Hippolytus of Rome
c. 170 – c. 235
Also known as Hippolytus
Feast: 13 August (Catholic)
Roman presbyter (and possibly antipope) who wrote the Refutation of All Heresies and the Apostolic Tradition. Exiled to Sardinia under Maximinus Thrax. Some scholars split this figure into two; tradition treats him as one.
Highlights
- Main contribution
- Hippolytus is awkward because tradition remembers him as both a major Roman theologian and a schismatic opponent of Pope Callixtus.
- Best first read
- Apostolic Tradition
- Primary source
- Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 6.20, 6.22
Hippolytus is awkward because tradition remembers him as both a major Roman theologian and a schismatic opponent of Pope Callixtus. That awkwardness is part of why he is useful. The Apostolic Tradition preserves an early picture of baptism, ordination, Eucharistic prayer, fasting, and church order, while the Refutation of All Heresies preserves material about groups we might otherwise barely know. Even where authorship questions are complicated, the material attached to Hippolytus is one of the best windows into third-century Roman Christianity.
Notable works
- ·Apostolic Tradition · 215
Primary sources
- ·Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 6.20, 6.22
- ·Jerome, De Viris Illustribus 61
- ·Hippolytus, Refutatio Omnium Haeresium
Book of the day
Against Marcion
TertullianA reading pick tied to today's figure, quote, era, or event. The classic Latin attack on Marcion's rejection of the Old Testament and two-god theology.
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