (Leipzig, 1891), 4.
The Sacred Writings of Hippolytus
Introductory Notice to Hippolytus
[a.d. 170-236.]The first great Christian Father whose history is Roman is, nevertheless, not a Roman, but a Greek. He is the disciple of Irenaeus, and the spirit of his life-work rejects that of his master. In his personal character he so much resembles Irenaeus risen again,1that the great Bishop of Lyons must be well studied and understood if we would do full justice to the conduct of Hippolytus. Especially did he follow his master's example in withstanding contemporary bishops of Rome, who, like Victor, "deserved to be blamed," but who, much more than any of their predecessors, merited rebuke alike for error in doctrine and viciousness of life.
In the year 1551, while some excavations were in progress near the ancient Church of St. Lawrence at Rome, on the Tiburtine Road, there was found an ancient statue, in marble, of a figure seated in a chair, and wearing over the Roman tunic the pallium of Tertullian's eulogy. It was in 1851, just three hundred years after its discovery, and in the year of the publication of the newly discovered Philosophumena at Oxford, that I saw it in the Vatican. As a specimen of early Christian art it is a most interesting work, and possesses a higher merit than almost any similar production of a period subsequent to that of the Antonines.2It represents a grave personage, of noble features and a high, commanding forehead, slightly bearded, his right hand resting over his heart, while under it his left arm crosses the body to reach a book placed at his side. There is no reason to doubt that this is, indeed, the statue of Hippolytus, as is stated in the inscription of Pius IV., who calls him "Saint Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus," and states that he lived in the reign of the Emperor Alexander; i.e., Severus.
Of this there is evidence on the chair itself, which represents his episcopal cathedra, and has a modest symbol of lions at "the stays," as if borrowed from the throne of Solomon. It is a work of later date than the age of Severus, no doubt; but Wordsworth, who admirably illustrates the means by which such a statue may have been provided, gives us good reasons for supposing that it may have been the grateful tribute of contemporaries, and all the more trustworthy as a portrait of the man himself. The chair has carved upon it, no doubt for use in the Church, a calendar indicating the Paschal full moons for seven cycles of sixteen years each; answering, according to the science of the period, to similar tables in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. It indicates the days on which Easter must fall, from a.d. 222 to a.d. 333. On the back of the chair is a list of the author's works.3
Not less interesting, and vastly more important, was the discovery, at Mount Athos, in 1842, of the long-lost Philosophumena of this author, concerning which the important facts will appear below. Its learned editor, Emmanuel Miller, published it at Oxford under the name of Origen, which was inscribed on the Ms. Like the Epistle of Clement, its composition in the Greek language had given it currency among the Easterns long after it was forgotten in the West; and very naturally they had ascribed to Origen an anonymous treatise containing much in coincidence with his teachings, and supplying the place of one of his works of a similar kind. It is now sufficiently established as the work of Hippolytus, and has been providentially brought to light just when it was most needed.4In fact, the statue rose from its grave as if to rebuke the reigning pontiff (Pius IV.), who just then imposed upon the Latin churches the novel "Creed" which bears his name; and now the Philosophumena comes forth as if to breathe a last warning to that namesake of the former Pius who, in the very teeth of its testimony, so recently forged and uttered the dogma of "papal infallibility" conferring this attribute upon himself, and retrospectively upon the very bishops of Rome whom St. Hippolytus resisted as heretics, and has transmitted to posterity, in his writings, branded with the shame alike of false doctrine and of heinous crimes. Dr. Dollinger, who for a time lent his learning and genius to an apologetic effort in behalf of the Papacy, was no doubt prepared, by this very struggle of his heart versus head, for that rejection of the new dogma which overloaded alike his intellect and his conscience, and made it impossible for him any longer to bear the lashes of Rehoboam5in communion with modern Rome.
In the biographical data which will be found below, enough is supplied for the needs of the reader of the present series, who, if he wishes further to investigate the subject, will find the fullest information in the works to which reference has been made, or which will be hereafter indicated.6But this is the place to recur to the much-abused passage of Irenaeus which I have discussed in a former volume.7Strange to say, I was forced to correct, from a Roman-Catholic writer, the very unsatisfactory rendering of our Edinburgh editors, and to elucidate at some length the palpable absurdity of attributing to Irenaeus any other than a geographical and imperial reference to the importance of Rome, and its usefulness to the West, more especially, as its only see of apostolic origin. Quoting the Ninth Antiochian Canon, I gave good reasons for my conjecture that the Latin convenire represents suntrexein in the original; and now it remains to be noted how strongly the real meaning of Irenaeus is illustrated in the life and services of his pupil Hippolytus.
1. That neither Hippolytus nor his master had any conception that the See of Rome possesses any pre-eminent authority, to which others are obliged to defer, is conspicuously evident from the history of both. Alike they convicted Roman bishops of error, and alike they rebuked them for their misconduct.
2. Hippolytus is the author of a work called the Little Labyrinth, which, like the recently discovered Philosophumena, attributes to the Roman See anything but the "infallibility" which the quotation from Irenaeus is so ingeniously wrested to sustain.8How he did not understand the passage is, therefore, sufficiently apparent. Let us next inquire what appears, from his conduct, to be the true understanding of Irenaeus.
3. I have shown, in the elucidation already referred to, how Irenaeus affirms that Rome is the city which everybody visits from all parts, and that Christians, resorting thither, because it is the Imperial City, carry into it the testimony of all other churches. Thus it becomes a competent witness to the quod ab omnibus, because it cannot be ignorant of what all the churches teach with one accord. This argument, therefore, reverses the modern Roman dogma; primitive Rome received orthodoxy instead of prescribing it. She embosomed the Catholic testimony brought into it from all the churches, and gave it forth as reflected light; not primarily her own, but what she faithfully preserved in coincidence with older and more learned churches than herself. Doubtless she had been planted and watered by St. Paul and St. Peter; but doubtless, also, she had been expressly warned by the former of her liability to error and to final severance9from apostolic communion. Hippolytus lived at a critical moment, when this awful admonition seemed about to be realized.
4. Now, then, from Portus and from Lyons, Hippolytus brought into Rome the Catholic doctrine, and convicted two of its bishops of pernicious heresies and evil living. And thus, as Irenaeus teaches, the faith was preserved in Rome by the testimony of those from every side resorting thither, not by any prerogative of the See itself. All this will appear clearly enough as the student proceeds in the examination of this volume. But it is now time to avail ourselves of the information given us by the translator in his Introductory Notice, as follows:-
The entire of The Refutation of all Heresies, with the exception of book i., was found in a ms. brought from a convent on Mount Athos so recently as the year 1842. The discoverer of this treasure-for treasure it certainly is-was Minoides Mynas, an erudite Greek, who had visited his native country in search of ancient mss., by direction of M. Abel Villemain, Minister of Public Instruction under Louis Philippe. The French Government have thus the credit of being instrumental in bringing to light this valuable work, while the University of Oxford shares the distinction by being its earliest publishers. The Refutation was printed at the Clarendon Press in 1851, under the editorship of M. Emmanuel Miller,10whose labours have proved serviceable to all subsequent commentators. One generally acknowledged mistake was committed by Miller in ascribing the work to Origen. He was right in affirming that the discovered ms. was the continuation of the fragment, The Philosophumena, inserted in the Benedictine copy of Origen's works. In the volume, however, containing the Philosophumena, we have dissertations by Huet, in which he questions Origen's authorship in favour of Epiphanius. Heuman attributed the Philosophumena to Didymus of Alexandria, Gale to Aetius;11and it, with the rest of The Refutation, Fessler and Baur ascribed to Caius, but the Abbe Jellabert to Tertullian. The last hypothesis is untenable, if for no other reason, because the work is in Greek. In many respects, Caius, who was a presbyter of Rome in the time of Victor and Zephyrinus, would seem the probable author; but a fatal argument-one applicable to those named above, except Epiphanius-against Caius is his not being, as the author of The Refutation in the Proemium declares himself to be, a bishop. Epiphanius no doubt filled the episcopal office; but when we have a large work of his on the heresies, with a summary,12it would seem scarcely probable that he composed likewise, on the same topic, an extended treatise like the present, with two abridgments. Whatever diversity of opinion, however, existed as to these claimants, most critics, though not all, now agree in denying the authorship of Origen. Neither the style nor tone of The Refutation is Origenian. Its compilatory process is foreign to Origen's plan of composition; while the subject matter itself, for many reasons, would not be likely to have occupied the pen of the Alexandrine Father. It is almost impossible but that Origen would have made some allusions in The Refutation to his other writings, or in them to it. Not only, however, is there no such allusion, but the derivation of the word "Ebionites," in The Refutation, and an expressed belief in the (orthodox) doctrine of eternal punishment, are at variance with Origen's authorship. Again, no work answering the description is awarded to Origen in catalogues of his extant or lost writings. These arguments are strengthened by the facts, that Origen was never a bishop, and that he did not reside for any length of time at Rome. He once paid a hurried visit to the capital of the West, whereas the author of The Refutation asserts his presence at Rome during the occurrence of events which occupied a period of some twenty years. And not only was he a spectator, but took part in these transactions in such an official and authoritative manner as Origen could never have assumed, either at Rome or elsewhere.
In this state of the controversy, commentators turned their attention towards Hippolytus, in favour of whose authorship the majority of modern scholars have decided. The arguments that have led to this conclusion, and those alleged by others against it, could not be adequately discussed in a notice like the present. Suffice it to say, that such names as Jacobi, Gieseler, Duncker, Schneidewin, Bernays, Bunsen, Wordsworth, and Dollinger, support the claims of Hippolytus. The testimony of Dr. Dollinger, considering the extent of his theological learning, and in particular his intimate acquaintance with the apostolic period in church history, virtually, we submit, decides the question.13
For a biography of Hippolytus we have not much authentic materials. There can be no reasonable doubt but that he was a bishop, and passed the greater portion of his life in Rome and its vicinity. This assertion corresponds with the conclusion adopted by Dr. Dollinger, who, however, refuses to allow that Hippolytus was, as is generally maintained, Bishop of Portus, a harbour of Rome at the northern mouth of the Tiber, opposite Ostia. However, it is satisfactory to establish, and especially upon such eminent authority as that of Dr. Dollinger, the fact of Hippolytus' connection with the Western Church, not only because it bears on the investigation of the authorship of The Refutation, the writer of which affirms his personal observation of what he records as occurring in his own time at Rome, but also because it overthrows the hypothesis of those who contend that there were more Hippolytuses than one-Dr. Dollinger shows that there is only one historical Hippolytus-or that the East, and not Italy, was the sphere of his episcopal labours. Thus Le Moyne, in the seventeenth century, a French writer resident in Leyden, ingeniously argues that Hippolytus was bishop of Portus Romanorum (Aden), in Arabia. Le Moyne's theory was adopted by some celebrities, viz., Dupin, Tillemont, Spanheim, Basnage, and our own Dr. Cave. To this position are opposed, among others, the names of Nicephorus, Syncellus, Baronius, Bellarmine, Dodwell, Beveridge, Bull, and Archbishop Ussher. The judgment and critical accuracy of Ussher is, on a point of this kind, of the highest value. Wherefore the question of Hippolytus being bishop of Portus near Rome would also appear established, for the reasons laid down in Bunsen's Letters to Archdeacon Hare, and Canon Wordsworth's St. Hippolytus. The mind of inquirers appears to have been primarily unsettled in consequence of Eusebius' mentioning Hippolytus (Ecclesiast. Hist., vi. 10) in company with Beryllus (of Bostra), an Arabian, expressing at the same time his uncertainty as to where Hippolytus was bishop. This indecision is easily explained, and cannot invalidate the tradition and historical testimony which assign the bishopric of Portus near Rome to Hippolytus, a saint and martyr of the Church. Of his martyrdom, though the fact itself is certain, the details, furnished in Prudentius' hymn, are not historic. Thus the mode of Hippolytus' death is stated by Prudentius to have been identical with that of Hippolytus the son of Theseus, who was torn limb from limb by being tied to wild horses. St. Hippolytus, however, is known on historical testimony to have been thrown into a canal and drowned; but whether the scene of his martyrdom its Sardinia, to which he undoubtedly banished along with the Roman bishop Pontianus, or Rome, or Portus, has not as yet been definitively proved. The time of his martyrdom, however, is probably a year or two, perhaps less or more, after the commencement of the reign of Maximin the Thracian, that is, somewhere about a.d. 235-39. This enables us to determine the age of Hippolytus; and as some statements in The Refutation evince the work to be the composition of an old man, and as the work itself was written after the death of Callistus in a.d. 222, this would transfer the period of his birth to not very long after the last half of the second century.
The contents of The Refutation, as they originally stood, seem to have been arranged thus: The first book (which we have) contained an account of the different schools of ancient philosophers; the second (which is missing), the doctrines and mysteries of the Egyptians; the third (likewise missing), the Chaldean science and astrology; and the fourth (the beginning of which is missing), the system of the Chaldean horoscope, and the magical rites and incantations of the Babylonian Theurgists. Next came the portion of the work relating more immediately to the heresies of the Church, which is contained in books v.-ix. The tenth book is the résumé of the entire, together with the exposition of the author's own religious opinions. The heresies enumerated by Hippolytus comprehend a period starting from an age prior to the composition of St. John's Gospel, and terminating with the death of Callistus. The heresies are explained according to chronological development, and may be ranged under five leading schools: (1) The Ophites; (1) Simonists; (3) Basilidians; (4) Docetae; (5) Noetians. Hippolytus ascends to the origin of heresy, not only in assigning heterodoxy a derivative nature from heathenism, but in pointing out in the Gnossis elements of abnormal opinions antecedent to the promulgation of Christianity. We have thus a most interesting account of the early heresies, which in some respects supplies many desiderata in the ecclesiastical history of this epoch.
We can scarcely over-estimate the value of The Refutation, on account of the propinquity of its author to the apostolic age. Hippolytus was a disciple of St. Irenaeus, St. Irenaeus of St. Polycarp, St. Polycarp of St. John. Indeed, one fact of grave importance connected with the writings of St. John, is elicited from Hippolytus' Refutation. The passage given out of Basilides' work, containing a quotation by the heretic from St. John i. g, settles the period of the composition of the fourth Gospel, as of greater antiquity by at least thirty years than is allowed to it by the Tubingen school. It is therefore obvious that Basilides formed his system out of the prologue of St. John's Gospel; thus for ever setting at rest the allegation of these critics, that St. John's Gospel was written at a later date, and assigned an apostolic author, in order to silence the Basilidian Gnostics.14In the case of Irenaeus, too, The Refutation has restored the Greek text of much of his book Against Heresies, hitherto only known to us in a Latin version. Nor is the value of Hippolytus' work seriously impaired, even on the supposition of the authorship not being proved,-a concession, however, in no wise justified by the evidence. Whoever the writer of The Refutation be, he belonged to the early portion of the third century, formed his compilations from primitive sources, made conscientious preparation for his undertaking, delivered statements confirmed by early writers of note,15and lastly, in the execution of his task, furnished indubitable marks of information and research, and of having thoroughly mastered the relations and affinities, each to other, of the various heresies of the first two and a quarter centuries. These heresies, whether deducible from attempts to Christianize the philosophy of Paganism, or to interpret the Doctrines and Life of our Lord by the tenets of Gnosticism and Oriental speculation generally, or to create a compromise with the pretensions of Judaism,-these heresies, amid all their complexity and diversity, St. Hippolytus16reduces to one common ground of censure-antagonism to Holy Scripture. Heresy, thus branded, he leaves to wither under the condemnatory sentence of the Church.
The Refutation of All Heresies
Book I.
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Contents.
The following are the contents of the first book of The Refutation of all Heresies.1
We propose to furnish an account of the tenets of natural philosophers, and who these are, as well as the tenets of moral philosophers, and who these are; and thirdly, the tenets of logicians, and who these logicians are.
Among natural philosophers2may be enumerated Thales, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, Xenophanes, Ecphantus, Hippo.
Among moral philosophers are Socrates, pupil of Archelaus the physicist, (and) Plato the pupil of Socrates. This (speculator) combined three systems of philosophy.
Among logicians is Aristotle, pupil of Plato. He systematized the art of dialectics. Among the Stoic (logicians) were Chrysippus (and) Zeno. Epicurus, however, advanced an opinion almost contrary to all philosophers. Pyrrho was an Academic;3this (speculator) taught the incomprehensibility of everything. The Brahmins among the Indians, and the Druids among the Celts, and Hesiod (devoted themselves to philosophic pursuits).
The Proemium.-Motives for Undertaking the Refutation; Exposure of the Ancient Mysteries; Plan of the Work; Completeness of the Refutation; Value of the Treatise to Future Ages.
We must not overlook4any figment devised by those denominated philosophers among the Greeks. For even their incoherent tenets must be received as worthy of credit, on account of the excessive madness of the heretics; who, from the observance of silence, and from concealing their own ineffable mysteries, have by many been supposed worshippers of God.5We have likewise, on a former occasion,6expounded the doctrines of these briefly, not illustrating them with any degree of minuteness, but refuting them in coarse digest; not having considered it requisite to bring to light their secret7doctrines, in order that, when we have explained their tenets by enigmas, they, becoming ashamed, lest also, by our divulging their mysteries, we should convict them of atheism, might be induced to desist in some degree from their unreasonable opinion and their profane attempt.8But since I perceive that they have not been abashed by our forbearance, and have made no account of how God is long-suffering, though blasphemed by them, in order that either from shame they may repent, or should they persevere, be justly condemned, I am forced to proceed in my intention of exposing those secret mysteries of theirs, which, to the initiated, with a vast amount of plausibility they deliver who are not accustomed first to disclose (to any one), till, by keeping such in suspense during a period (of necessary preparation), and by rendering him blasphemous towards the true God they have acquired complete ascendancy over him, and perceive him eagerly panting after the promised disclosure. And then, when they have tested him to be enslaved by sin, they initiate him, putting him in possession of the perfection of wicked things. Previously, however, they bind him with an oath neither to divulge (the mysteries), nor to hold communication with any person whatsoever, unless he first undergo similar subjection, though, when the doctrine has been simply delivered (to any one), there was no longer any need of an oath. For he who was content to submit to the necessary purgation,9and so receive the perfect mysteries of these men, by the very act itself, as well as in reference to his own conscience, will feel himself sufficiently under an obligation not to divulge to others; for if he once disclose wickedness of this description to any man, he would neither be reckoned among men, nor be deemed worthy to behold the light, since not even irrational animals10would attempt such an enormity, as we shall explain when we come to treat of such topics.
Since, however, reason compels us to plunge11into the very depth of narrative, we conceive we should not be silent, but, expounding the tenets of the several schools with minuteness, we shall evince reserve in nothing. Now it seems expedient, even at the expense of a more protracted investigation, not to shrink from labour; for we shall leave behind us no trifling auxiliary to human life against the recurrence of error, when all are made to behold, in an obvious light, the clandestine rites of these men, and the secret orgies which, retaining under their management, they deliver to the initiated only. But none will refute these, save the Holy Spirit bequeathed unto the Church, which the Apostles, having in the first instance received, have transmitted to those who have rightly believed. But we, as being their successors, and as participators in this grace, high-priesthood, and office of teaching,12as well as being reputed guardians of the Church, must not be found deficient in vigilance,13or disposed to suppress correct doctrine.14Not even, however, labouring with every energy of body and soul, do we tire in our attempt adequately to render our Divine Benefactor a fitting return; and yet withal we do not so requite Him in a becoming manner, except we are not remiss in discharging the trust committed to us, but careful to complete the measure of our particular opportunity, and to impart to all without grudging whatever the Holy Ghost supplies, not only bringing to light,15by means of our refutation, matters foreign (to our subject), but also whatsoever things the truth has received by the grace of the Father,16and ministered to men. These also, illustrating by argument and creating testimony17by letters, we shall unabashed proclaim.
In order, then, as we have already stated, that we may prove them atheists, both in opinion and their mode (of treating a question) and in fact, and (in order to show) whence it is that their attempted theories have accrued unto them, and that they have endeavoured to establish their tenets, taking nothing from the holy Scriptures-nor is it from preserving the succession of any saint that they have hurried headlong into these opinions;-but that their doctrines have derived their origin18from the wisdom of the Greeks, from the conclusions of those who have formed systems of philosophy, and from would-be mysteries, and the vagaries of astrologers,-it seems, then, advisable, in the first instance, by explaining the opinions advanced by the philosophers of the Greeks, to satisfy our readers that such are of greater antiquity than these (heresies), and more deserving of reverence in reference to their views respecting the divinity; in the next place, to compare each heresy with the system of each speculator, so as to show that the earliest champion of the heresy availing himself19of these attempted theories, has turned them to advantage by appropriating their principles, and, impelled from these into worse, has constructed his own doctrine. The undertaking admittedly is full of labour, and (is one) requiring extended research. We shall not, however, be wanting in exertion; for afterwards it will be a source of joy, just like an athlete obtaining with much toil the crown, or a merchant after a huge swell of sea compassing gain, or a husbandman after sweat of brow enjoying the fruits, or a prophet after reproaches and insults seeing his predictions turning out true. In the commencement, therefore, we shall declare who first, among the Greeks, pointed out (the principles of) natural philosophy. For from these especially have they furtively taken their views who have first pro-pounded these heresies,20as we shall subsequently prove when we come to compare them one with another. Assigning to each of those who take the lead among philosophers their own peculiar tenets, we shall publicly exhibit these heresiarchs as naked and unseemly.
Chapter I.-Thales; His Physics and Theology; Founder of Greek Astronomy.
It is said that Thales of Miletus, one of the seven21wise men, first attempted to frame a system of natural philosophy. This person said that some such thing as water is the generative principle of the universe, and its end;-for that out of this, solidified and again dissolved, all things consist, and that all things are supported on it; from which also arise both earthquakes and changes of the winds and atmospheric movements,22
