Hippolytus (writer)

Hippolytus was a writer of the early Christian Church. He was apparently elected as the first Antipope in 217, but died reconciled to the Church in 235 as a martyr, so that he is honored as a saint. The mystery which enveloped the person and writings of Hippolytus, one of the most prolific ecclesiastical writers of early times, 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 (see below). 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.

Life

Hippolytus must have been born in the second half of the 2nd century, probably in Rome. Photius describes him in his Bibliotheca (cod. 121) as a disciple of Irenaeus, and from the context of this passage it is supposed that we may conclude that Hippolytus himself so styled himself. But this is not certain, and even if it were, it does not necessarily imply that Hippolytus enjoyed the personal teaching of the celebrated Gallic bishop; it may perhaps merely refer to that relation of his theological system to that of Irenaeus which can easily be traced in his writings.

Related Topics:
2nd century - Rome - Photius - Irenaeus - Gallic

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As a presbyter of the church at Rome under 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 (Jerome, Vir. ill. 61; cp. Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica vi. 14, 10).

Related Topics:
Presbyter - Bishop Zephyrinus - 199 - 217 - Origen - Jerome - Eusebius

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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 Calixtus I. He accused the bishop of favouring the Christological heresies of the Monarchians, and, further, of subverting the discipline of the Church by his lax action in receiving back into the Church those guilty of gross offences.

Related Topics:
Calixtus I - Christological - Heresies - Monarchian

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The result was a schism, and for perhaps over ten years Hippolytus stood as bishop at the head of a separate church. Then came the persecution under Maximinus Thrax. Hippolytus and Pontius, who was then bishop, were transported in 235 to Sardinia, where it would seem that both of them died.

Related Topics:
Maximinus Thrax - Pontius - 235 - Sardinia

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From the so-called chronography of the year 354 (Catalogus Liberianus) 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.

Related Topics:
354 - Catalogus Liberianus - August 13 - 236 - Via Tiburtina - Saint - Martyr

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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 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.

Related Topics:
Pope Damasus I - Prudentius - Hippolytus - Theseus - Middle Ages - Hertfordshire

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Of the historical Hippolytus little remained in the memory of later ages. Neither Eusebius (H.E. vi. 20, 2) nor Jerome (Vir. ill. 61) knew that the author so much read in the East and the Roman saint were one and the same person. 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.

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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 Pius IX, it was placed in the Lateran Museum, a record in stone of a lost tradition.

Related Topics:
1551 - Paschal cycle - 3rd century - Pius IX - Lateran Museum

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