Demonstration on Christ and Antichrist

from the holy spring, that is, from the holy Scriptures themselves, to place them before your eyes as if present, so that they might be the subject of your inquiry. Thus, not only might you be gladdened by depositing these things in your ears, but, by examining the very things themselves through their power, you might be able to praise God in all things. For this shall be for you, in this life which we are now living, a safe provision from us, so that you may offer those things which are difficult for many to understand and grasp, by means of ready words, and sow them in the breadth of your heart, as if it were rich soil. Through these, you will also persuade those who oppose and contradict the saving Word. ^A But take care not to cast these things before unbelieving and blasphemous tongues—for there is no small danger in this—but impart them to devout and faithful men who desire to live holy and righteous lives in the fear of God. For not in vain does the blessed Apostle, admonishing Timothy, say: "O Timothy, guard the deposit, avoiding profane empty babblings, and oppositions of the knowledge falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith." And again: "But you, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; and the things which you have heard from me through many exhortations, commend these to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also." Since, therefore, the blessed Apostle handed down these things with such caution and fear, even though they were easily known by all—seeing, of course, in the Spirit that "all do not have faith"—by how much more shall we be in danger if we hand down the divine oracles to profane and unworthy men simply and as it happens?

^C For since the blessed prophets became our eyes, foreseeing through faith the mysteries of the Word, which they also served to subsequent generations, not only by speaking of things that had passed, but also by announcing things present and future—in order that the prophet might be shown to be not merely of a temporary nature, but that by foretelling future things to all generations, he might be considered a prophet—these fathers, having been perfected by the prophetic spirit, and by the Word Himself...

^A as if by a plectrum—having always united the Word within themselves, through whose impulse they announced those things which God willed. For they did not speak from their own power (truly I say this), nor did they proclaim what they themselves wished; but they were first rightly instructed in wisdom through the power of the Word, and then they were well taught future things through visions. And thus, being persuaded, they spoke those things which were alone revealed to them by God, but hidden from the rest. For according to what principle would a prophet be called a prophet, if he did not foresee future things by the Spirit? For if the prophet were speaking of some chance occurrence, by speaking of those things which were plain to the eyes of all, he would not be a prophet. But he who declares future things is rightly judged to be a prophet. Hence, ^B prophets were reasonably called "seers" from the beginning. Whence we, having been well instructed in the predictions declared by them, speak not from our own ingenuity. For we do not attempt to change the words previously foretold, nor to introduce anything new to one another; but we bring their written oracles into the light, and we read them to those who are able to believe rightly, since a common benefit comes to both: to him who speaks, that by keeping them in memory he may correctly expound what is set forth; and to him who hears, that he may apply his mind to what is said. Since, therefore, the labor is proposed as common to both—for the speaker, that he may speak safely and without danger; and for the hearer, that he may receive what is said by hearing with faith—I pray that you may be present with me in my prayer to God. ^C

III. You ask how the Word of God, who Himself was the Word of old, again manifested Himself to the blessed prophets as the servant of God? It is because the Word, in His mercy and because He is no respecter of persons, shows Himself through all the saints, illuminating and ordering them, like a physician skilled in what conduces to our salvation, since He is not ignorant of human infirmity. And indeed He strives to instruct the ignorant, and to turn back those who are erring to His own

^A true way. And to those indeed who seek with faith, He is easily found; but to those who desire to knock at the door with clean eyes and a pure heart, He is immediately opened. For He casts away none of His own servants, as if they were unworthy of the divine mysteries; He does not prefer the rich over the poor, nor does He despise the poor for his lack of substance. He does not revile the barbarian, nor does He dismiss the eunuch as if he were not a man. He does not hate the woman because of the disobedience of the first origin, nor does He defile the man because of the transgression; but He wishes all to be saved and desires to save all. He wishes to make all the sons of God, and calls all holy men into one perfect man. For there is also one Son of God, by whom we also, having attained regeneration through the Holy Spirit, ^B all desire to arrive at one perfect and heavenly man.

IV. For since the Word of God, being without beginning, put on holy flesh from the holy Virgin, as a bridegroom weaving himself a garment in the suffering of the cross, so that by tempering our mortal body with His own power, and mixing the corruptible with the incorruptible, the weak with the strong, He might provide salvation to man who had perished. The loom, therefore, is the passion of the Lord which took place on the cross; the warp in it is the power of the Holy Spirit; the woof is the holy flesh woven into the Spirit; the thread is the grace of Christ’s love, binding and uniting both into one; the shuttles are the Word; the workers are the patriarchs and prophets, ^C who weave the beautiful and perfect robe for Christ, through whom the Word, passing like the shuttles, weaves through them those things which the Father wills.

V. But since the time now urges us toward those things which have been proposed to us as our subject, and since what we have said in the introduction to the glory of God is sufficient, it is right that we, having laid hold of the divine Scriptures themselves, [should] Concerning Christ and Antichrist laid hold of.

^D Cumque tota tractatione Antichristum Christo opponat, non ita male sive ipse Hippolytus, sive quivis alius, praenotavit, quod ita post Photianum codicem etiam ii repraesentant, ex quibus expressa Gudii editio: quibus proinde malui hærere, quam ejus mutationi deferre. Hieronymum (cujus et ipse magni auctoritatem facio) adversari Photio non facile dixerim, quod Hippolyti plura recensendo, De Antichristo solummodo dixerit. Nempe nec de Christo negavit, sed sic summa, unde tractatus esset notior, ascripsit: Photius ex codice integrum titulum recensuit. Deinde eo spectat tota tractatio, ut Antichristi ex Scripturis demonstratione, ab eo fidelibus caveat, et Christo adjungat, amborumque discrimen eum in finem aperiat; quod Christum non excludit, ne ipse pars argumenti videatur, et finis genuinus atque proprius tractationis, non solum extrinsecus. COMBEF.

^A Let us see, through them, who and of what sort the coming of Antichrist will be; at what age and time the iniquitous one shall be revealed; whence and from what tribe he shall come, and what his name is, which is indicated through number in Scripture; how he will lead the people into error, gathering them from the ends of the earth; what tribulation and persecution he will bring upon the saints; how he will glorify himself as God; what his end will be; how the appearing of the Lord from the heavens will be revealed, and what the conflagration of the whole world will be; what the glorious and heavenly kingdom of the saints reigning with Christ will be; and what the punishment of the wicked by fire will be.

VI. For since our Lord Jesus Christ and God was predicted as a lion by reason of his kingly majesty and the brightness of his glory, in the same way the Scriptures have likewise called Antichrist a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver wishes to appear in all things similar to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, and Antichrist is a lion; Christ is a king, and Antichrist is a king. The Savior was shown as a lamb, and he too will similarly appear as a lamb, while being within a wolf. The Savior came into the world in the circumcision, and he too will ^B come in like manner. The Lord sent apostles into all nations, and he too will send false apostles in like manner. The Savior gathered the sheep that were scattered, and he too will likewise gather the people that is scattered. The Lord gave a seal to those who believe in him, and he too will give one in like manner. The Savior appeared in the habit of a man, and he too will come in the habit of a man. The Savior raised up and showed his holy flesh as a temple, and he too will raise up in Jerusalem a temple built of stone. And his artifices of seduction we shall declare in what follows; but now let us turn to the subject at hand.

VII. The blessed Jacob, therefore, says in his blessings, ^C foretelling what concerns our Lord and Savior, speaking thus: “Judah, let thy brethren praise thee. Thy hands shall be on the back of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the shoot, my son, thou hast gone up. Resting, thou didst sleep as a lion, and as a lion’s whelp: who shall rouse him? A prince shall not fail from Judah, and a leader from his thighs, until he comes for whom it is reserved. And he shall be the expectation of the nations. Binding unto the vine his ass, and unto the tendril the foal of his ass. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape. His eyes are joyous from wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.” ^D

VIII. Although I know how to expound these things with more words and at greater length, it has pleased me to set down the text itself for the time being. Yet because the divine words themselves urge one to speak, I shall not omit even this. For they are truly divine and illustrious, and

^A can indeed benefit the soul. The prophet called the one born of Judah and David according to the flesh a "lion’s whelp," not as one having come from the seed of David, but as one conceived by the Holy Spirit, and proceeding from that holy sprout ^B and from the earth. For Isaiah says: "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise out of it."

IX.

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XI.

^A what is meant, if not his flesh which, like a cluster of grapes, was cast into the wood? From whose side flowed two springs, of blood and of water, by which the nations are washed and cleansed, which he is considered to have as a mantle.

XII. "His eyes are gladdened by wine." Whose eyes are these, if not the blessed prophets? Who, indeed, foreseeing in the Spirit the passions that were to come upon him and proclaiming them, rejoiced, perceiving him with spiritual eyes by the power, perfected by the command of the Word and his grace.

XIII. By saying, "And his teeth [are] whiter than milk," he signified the commandments proceeding from the holy mouth of Christ, as clean as milk.

XIV. The Scriptures have therefore foretold this lion and lion's whelp. Similarly, it is also said concerning the Antichrist. For Moses says thus: "Dan is a lion's whelp, and he shall leap forth from Basan." But ^B lest anyone err, thinking that this statement was made concerning the Savior, let him apply his mind. "Dan," he says, "is a lion's whelp"; by naming the tribe of Dan, he clarified that from which the Antichrist is about to be born. For just as Christ is born from the tribe of Judah, so the Antichrist will be born from the tribe of Dan. And that this is so, Jacob says: "Let Dan be a serpent, sitting on the earth, biting the horse's heel." Who, then, is the serpent, if not that Antichrist, the deceiver mentioned in Genesis, who deceived Eve and tripped up Adam? But since it is necessary to prove what is said by many testimonies, we will not shrink from doing so.

XV. For that a tyrant and king, a terrible judge, the son of the devil, is indeed going to be born and arise from the tribe of Dan, the prophet says: "Dan shall judge his people, as also one tribe in Israel." But someone will say that this was spoken concerning Samson, who, born from the tribe of Dan, judged the people for twenty years. Certainly, the matter happened partially in Samson; but it will happen universally in the Antichrist. For ^C he who is a tyrant and king, a terrible judge, and son of the devil, is about to rise; and the prophet says: "Dan shall judge his people, as one tribe in Israel." But someone will say that this is said of Samson, who, born from the tribe of Dan, judged the people for twenty years. Truly, the matter occurred partially in Samson; but it will happen in the absolute sense regarding him who is the Antichrist.

^A (57). For Jeremiah also speaks thus: "We shall hear the voice of the swiftness of his horses [(38)], [from the sound of the neighing of the galloping of his horses] the whole earth was shaken." Another prophet also says: "He shall gather all his power from the sunrise even unto the sunset; those whom he has called and those whom he has not called shall go with him. He shall make the sea white with the sails of ships, and he shall make the plain black with the shields of weapons; and whoever meets him in battle shall fall by the sword." We shall show through what follows that these things were spoken not of any other, but of that tyrant, both shameless and God-opposing.

XVI. But Isaiah also says thus: "And it shall be when the Lord has finished doing all things on Mount Sion and Jerusalem, He shall bring [wrath] upon the great mind, upon the prince of the Assyrians, and upon the height of the glory of his eyes." For he said: "By my strength I will act, and by the wisdom of understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will plunder their strength, and I will shake the settled cities, and I will take hold of the whole inhabited earth with my hand as a nest, and as eggs that have been abandoned I will lift them up; and there is no one who will escape or contradict me, [and opening my mouth and chirping. Shall an axe be glorified without the one who cuts with it? Or shall a saw be lifted up without the one who draws it? Likewise, if someone lifts up a rod or wood, the wood shall be lifted up;] and it is not so. But Adonai, the Lord of Hosts, will send into your honor dishonor, and into your glory a burning fire shall be kindled. And the light of Israel shall be fire, and He shall sanctify him in a flame, and it shall consume the forest like grass [(39)]."

XVII. He also says in another place: "How has the exactor ceased, and how has the taskmaster ceased? God has shattered the yoke of the princes of the sinners, striking the nation in wrath and with an incurable blow; striking the nation with an incurable blow on which He did not spare. The whole earth has rested confidently; it cries out with joy. The trees of Lebanon have rejoiced over you, and the cedar of Lebanon. Since you have fallen asleep, no one has come up to cut us down. Hades below was embittered, meeting you; all the giants who ruled the earth, the lords [(59)], were stirred up from their thrones. All the kings of the nations, all together shall answer and say: And you have been captured just as we have; you have been reckoned among us. He has descended into...

^A the earth with your glory, and your great joy; decay shall be spread beneath you, and your covering shall be the worm. How has Lucifer fallen from heaven, who was rising in the morning? He who sent to all nations has been crushed to the earth. But you said in your mind: I will ascend into heaven; above the stars of heaven I will set my throne, I will sit upon the high mountains which are towards the north; I will ascend above the clouds, I will be like the Most High. But now you shall descend into hell, and to the foundations of the earth. Those who see you will marvel at you and will say: This is the man who stirred up the earth, who shook kings, who laid the whole world waste, and destroyed its cities, and did not loose those who were in captivity. ^B All the kings of the nations have rested in honor, every man in his own house; but you shall be cast out upon the mountains, like an abominable corpse, with many dead men pierced by the sword, going down into hell. Just as a garment stained in blood is not clean, so neither shall you be clean; because you have destroyed my land, and killed my people. You shall not remain for all time, you wicked seed. Prepare your children for slaughter for the sins of your father, that they may not rise up and inherit my land.

XVIII. Ezechiel also speaks similarly about him in this way: ^C This says the Lord God: Because your heart was lifted up, and you said: I am God, I have inhabited the dwelling of God in the heart of the sea; yet you are a man, and not God, you gave your heart as the heart of God. Are you wiser than Daniel? Have not the wise trained you with their knowledge? Or have you in your knowledge, or in your prudence, made for yourself power, and gold and silver in your treasuries? Have you not in your great knowledge and in your trade multiplied your power? Your heart was lifted up in your power. Therefore this says the Lord God: Because you have given your heart as the heart of God, for this reason, behold, I bring upon you foreign pests from the nations, and they shall unsheathe their swords against you and against the beauty of your knowledge, and they shall cast down your beauty into destruction; ^D and they shall make you descend, and you shall die the death of the wounded in the heart of the sea. Will you speak and say: I am God, in the sight of those who slay you? But you are a man, and not God, in the hand of those who wound you. You shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hands of foreigners; because I have spoken, says the Lord.

XIX. These words having thus been shown, let us look more subtil...

subtilly at what Daniel says in his visions. For he, distinguishing the kingdoms that were to come thereafter, showed even unto the furthest times the future advent of the Antichrist, and the consummation of the whole world. He says, therefore, while interpreting the vision of Nebuchadnezzar: "You, O king, were watching, and behold a great image standing before your face; whose head was of fine gold: its arms and shoulders were of silver; its belly and thighs of bronze; its shins of iron; its feet, partly of iron and partly of earthenware. You were watching, therefore, until a stone was cut out from a mountain without hands, and it struck the image upon its feet of iron and earthenware, and ground them to pieces in the end. Then the earthenware, iron, bronze, silver, and gold were utterly ground down, and they became like dust from the summer threshing-floor; and the abundant wind carried them away, and no place was found for them. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." ^B

XX. Connecting therefore to these the actual visions of Daniel, we shall grant a single exposition to both, showing how they agree with one another and are true. For he says thus: "I, Daniel, was watching, and behold the four winds of heaven were rushing into the great sea; and four great beasts were coming up out of the sea, differing from one another. The first was like a lioness, and its wings were as an eagle's. I was watching until its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth, and it stood upon the feet of a man, and a human heart was given to it. And the second beast was like a bear, and it stood on one side; and there were three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and so they said to it: Arise, devour much flesh. I was watching, and behold a beast like a leopard; and it had four wings of a bird upon it, and four heads of the beast. After this I was watching, and behold a fourth beast, terrible and stupendous, and exceedingly strong; its teeth were of iron, and its claws of bronze, devouring and grinding, and it was trampling the rest with its ^C feet; and it was differing exceedingly from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I was considering its horns, and behold another little horn ascended in the midst of them; and three horns from the upper ones were plucked out from before its face. And behold eyes like the eyes of a man in that horn, and a mouth speaking great things."

XXI. "I was watching until the thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days sat. And his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool. His throne was a flame of fire, its wheels ^D

^A a burning fire. A stream of fire was drawing before him. A thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment sat, and the books were opened. I beheld then from the voice of the great words which the horn spoke, until the beast was slain and perished, and its body was given to be burned with fire. And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away. ^B I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, with the clouds of heaven, one like the Son of man was coming; and he reached even unto the Ancient of days, and was presented to him. And there was given to him the dominion, and the honor, and the kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him. His authority is an eternal authority, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed. »

XXIII. Since, therefore, these things spoken in a mystical sense seem difficult to some to understand, we shall conceal nothing of these things for the recognition of those who are possessed of a sound mind. For by saying a lioness ^C coming up out of the sea, he signified the kingdom of the Babylonians in the world, which was the golden head of this image. But as to what he says: « Her wings were as an eagle's; » it is because King Nebuchadnezzar was exalted and lifted up against God. Then he says: « Her wings were plucked; » because his glory was taken away: for he was cast out of his kingdom. But in saying: « A man's heart was given to it, and it stood upon the feet of a man; » it is because he was led to repentance, recognizing himself that he was a man, and he gave glory to God.

XXIV. After the lioness, therefore, the second beast ^D is seen similar to a bear, which were the Persians. For after the Babylonians, the Persians held power. But by saying: « Three ribs (or ranks) in its mouth, » he indicated three nations, the Persians, the Medes, and the Babylonians: and this is shown by the silver joined to the gold in the image. The third beast follows, a leopard, which were the Greeks. For after the Persians, Alexander the Macedonian held power, having overcome Darius, as is shown in the image by the bronze. But by saying: « Four wings of a bird, » he most clearly taught how the empire of Alexander was divided. For by saying « four heads, » he commemorated the four kings who arose out of it. For Alexander, when dying, divided his solid empire into four parts.

^A XXV. Then he says: « The fourth beast is terrible and stupendous: its teeth are of iron, and its claws of bronze. » Who are these if not the Romans? This is the iron which signifies the empire that now stands and remains; for its legs are of iron. For after this, what else remains, beloved, but the traces of the feet of the image, in which one part is of iron, and another part is of earthenware, with these kinds mixed together? By the toes of the feet, he mystically signified the kings who will arise from them, which Daniel mentions: « I was considering the beast; and behold, ten horns behind it: among which another little shoot will arise, and it will pluck out three of the horns that were before it. » By this no one else is shown than the Antichrist, who himself will also raise up the kingdom of the Jews. He says that three horns are plucked out by him, designating the three kings of Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, whom he will kill in the battle line. This one, assuredly having taken possession of the ^B heavy empire of all, being a savage tyrant, will cause tribulation and persecution upon men, being lifted up against them. For Daniel says: « I was considering the horn; and behold, that horn was making war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the beast was slain and perished, and its body was given to the burning of fire. »

XXVI. Soon after will come from the heavens the stone that struck the image and crushed it, and transferred all kingdoms, and gave the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This is he who became a great mountain and filled the whole earth, of whom Daniel says: « I was looking in the vision of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, as it were a Son of man coming, and he reached as far as the Ancient of days, and was presented to him. And there was given to him empire and honor and kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and languages will serve him. His power is an eternal power, which will not pass away; and his kingdom will not be destroyed. » ^C He shows all the power which was given by the Father to the Son, who has been declared king and judge of all, of heavenly, earthly, and subterranean things: of heavenly things, because he was the Word of the Father begotten before all ages; of earthly things, because he was born as a man among men, refashioning Adam through himself; of subterranean things, because he was also reckoned among the dead, preaching to the souls of the saints, by death overcoming death. ^D

XXVII. Since these things are thus to be, and the ten toes...

^A of the image have passed into democracies, and the ten horns of the fourth beast have been divided into ten kingdoms, let us see more clearly the matters set before us, and let us consider them as if placed before our eyes.

XXVIII. The golden head of the image, the lioness, were the Babylonians; the shoulders and arms of silver, the bear, the Persians and Medes; the belly and thighs of bronze, the leopard, those Greeks who became masters after Alexander; the iron legs, a beast terrible and dreadful, the Romans who now hold power; the traces of the feet, clay and iron, and the ten horns, the kingdoms and empires that are to be; the other little horn growing up, which is numbered among them, the Antichrist; the stone striking the earth, and bringing judgment upon the world, is Christ.

XXIX. These things, beloved, I impart to you with fear, yet with a ready will, on account of the surpassing charity of Christ. For if the blessed prophets who were before us, although they had discovered these things, were unwilling to preach them openly, lest they should make a disturbance in the souls of men, but related them mystically through parables and riddles, saying: "Here is the mind that has wisdom"; how much more shall we be in danger, daring to bring into the open what was spoken in secret by them? Let us see, therefore, what is to befall at the end upon this ^B unclean harlot; and of what sort and how great the partial punishment will be that shall come upon her, by the wrath of God, before the judgment.

XXX. Come, therefore, O blessed Isaiah; arise, say openly what you prophesied concerning the great Babylon. For you spoke also concerning Jerusalem, and it has come to pass. For you said with boldness: "Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, ^C subverted by foreign peoples. The daughter of Zion shall be left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a watchman's lodge in a cucumber field, as a city besieged." What then? Have these things not already come to pass? Have they not been fulfilled? ^D

^A Has not your land of Judah been made desolate? Has not the sanctuary been burned? Have not your walls been torn down? Have not your cities been destroyed? Do not strangers devour your country? Do the Romans not rule over your land? For truly, in the hatred with which they burned against you, they sawed you in pieces (65), and they crucified Christ. You died in the world, but you live in Christ (66).

XXXI. Which of you shall I love more, you or Jeremiah? But even Jeremiah is stoned. Yet Jeremiah is indeed more to be loved, but Daniel also bears witness. Daniel, I pour forth my praises for you above all others; but John also speaks no falsehood. With how many lips and tongues shall I glorify you—or rather, the Word that spoke within you? You have died with Christ, but you shall live with Christ. Listen and rejoice (69). Behold, the things spoken by you have been fulfilled in their time. For you saw them first, and thus afterward you preached them to all generations. You ministered the oracles of God to all generations. You were called prophets, that you might be able to grant salvation to all. For then is one truly a prophet, when he has proclaimed the things that are to come, and afterward demonstrates that they have come to pass. You were disciples of a good Master. These things I rightly acclaim to you as if you were living. For you have already ^B stored up for you in heaven the crown of life and incorruption.

XXXII. Tell me, I beseech you, blessed Daniel. Give me certain faith, I pray. You prophesy about the lioness in Babylon; for you were a captive there. You related the things that were to come regarding the bear; for you were still alive in the world and saw those things come to pass. Then you speak to me of the leopard; but whence could you know these things? For you had already died. Who taught you to speak these things, if not He who formed you from your mother's womb? You say, God. For you spoke, and you did not lie: the leopard arose; the goat of the goats came; it struck the ram; it broke his horns; it trampled him with its feet. It was exalted in his ruin; four horns arose beneath it. Rejoice, blessed Daniel; you were not deceived; all these things have come to pass.

XXXIII. After this, you again related to me a fourth beast, formidable and terrifying: "Its teeth were iron, and its claws bronze; it was eating and breaking in pieces, and trampling the rest with its feet." ^C Now the iron already rules; it already tames and breaks in pieces ^D

^A all things; it already subjects all those who are unwilling; we now see these things ourselves; and, taught by you, we now glorify God.

But since we intended to speak of the harlot, come now, blessed Isaiah. Let us see what you say concerning Babylon: "Descend, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground; O daughter of the Chaldeans, you shall no more be called delicate and tender. Take the millstone, grind meal, uncover your veil, strip off the skirt, uncover the legs, pass through the rivers; your shame shall be uncovered, your reproaches shall be seen; I will take vengeance on you, and I will no longer deliver you to men. He who rescues you is the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel is his name. Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; you shall no more be called the power of a kingdom. ^B I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand, but you showed them no mercy; you laid a very heavy yoke upon the elders, and you said, 'I shall be a mistress for ever.' You did not take these things to heart, nor did you remember your latter end. Now then hear this, you who are delicate, who sit securely, who say in your heart, 'I am, and there is no other; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know loss of children.' But these two things shall come upon you suddenly in one day: bereavement and widowhood. They shall come upon you suddenly by your sorcery, by the great strength of your enchantments, in the hope of your fornication. For you have said, 'I am, and there is no other.' And your fornication shall be your confusion, because you said in your heart, 'I am.' And perdition shall come upon you, and you shall not know it; and a pit, and you shall fall into it; and misery shall come upon you, and you shall not be able to be made clean; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, and you shall not know it. ^C Stand now with your enchantments and with your many sorceries, which you have learned from your youth, if you may be able to be helped. You have wearied yourself in your counsels; let the astrologers of heaven stand and save you, they who, gazing at the stars, announce to you what is about to come upon you. Behold, all are as stubble for the fire; they shall be burned, and they shall not deliver their soul from the flame. Because you have coals of fire, sit upon them; so shall you be helped. You have wearied yourself in your change." ^D

^A These things, indeed, Isaiah prophesies to you: let us see if John has uttered similar things.

XXXVI. For he, when dwelling on the island of Patmos, sees a revelation of fearful mysteries, and by narrating them abundantly, he teaches others as well. Tell me, I beseech you, blessed John, apostle and disciple of the Lord, what did you hear and see concerning Babylon? Awake and speak; for this city also consigned you to exile. ^B "And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying: Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot, who sits upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her prostitution. And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations, and the filthiness of the fornication of the earth. Upon her forehead was a name written: Mystery; Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth." ^C XXXVII. "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And I wondered, seeing her, with a great wonder. And the angel said to me: Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw, was, and is not; and is about to ascend out of the abyss, and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder (whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world), beholding the beast that was, and is not, and shall come." ^D XXXVIII. "Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits; and they are seven kings. Five have fallen, and one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little time. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition. And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and their power and authority they shall give to the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings."

and those who are with him, called, and chosen, and faithful.

^A And he says to me: The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to do what is pleasing to him, and to act with one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is the great city, which has kingdom over the kings of the earth.

^B After these things I saw another angel descending from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried out in a strong, great voice, saying: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and has become a habitation of demons, and a dungeon of every unclean spirit, and a dungeon of every unclean and hateful bird, because all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury. And I heard another voice from heaven saying: "Depart from her, my people, that you may not share in her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues; because her sins have reached up to heaven, ^C and God has remembered her iniquities."

^D Render to her just as she also rendered, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup in which she mixed, mix to her double. As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so much give her torment and sorrow; because in her heart she says: "I sit a queen, and I am not a widow, and I shall not see sorrow." Therefore her plagues shall come in one day, death and sorrow and famine, and she shall be burned with fire; because the Lord God is strong, who has judged her. And the kings of the earth shall weep and wail over her, who have committed fornication and lived in luxury with her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing far off for fear of her torment, saying: "Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city; because in one hour your judgment has come." And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; because no one buys their cargo anymore; cargo of gold, and of silver, and of precious stone, and of pearl, and of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk, and of scarlet; and every thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory,

and every vessel of most precious wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble; and cinnamon, and amomum, and odor, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and goats; and of horses, and of chariots, and of slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that the soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were fat and goodly are perished from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying: Woe, woe, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearls; for in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and every company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying: What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying: Woe, woe, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her fatness; for in one hour is she made desolate. ^B

XLII.

Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her

XLIII. It is most clearly declared in these testimonies, one by one, concerning the judgment of the torments which, in the last times, through the injury of the tyrants who shall then be, are coming upon her; but it is worth the labor that we should also set forth with diligent examination the time, when indeed it shall come to pass that these things happen, and that little horn shall emerge ^D among them. For when the iron legs, which even now possess the state of affairs, shall have reached unto the traces of the feet and the toes, according to the likeness of the image.

the manifestation ^A of the terrible beast shall be shown, as has been signified in the preceding, at which times the iron and the pottery shall be mixed together into one. Daniel shall show us the things set before us. For he says: « And he shall confirm 88 the covenant with many for one week: and it shall be, that in the midst of the week my sacrifice and drink offering shall be taken away. » He indicated, therefore, one week of years, the last one, to be at the end of the whole world 89; the half of which week the two prophets, Enoch and Elias, shall take. For these shall preach for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth, proclaiming repentance to the people and to all the nations.

For just as two advents of our Lord and Savior were shown through the Scriptures—one, indeed, the first, which came to pass in the flesh, lowly because of His being despised 90, as Isaiah previously announced, saying: « We saw him and he had no form nor beauty; but his form was lowly, failing beyond all men. A man in affliction, and knowing how to bear infirmity, [because his face was turned away,] he was despised and not esteemed »—the second ^B advent of His has been proclaimed glorious 91, as He shall arrive from the heavens with the power of the angels 92 and the glory of the Father, as the prophet says, “ye shall see the King with glory.” And: “I was looking with the clouds of heaven...”

CHAPTER XLIV

^C For just as the twofold advent of our Lord and Savior has been delivered to us by the testimony of the Scriptures—the one indeed and first in the flesh, without any pomp of honors or brightness, so that He might be despisable, as Isaiah had once prophesied, saying: « We saw him, and he had no form nor comeliness: but his form was contemptible and failing above all men. A man placed in a plague, and knowing to bear infirmity; because his face was turned away, despised, and accounted of no value »; the other, however, was predicted to be in majesty at His advent, when He shall come from the heavens, with the army ^D of the angels—so is Christ’s majesty and glory or brightness, as is His own and the Father’s, as the whole tenor of these words, though the sense be less fitting, seems to signify. Certainly the rest of the interpreters are so. The Syriac: « When He shall come in the glory of His Father, with His own holy angels »: which are the very words of Mark VIII, 38. Matthew XVII, 27: « In the glory of His Father with His angels. » And in Luke the Arabic and Persian have rendered it in no other way than because they obtained better Greek codices, even if those are not now at hand, which I know to have it so. That some errors, whether through human frailty or negligence, the hand of the scribe erring, creep into the canonical Scriptures, is better known than that it needs any proof among those who venerate the sacred Scriptures as copies, or even as versions, not as the very autographs written as if by the finger of God, and inscribed by the hand of the prophets, or even recognized and subscribed by them through the divine Spirit and prophetic gift. Let it be the task of the Church, through the work and diligence of learned men, to correct them [κατὰ καιρούς] by means of better codices and more ancient tradition, not by their own head, because no new revelations of this kind exist anymore; and there is no faith in him who says that he has those—but it is of the gift and authority of the divine Spirit by which He always rules the Church, that through that occasion He allows nothing by which divine faith might be harmed to creep into the universal and Catholic Church: while other smaller matters are left to the disputation and criticism of men. And by this, the integrity and purity of the Scriptures have been sufficiently provided for: and one who is endowed with a teachable and learned heart can scarcely be led to believe and think otherwise; and the sectarians wrongly object anything else to the Catholics, because they cultivate more modesty, nor do they easily allow ancient things (venerable in their own simplicity, and more so by the tradition of the Church, than by the opinions of any [scioli], in the hatred of the Vatican toward the Pontificians, as they insipidly call them) to be overturned. Would that one

^A with all the host, and in the Father's brightness 50; as the prophet says: “You shall see the King in splendor and majesty 51; and I saw as it were the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he reached unto the Ancient of days, and was brought to him; and there was given to him the dominion, and the honor, and the glory, and the kingdom, and all tribes and tongues shall serve him; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, which shall not pass away.” Thus also two precursors were shown. The first was John, the son of Zacharias, who in all things existed as the precursor and herald of our Savior; and, announcing the heavenly light that had shone upon the world, he was the first to fulfill the office of precursor from his mother’s womb, having been conceived by Elizabeth; so that he might demonstrate, even to those who were infants in the womb, the new birth that was to be theirs by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin.

^B XLV. Having heard his mother’s salutation, he leapt for joy 53 in the womb, perceiving in the Virgin’s womb the God-Word conceived as well. Then he came preaching in the wilderness, announcing to the people the baptism of repentance; indeed, proclaiming salvation to the nations living in the desert of the world. Then in the Jordan he points Him out in person to the Savior, saying: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world 54.” He also anticipated those in hell, having been taken away by the sword of Herod, and having there become a precursor; indeed, there too he was to indicate the expected descent of the Savior, who was to deliver the souls of the saints from the hand of death.

XLVI. For since indeed the Savior was to be the head and author of the resurrection of all men, it was fitting that He Himself should be the first to be raised from the dead, through whom judgment should enter into the whole world; so that those who had fought the fight worthily might also be worthily crowned by Him; by the noble author of the contest, who was the first to finish the race; who, having been taken up into heaven, sits at the right hand of God and the Father, and who at the consummation of the world is to be manifested as judge. It is necessary that His precursors be manifested first, just as he says through Malachi and the angel 56: “I will send you Elijah the Tishbite, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and manifest; who shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the ^C prudence of the righteous.”

^D With this authority of Malachi? But "angel" is truly a word of Malachi, as is known to all, the citation of whose single passage is illustrious, with the addition also of what was said by the angel in Luke 1:17, “and the incredulous, the disobedient, the contumacious, to the prudence of the righteous”: to which, however, Hippolytus does not seem to have looked when adding, otherwise he would have had to transcribe it, as those learned in Greek know; and let this same part of the prophecy of Malachi be seen, which is currently missing from his book, as are also the final verses of his chapter which are corrupted in the Greek copies: in which is the very title, from whence Hippolytus, having written it thus, undoubtedly drew it. COMBEF.

^A and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just: lest perhaps I should come, and strike the earth utterly. These, therefore, arriving, will preach the future manifestation of Christ from the heavens; and they will also work signs and wonders, so that they may perhaps in this way bend and turn the minds of men to repentance, on account of their exceeding wickedness and impiety.

XLVII. For John says: ^A And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. That is to say, half of that week of which Daniel spoke. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing in the presence of the God of the earth. And if any man shall wish to do them injury, fire shall go out of their mouth and devour their enemies. And if any man shall wish to injure them, thus must he be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they shall wish. And when they shall have completed their course and their testimony, what says the prophet? ^B The beast that ascends from the abyss shall make war with them, and shall overcome them, and kill them; because they were unwilling to give glory to Antichrist. This is indeed that little horn which grows up. For he, being now lifted up in heart, will begin to exalt himself and glorify himself as God, persecuting the saints and blaspheming Christ, as Daniel says: I was looking at the horn; and behold, the eyes as of a man were in the horn, and a mouth speaking great things. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God. And that horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the beast was slain, and perished, and its body was given to the burning of fire.

XLVIII. But because it is necessary to discuss him more minutely, and how the Holy Spirit by number and name also mystically indicated him, we shall discourse more clearly upon the things that pertain to him. For John says thus: ^C And I saw another beast ascending out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke as a dragon. And it exercised all the power of the first beast in his sight: and it made the earth and them that dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he did great signs, so that he even made fire to come down from heaven unto the earth in the sight of men. And he seduces them that dwell on the earth, because of the signs which were given him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which has the wound of the sword, and lived. And it was given to him to give spirit to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should also speak, and cause that whosoever will not worship the image of the beast, should be killed. And he makes all, both small and great, and rich and poor, and free and bond, that he may give them his mark in their right hand, or in

their foreheads: that no man might be able to buy or sell, save he that has the mark, the name of the beast (97), or ^A the number of his name. Here is wisdom. He that has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred sixty-six.

XLIX. The beast, therefore, ascending from the earth, he calls the future kingdom of Antichrist. The two horns signify him and the false prophet who follows him (98). But to say, “his horns were like a lamb,” signifies that he will feign himself to be like the Son of God, and display himself as a king. And to say, “he speaks as a dragon,” means that he is a deceiver and not truthful. And when it says that “he exercised the power of the first beast (99),” and makes the earth and those who dwell in it to adore the first beast, whose wound of death was healed; this signifies that according to the laws of Augustus, from whom also the Roman empire was established, even so he ^B will also command and ordain, confirming all things by this means, and procuring for himself greater glory. For this is the fourth beast, whose head was wounded and healed again; because it was overthrown, or also held in contempt, and resolved into ten diadems; he then being crafty, will as it were heal and renew it. For this is what was said by the prophet: “He shall give spirit to the image, and the image of the beast shall speak.” For he will prevail and grow strong again through the laws established by him, and will cause that all who do not adore the image of the beast, should be killed. Here the faith and patience of the saints will appear; for he says: “And he shall make all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that he may give them a mark in their right hand, or in ^C their forehead; that no one might be able to buy or sell, save he that has the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” For being crafty and exalting himself against the servants of God, ^D and wishing to squeeze and expel them from the world; and because—

(97) *The name of the beast.* So also the Alexandrian codex, without any particle separating or connecting it, so that this name of the beast is understood as his very mark, his seal, just as a coin is usually stamped, although that too is not infrequently without the image of the king itself. That which Barborita wants to be an anointing on the forehead and hand, which the Church uses, is excellently refuted by Hugo Grotius in his Appendix on Antichrist; where he seriously exposes the absurdity of his own followers, or those in his own camp: who drag the image of Antichrist, not to an idolatrous Rome, such as it was under Domitian, Trajan, Aurelian, and other princes; but to a Christian Rome under the papacy (that is, the supreme priesthood in the succession of Peter, and Christ’s special vicar), as impudently as they do foolishly; so that while they crave the praise of this, through their little learning in sacred and ecclesiastical matters—blinded here by prejudice in the highest degree, and in order that they may madden the rude rabble with themselves and incite the torch of sedition among them—they show that they have banished all virtue. COMBEF.

(98) *And he who follows him.* Reading: "and he who is with him," or rather, what Gudius also conjectured, seems to me more fitting: that to Antichrist, who as it were holds the empire of the Romans, there is present the false prophet, who bestows every effort to consolidate the kingdom of the beast; that he might namely be held as God, just as Apollonius of Tyana was to Domitian. So that all which happened either in the persecution of Antiochus, or under the Roman princes hostile to Christ, the very same things are expected in Antichrist in the last times, to be displayed with even greater accumulation, by which he is absolutely Antichrist, the most wicked of mortals. Even under the Emperor Diocletian at Rome, it was forbidden to buy or sell unless incense was placed on the altars, or some other offering was made as a sign of idolatrous worship, which was the mark and seal of the beast: Rome hostile to Christ, and striving with every effort to abolish all His worship. IDEM.

(99) *Of the first beast.* So Combesis, following the text of the Apocalypse xiii, 12, as it stands. Gudius omits "of the beast."

(1) *It.* Combesis, "her."

^A elated by pride, wishes to extirpate them and drive them from the world, because they do not grant him glory; he will command everyone everywhere to set up fire-altars and censers, so that no one of the saints may be able to buy or sell unless he first offers sacrifice. For this is the mark, that which is given on the right hand. But by saying "on the forehead," he means that all may be crowned, bearing with them a crown of fire—not of life, but of death. For thus also did Antiochus Epiphanes, the king of Syria and descendant of Alexander the Macedonian, devise against the Jews. For he too, being lifted up in his heart during those times, wrote a decree ^B that altars be placed before the doors, and that all should offer sacrifice and go in procession crowned with ivy in honor of Dionysus; and those who were unwilling to submit, he ordered to be put to death after hanging and examining them with tortures. But he too received from the Lord, the just judge and overseer of all, the recompense he deserved; for, becoming worm-eaten, he ended his life. And these things, if one wishes to read the details, are recorded in the books of the Maccabees.

Now we shall speak to the matter at hand. For he too will devise these things, wishing to afflict the saints in every way; for the prophet and apostle says: ^C "Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred and sixty-six." As for his name, it is not within our power to speak with such accuracy as the blessed John understood and was taught concerning him, but only to conjecture; for when he appears, the blessed man will show that which is sought. Nevertheless, we speak as much as we understand with some hesitation. We find many ^D names containing the same number, that is to say, for example, "Teitan" (Titan), which is an ancient and glorious name, or "Euanthes" (Euanthas); for it also by the same calculation reaches the same sum.

and other names besides these can be found. ^A But since we have said before, that the wound of the first beast was healed, and that he will cause the image to speak—that is, he has given it strength—it is manifest to all that they who even now possess power are the Latins. If, then, the name of a single man be transferred, it becomes *Lateinos*. Wherefore one should neither proclaim this as if it were his name, nor, on the other hand, be ignorant that it cannot be called otherwise; but, having the mystery of God in our hearts, with fear we must faithfully keep what has been foretold by the blessed prophets, so that, when these things come to pass, by foreseeing them we may not be led astray. For as the times arrive, the very one concerning whom these things are said will be made manifest.

^B LI. But that we may not persuade those who delight in the study of the divine oracles with these statements and sayings alone, we shall show this by many other proofs. For Daniel says: "And these shall be saved from his hand, Edom and Moab, and the beginning of the children of Ammon." Ammon and Moab, those born of the daughters of Lot, whose lineage continues even to the present day. For Isaiah says: "And they shall fly in the ships of the foreigners; they shall plunder the sea together, and those from the rising of the sun; and upon Moab first they shall lay their hands; but the children of Ammon shall first obey."

LII. This person, then, emerging in those times, will occur; and having obtained victory in the battle array against three of the ten horns, and having rooted them out—which are Egypt, and Libya, and Ethiopia—and having taken their spoils and booty, with the remaining horns also not being exempt but submitting themselves to him, he will begin to be lifted up in heart and be carried away against God, holding sway over the whole world. His first assault will be against Tyre and Berytus, ^C and the surrounding region. For having first sacked these cities, he will strike terror into others, as Isaiah says: "Be ashamed, O Sidon, the sea has spoken; and the strength of the sea has said: I have not travailed, nor brought forth, nor have I reared up young men, nor raised up virgins. But when it is heard in Egypt, pain shall take them concerning Tyre."

LIII. These things being thus about to come to pass, beloved, and the three horns having been cut off by him, after this he will begin to show himself as God, as Ezekiel foretold: "Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am God." And Isaiah likewise: "But thou hast said in thy ^D heart: I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven I will set my throne, I will be like the Most High."

Now, however, thou shalt go down into Hades, to the foundations of the earth." Likewise also Ezekiel: "Wilt thou say to those who slay thee, I am God? But thou art man, and not God." ^A Since, therefore, by these testimonies, his tribe, his manifestation, his destruction, and his name mystically signified have been demonstrated, let us see also his actions [(13)]. For he himself shall gather all the people to himself from every land of the dispersion, claiming them as his own children and promising to restore the land and to raise up their kingdom and the people, in order that he may be worshipped by them as God, as the prophet says: "He shall gather all his kingdom from the risings of the sun unto the settings; those whom he has called, and those whom he has not called, shall go with him." ^B And Jeremias also, using a metaphor concerning him, speaks thus: "The partridge has cried, it has gathered what it did not lay, getting wealth for itself not with judgment; in the middle of his days they shall abandon him, and at the end of his days he shall be a fool." ^C It will not, therefore, hinder the matter before us to explain also the nature of the animal, and that the prophet did not make this statement [(14)] in vain by using the animal as a parable. For the partridge is a vain animal, and when it sees near it the nest of another partridge containing chicks, having the parent of them flown away to pasture, it mimics the voice of the stranger and calls the chicks to its own side; and they, thinking it is their own father, run toward it. ^D LIV. Since from these passages, the Antichrist's tribe has been proven, as have his manifestation and his destruction; and his name has been obscurely designated and hidden in an enigma; let us see also what he is about to do. For he himself shall gather to himself every people from every region where they have been dispersed, taking them as if they were his own children and treating them as his own, promising that he will restore their land, and that he will raise up their kingdom and people, so that he may be worshipped by them as God, just as the prophet says: "He shall gather all his kingdom from the rising of the sun to the setting. Those whom he has called, and those whom he has not called, shall come with him." Jeremias also speaks of him in the same way under the metaphor of a bird: "The partridge has cried: it has gathered what it did not lay; acquiring its wealth not with judgment. In the middle of his days they shall abandon him; and he shall be in his last days a fool."

LV. Nothing, therefore, will hinder us, for the sake of the present argument, from also describing the nature and craft of the animal, and showing that the prophet did not speak these things in vain when using the likeness of this animal. For because the partridge is a proud animal, when it sees near it the nest of another partridge in which there are chicks, and whose parent has flown off to pasture, it calls the chicks to itself with the voice of a rival; the chicks, truly believing it to be their own parent, run to it.

^A And it prides itself on the chicks of others, as if they were its own. But when the true parent returns and calls out with its own voice, the chicks recognize it, and having abandoned the deceiver, they go to their true parent. The prophet used the same trope in a similar way regarding the Antichrist: for he will call humanity to himself, wishing to claim what belongs to another as his own, promising salvation to all, though he is unable to save even himself.

LVI. Having thus gathered to himself the people who have always been ^B disobedient, wherever they exist among the nations, he comes, urged on by their requests, to take vengeance upon the saints, who are their enemies and adversaries, just as the apostle and evangelist says: "There was a judge in a city, who did not fear God, nor did he revere man. And there was a certain widow in that city who kept coming to him, saying: 'Vindicate me from my adversary.' But he would not for a long time. But after these things he said within himself: 'Even if I do not fear God, nor revere man, yet because this widow is troublesome to me, I will vindicate her.'"

LVII. ^C He undoubtedly calls the Antichrist the "judge of iniquity," who fears neither God nor man, as one who is the son of the devil and a vessel of Satan. For having attained a kingdom, he will begin to set himself up against God, neither truly fearing God, nor revering the Son of God, who is the judge of all. By saying that the widow is in the city, he indicates Jerusalem itself, which is truly a widow, abandoned by the perfect and heavenly God, her spouse. She calls this man her adversary and not her Savior, not understanding what was said by Jeremiah the prophet: "Because they did not believe the truth, then a spirit of error will speak to this people and to Jerusalem." ^D And Isaiah likewise: "Because this people did not wish to drink the water of Siloam, which flows in silence, but desires to have Rasin and the son of Romeliah as king over you; therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon you the water of the river, strong and many, the king of the Assyrians." By the symbol of the "king" he denotes the Antichrist, just as another prophet also says: "And this shall be peace from me, when the Assyrian shall come into your land, and when he shall ascend upon your mountains."

LVIII. Indeed, Moses likewise, when he foresaw that the people would reject and cast off the true Savior of the world,

and by choosing an earthly king would consent to error, ^A rejecting the heavenly One, he says: "Do not mark this, which has been gathered by me, and sealed in my treasuries? In the day of vengeance I will repay, and in time, when their foot shall slip." [Deut. xxxiv, 34, 35] They have therefore stumbled in everything, being found in nothing to be in agreement with the truth: neither according to the Law, because they became transgressors of it; nor according to the prophets, because they even murdered the prophets themselves; nor according to the voice of the Gospels, because they even crucified the Savior Himself; nor by obeying the apostles, because they persecuted them as well; having always been plotters and betrayers of the truth, found to be haters of God and not lovers of God, and those who then seized the opportunity; for they pray to obtain vengeance at the hand of a mortal man, rising up against the servants of God. He, swollen with pride ^B by them, begins to send out decrees against the saints everywhere, to have all killed who do not wish to worship and reverence him as God, even as Isaiah says: "Woe to the land of the wings of ships, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; he that sendeth ambassadors by the sea, and paper letters upon the water; for light messengers will go to a nation tall and strange, and a people cruel to them, a nation hopeless and trodden down." [Isa. xviii, 1, 2]

LIX. But we who hope in the Son of God suffer persecution from the unbelievers by whom we are trodden down. For the wings of the ships are the Churches; but the sea is the world, in which the Church is tossed like ^C a ship on the salt of the deep by the waves, and yet does not suffer shipwreck; for it has with it the skilled pilot, Christ. It carries also in its midst the trophy erected against death, for it bears with it the cross of the Lord. For its prow is the East; its stern, the West; its hold and middle capacity, the South; its rudders, the two Testaments; its stretched ropes, the love of Christ binding the Church together; and the line which it carries with it is the laver of regeneration which renews the faithful, from which come those glorious things. Instead of wind there is present

^A the Spirit from the heavens, by whom those who believe in God are sealed. There follow also iron anchors, the holy commandments of Christ themselves, being as powerful as iron. It has also sailors on the right hand and on the left, like holy angels standing by, by whose help the Church is held and guarded. There is in it a ladder leading up to the yardarm, an image of the saving passion of Christ, drawing the faithful to ascend to the heavens. And the standards raised high upon the yardarm are the packed ranks of the prophets, martyrs, and apostles, finders of rest in the kingdom of Christ.

LX. Concerning the tribulation of the persecution, which the adversary will bring upon the Church, John also speaks: ^B ‘And I saw a great and wondrous sign: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried out, laboring and tormented to give birth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she had given birth, he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a male child, who was to rule all the nations. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that they might feed her there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days 80. And then the dragon, seeing this, persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male. And there were given to the woman ^C two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is fed for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent sent out of his mouth after the woman water like a river, so that he might cause her to be swept away by the river. And the earth helped the woman, and opened its mouth, and swallowed up the river which the serpent had sent out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged against the woman, and went away to make war with the saints of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus 81.’

LXI. By the woman clothed with the sun, he signified most clearly the Church, clothed with the paternal Word, Who shines more brightly than the sun. ^D By saying, ‘the moon under her feet,’ he shows her adorned with heavenly brightness after the manner of the moon. But by saying, ‘upon her head a crown of twelve stars,’ he designates the twelve apostles, through whom the Church was founded. ‘And having in her womb, she cried out, laboring and tormented to give birth,’ because the Church does not cease to bear from her heart the Word, Who suffers persecution in the world by the unfaithful. ‘And she gave birth,’ he says, ‘to a male child, who...

was to rule all nations;’ that is to say, the Church, ^A which constantly gives birth to Christ, the male and perfect Son of God, Who is proclaimed as God and man, teaches all nations. And by saying, ‘Her child was caught up to God and to His throne,’ he signifies that He is a heavenly King, and not an earthly one, He Who is always being born through her, just as David also foresaw, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ ‘And he saw,’ he says, ‘the dragon, and he pursued the woman, who had given birth to the male. And there were given to the woman two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.’ These are the one thousand two hundred and sixty days, ^B the half of the week, during which the tyrant will hold power, persecuting the Church as she flees from city to city, and hiding in the wilderness in the mountains, having with her nothing else but the two wings of the great eagle, that is to say, the faith of Jesus Christ, Who, having stretched out His holy hands on the holy wood, spread out two wings, the right and the left, calling to Himself all who believe in Him, and sheltering them like a hen with her chicks. For indeed, he says through Malachi: ‘And to you who fear My name, the Sun of righteousness shall arise; and there is healing in His wings.’

LXII.

LXIII.

^A perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? And now you know what is restraining him, so that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of his mouth, and will destroy by the manifestation of his coming; whose coming is in accordance with the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth. And for this reason God will send upon them a working of error, so that they may believe the lie, in order that all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in unrighteousness. ^B Isaiah also says: “Let the ungodly be taken away, so that he may not see the glory of the Lord.”

LXIV. These things therefore being about to happen, beloved, and the one week being divided into two, and the abomination of desolation then appearing, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord having finished their own course, and the whole world now approaching its consummation; what remains, but that the Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, the God of heaven, should appear, in whom we have hoped? Who is to bring the conflagration and the righteous judgment upon all those who have not believed in him. For the Lord says: ^C “As these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption has drawn near. And not a hair of your head will perish. For as the lightning flashes from the east and shines to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” Now a corpse occurred in paradise; for there Adam fell. And he says again: “Then the Son of Man will send his angels, and will gather together his elect from the four winds of heaven.” David also, foretelling the judgment and the apparition of the Lord, says: “His going forth is from the end of heaven, and his circuit is to the end of heaven; and there is no one who will be hidden from his heat.” By heat, he calls the conflagration the heat. Isaiah likewise: “Go, my people, enter into your inner room; ^D close your door; hide yourself for a little while, until the wrath of the Lord has passed.” Paul likewise: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

LXV. Concerning the Resurrection and the Kingdom of the Saints

Daniel says: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Isaiah also says: “The dead shall rise, and those who are in the tombs shall awake, for the dew which is from you is healing for them.” The Lord says: “Many in that day will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” The prophet also says: “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you.” ^A John says: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection; over such the second death has no power.” For the second death is the lake of the burning fire. And again the Lord says: “Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the glory of his Father.” And he will say to the saints: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” ^B But what does he say to the wicked? “Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels,” which my Father has prepared. John says: “Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who does and loves a lie,” for your portion is in the gehenna of fire. Similarly, Isaiah also says: “And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of those who have transgressed against me. Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they shall be a sight to all flesh.”

LXVI. Concerning the Resurrection of the Just

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians about the resurrection of the just, says: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, ^C even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise…

and with the trumpet of God shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

LVII. I have set these things forth for you briefly, Theophile, as drawn from the divine Scriptures, so that by guarding with faith what has been written and looking forward to what is to come, you may keep yourself without offense to God and to men, awaiting the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, ^B in which, after raising our saints, He shall rejoice with them, glorifying the Father. To Him be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS BISHOP AND MARTYR DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE JEWS

FRANCISCO TURRIANO INTERPRETER.

1. Incline your ear, O Jew, and hear my words, and attend. You often boast that you condemned Jesus the Nazarene to death, and that you offered Him vinegar and gall to drink; and you think this is glorious. Come then, and let us consider together whether you boast unjustly, O Israel, and whether that little vinegar and gall brought this terrible threat upon you; whether it is because of that that you are in these infinite calamities.

II. Let there come forth into the midst, therefore, he who speaks through the Holy Spirit and is truthful, David the son of Jesse. He, while singing certain things prophetically concerning the true Christ, and celebrating our God by the singing of the Holy Spirit, clearly heralded everything that was done by the Jews during His passion; in which Christ, who humbled Himself and put on the form of the servant Adam, as if from our own person, calls upon God the Father who is in heaven, and says in the 68th Psalm: “Save me, O God, for the waters have entered even unto my soul.”

^A I am stuck in the mire of the deep,” that is, into the corruption of Hades, because of the disobedience in paradise; “and there is no substance,” that is, no help. “My eyes failed from hoping in my God, for when He shall come and save me.”

Then, having said these things, Christ speaks henceforth as if from His own person: “‘The things which I did not plunder,’ He says, ‘then I restored,’” that is, those things which I did not sin, for the sin of Adam I endured death. “‘Because, O God, You know my foolishness, and my transgressions from You are not hidden,’” that is, He says, I did not transgress; therefore, “‘let them not be ashamed who wait for me to see my three-day resurrection,’” that is, the apostles. “‘Because on Your account,’” that is, for the sake of obeying You, “‘I have suffered reproach,’” that is, the cross, ^B when the Jews “covered my face with shame;” when “‘I became estranged to my brothers by blood, and a stranger to the sons of my mother,’” that is, the Synagogue. “‘Because the zeal of Your house, Father, has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You,’” and of those who sacrifice to idols, “‘have fallen upon me.’” Therefore, “‘those who sat in the gates talked against me;’” for they crucified me outside the gate; “‘and they sang against me who drink wine,’” that is, at the feast of the Passover. “‘But I, in my prayer to You, O Lord,’ was saying: ‘Father, forgive them,’” that is, the Gentiles, “because it is the time of the good pleasure of the Gentiles. May not therefore the storm” of temptations “overwhelm me, ^C nor the deep swallow me up,” that is, Hades. “‘For You will not abandon my soul to Hades,’” nor “‘let the pit close its mouth upon me,’” that is, the tomb. “‘For the sake of my enemies, deliver me,’” so that the Jews may not boast, saying, “Let us swallow him up.”

All these things Christ prayed economically as a man, being true God. But, as I have said before, it was the form of a servant that was saying and suffering these things. Wherefore He added, saying: “‘My soul awaited reproach and misery,’” that is, I suffered voluntarily, not because of any force; yet “‘I waited for someone who would sorrow with me, and there was none.’” For all my disciples left me and fled; “‘and I sought for one to comfort me, and did not find.’” ^D

Hear attentively, O Jew, what Christ says: “‘They gave gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.’” And these things He suffered at your hands. Hear the Holy Spirit saying what He repaid you in return for that little vinegar. For the prophet says, as if from the person of God: “‘Let their table become a snare, and for a retribution.’” Which retribution 32 Christ says: “They gave into my food gall, and into my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” For it is written in the sixty-eighth Psalm in the person of Christ: “And they gave into my food gall, and into my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Or let the Jews say who he is who says these things in the prophet, and let them demonstrate from history the one who was fed with gall for food and given vinegar to drink.

^A What recompense does he speak of? It is manifest: the misery that now holds you.

VI. Hear then what follows: “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.” But you have been darkened in the eyes of your soul with a dark and eternal blindness. For when the true light rose, you wandered as in the night, stumbling and falling in pathless places, as those who have forsaken the way that said: “I am the way.” Then hear what is more urgent: “And bow down their back always.” That is, that they may serve the nations, not for four hundred and thirty years, as in Egypt, nor for seventy, as in Babylon, but always, he says, bow [them] down into slavery. What then do you hope to be delivered from the misery that possesses you, vainly and to no purpose? For what is more astonishing is this: it is not unjustly that he prayed for the blinding of your eyes, but because you covered the eyes of Christ (whose) you were slapping. And for this reason, “bow your back always” into slavery. And because you poured out his blood with wrath, hear the requital: “Pour out upon them thy wrath, and let the fury of thy anger take hold of them.” And: “Let their habitation be desolate”; the famous temple, of course. ^B

VII. But why, O prophet, explain to us, why was the temple devastated? Was it on account of that old construction of the calf? Was it on account of the people’s idolatry? Was it on account of the blood of the prophets? Was it on account of the adultery and fornication of Israel? By no means, he says. For in all those cases they were always deemed worthy of forgiveness and indulgence. But it is because they put to death the Son of the Benefactor, for he is co-eternal with the Father. Whence he says: Let, O Father, “their temple be desolate; for they persecuted him whom thou” for the salvation of the world willingly “didst strike,” that is, they persecuted me with a violent and unjust death. For this is what it signifies, “and they have added to the pain of my wounds.” Firstly, I had pain as a lover of mankind because of the error of the nations, but to this pain they added another for me, having wandered themselves. Therefore, “add iniquity upon their iniquity, and let them not enter into thy justice,” that is, into thy kingdom, “but let them be wiped out of the book of the living, and not be written with the just,” that is, with their holy fathers and patriarchs. ^{C D}

VIII. What do you say to this, O Jew? Neither Matthew nor Paul says these things, but David, your own Christ, who renders and pronounces the fearful judgments against you on account of Christ. And like the great Job, speaking to you who talk against the just and true, he utters thus: You bought Christ like a slave; you came to him like a robber in the garden.

IX. I shall also bring into the middle the prophecy of Solomon concerning Christ, that which openly and clearly, that which to the Jews

them at the present time, but also what will happen to them in the future world on account of the insolence and daring which they committed against the Prince of Life. For the prophet says: "The ungodly reasoned," regarding Christ, saying correctly: "Let us lie in wait for the righteous, because he is difficult for us, and he is opposed to our works and our words, and he reproaches us for our sins against the law, and he boasts that he has the knowledge of God, and he calls himself the Son of God." Then he says: "He is grievous to us even to behold, because his life is unlike others, and his paths are strange. We are considered by him as counterfeit, and he abstains from our ways as from filthiness, and he blesses the final end of the righteous."

And again, hear this, O Jew. No one among the righteous or the prophets called himself the Son of God. Solomon, therefore, says again, as if in the person of the Jews, concerning this righteous one, who is Christ: ^B "That he became unto us a rebuke of our thoughts, and he boasts that he has God as his Father. Let us see, therefore, if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end; for if the righteous one is the Son of God, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hands of those who oppose him. Let us condemn him with a shameful death; for there will be a visitation of him from his words."

And again, David says in the Psalms concerning the future world: "Then Christ shall speak to them in his wrath, and in his anger he shall trouble them." And again, Solomon says concerning Christ and the Jews, that when the righteous one stands in great confidence before the face ^C of those who afflicted him, and of those who rejected his words, they, seeing him, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and they shall be amazed at the unexpectedness of his salvation; and they shall say within themselves, acting in repentance, and groaning for the anguish of spirit: "This is he whom we once held in derision and as a proverb of reproach. We fools accounted his life as madness, and his end as without honor. How is he numbered among the sons of God, and his lot is with the saints? Therefore we have wandered from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shone upon us, and the sun has not risen upon us. We have filled ourselves with the paths of iniquity and destruction. We have traveled through pathless ^D deserts, but we have not known the way of the Lord. What has our pride profited us? All those things have passed away like a shadow."

OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS FROM THE DISCOURSE TO THE GREEKS ENTITLED AGAINST PLATO, ON THE CAUSE OF THE UNIVERSE

^A I. And that is the place of the demons. Now it is necessary to speak about Hades, in which the souls of the just and of the unjust are contained. Hades is a region in the creation, unconstructed and unadorned; it is a subterranean receptacle in which the light of the world does not shine. Since, therefore, the light of this world does not shine in this region, it is necessary that there be perpetual darkness. That region has been assigned as a prison for souls, in which guardian angels have been established, distributing to each according to their deeds the temporary punishments for their ways; and in this region a certain place is set apart, a lake of unquenchable fire, into which we suppose that no one has yet been cast or thrust; but it has been prepared for the day predetermined by God, when ^B

^A one sentence of righteous judgment shall be justly rendered for all. And the unjust, who have disobeyed God and honored as God the vain works of human hands, the idols—they, having become causes of defilements, shall be adjudged to this eternal punishment. But the righteous shall attain to the incorruptible and unending kingdom. They are indeed now contained in Hades, but not in the same place as the unjust. For there is one descent to this region, at the gate of which we believe an archangel is set with an army. Having passed through this gate, those who are led down by the angels appointed over souls do not journey by one and the same road; but the righteous, being led to the right through the light, and hymned ^B by the angels stationed there in their places, are brought into a luminous region. In this place the righteous from the beginning live, not held by necessity, but always enjoying the vision of the good things seen, and gladdened by the expectation of those things that are new each time, deeming them better than the present ones. To them, this place does not beget toil; there is no heat, no cold, no thorn in it, but only the smile of the face of the righteous fathers, who ever look upon them, waiting after this region for rest and eternal revival in heaven. And the name we call this place is the bosom of Abraham. But the unjust are dragged to the left by tormenting angels, no longer proceeding willingly, but being dragged as prisoners with force, by whom the ^C angels set over them are sent to mock them, and threatening them with a terrifying eye, thrust them into the lower parts; these the angels set over them drag when led along until they are near Gehenna. Those who are nearer indeed constantly hear its boiling, and are not without its vapor and heat. But from this very close sight, seeing the terrifying and exceeding vision of the fire, they are frozen, cast down by the expectation of the future judgment, being already in potentiality punished. But also there ^D they see the region of the fathers and the righteous, and

^A they are punished by this very fact. For a deep and great chaos is fixed between, so that neither a righteous man, moved by compassion, can cross ^B over and be received, nor can any unjust man dare to cross it.

II. And these things were to be said concerning Hades, in which the souls of all are held until the time which God has determined—at which time he will bring about the resurrection of all, not by transferring souls from one body to another, but by raising up the very bodies themselves. If, seeing them dissolved, you deny the faith, O Greeks, learn not to be incredulous. For having believed that the soul was created and made immortal by God—according to the teaching ^C of Plato—do not, by reason of time, disbelieve that God is also able to make the body, which was composed and fashioned from the same elements, immortal, calling it back to life. For it will not be said of God that the one is possible and the other impossible. We, therefore, believe that the body also will rise again. For if it is corrupted, it is not completely destroyed; for the earth receiving its remains guards them; and, having become like seeds and intertwined with the richness of the earth, it blooms. And that which is sown is sown as a naked grain, but at the command ^D of the creating God it rises flourishing, clothed, and glorious, not until it has died, been dissolved, and mingled with the earth. So that we do not believe in the resurrection of bodies in vain. For even though the body is dissolved for a time, on account of the transgression committed from the beginning, it is committed to the earth as if to a furnace, to be formed again at some point: it will rise, not such as it is now, but pure and no longer subject to corruption. And to each body its own soul will be restored; and clothed in it, it will not grieve, but will rejoice with it, pure inhabiting the pure. To it, having now in the world justly acted as a companion, and having in nothing been its adversary, it will again receive it with all joy. But the unjust will not receive bodies that have been changed, nor freed from passions or diseases, nor will they receive them glorified; but they will certainly be judged in those in which they ended their life.

III. For all, whether just or unjust, will be led before God the Word. For to him the Father has given all judgment. And he, fulfilling the will of the Father, will arrive as judge; he, I say, whom we call Christ. For neither Minos nor Rhadamanthus, whom you Greeks imagine, will be the judges; but that one whom God and the Father has glorified, concerning whom we have discoursed more in detail in other places for the sake of those who seek the truth.

^A He, exercising the just judgment of the Father upon all, has prepared what is equitable and just for each according to his works. Standing before whose judgment, all—both men and angels and demons—will utter this one voice, saying: "Just is your judgment." The equity of this voice appears in the retribution for both: since for those who have done well, eternal enjoyment is justly provided, while for those who are lovers of evil things, eternal punishment is dealt out. And for these, an unquenchable fire remains that will never be brought to an end, and a fiery worm that does not die, nor does it consume the body, but it remains, boiling and seething forth from the body with unceasing pain. No sleep will bring to them cessation and rest; no night will soothe or soften their pains; no death will solve their tortures; no exhortation of kinsmen interceding will profit them. For the righteous are no longer seen by them, nor are they worthy of any memory. ^B But the righteous alone will be mindful of the righteous deeds through which they attained to the heavenly kingdom: in which there is no sleep, nor pain, nor corruption, nor anxiety, nor night, nor day measured by time, nor sun driving its course by a certain necessity through the circle of the heaven, setting the measures of the hours or of the turning points, and marking out the hours to make the life of men easily known; no moon waning or waxing, which brings about the changes of the seasons and wets the earth; no burning sun, no revolving Bear, no rising of Orion, no numberless errors of the stars, no inaccessible land, nor porch of paradise difficult to find, nor grievous roaring of the sea preventing him who is carried from walking upon it; for even this will be passable for the righteous, even though it may not be deprived of moisture. ^C Heaven will not be inaccessible to men, and the way by which one may ascend and climb will not be such that it cannot be found. There will not be a land rough and uncultivated, creating labor and trouble for men, but one springing forth fruits spontaneously for cultivation and adornment. There will be no repeated generations of wild beasts, nor seething and boiling substance of other animals. For neither do men then beget again; but the number of the righteous remains unfailing, together with the righteous angels and spirits. Having obeyed these words, O men, and believing those things, you will be companions of the righteous ^D and will obtain the future blessings which "neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have they ascended into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." To Him be glory and power unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS, ARCHBISHOP AND MARTYR, AGAINST THE HERESY OF A CERTAIN NOETUS

^A 1. Others introduce a different doctrine, having become disciples of a certain Noetus, who was a Smyrnean by birth, not long ago. He, being puffed up and carried away by pride, elate with the estimation of an alien spirit, declared that Christ is the Father himself, and that the Father himself was born, suffered, and died. See how great a pride of heart and inflation of an alien spirit entered into him. Now, therefore, it is detected from his other acts that he did not speak with a clean spirit; for he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is cast out from the divine lot. He asserted that he himself was Moses, and his brother Aaron. When the blessed presbyters heard these things, they summoned him and examined him before the church. He, however, denied at first that he held such opinions. But afterwards, lurking among certain people and having gathered others who were in the same error, he wished to defend his dogma openly. The presbyters summoned him again and refuted him. But he resisted, saying, "What evil, then, do I do, glorifying Christ?" To him the presbyters answered: "We also truly know one God; we know Christ; we know ^{B C}

the Son who suffered just as he suffered, died just as he died, rose again on the third day, and is at the right hand of the Father, and who is coming to judge the living and the dead." And these things we say which we have learned. Then they convicted him and cast him out of the church ^A; for he had reached such a point of pride that he began to set up a school.

These also wish to establish a basis for their dogma, saying: "It is said in the Law, 'I am the God of your fathers; there shall be no other gods for you besides me.' And again in another place, 'I,' he says, 'am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no one.'" Thus they assert that they prove there is one God. To whom they reply: "If, therefore, we confess Christ to be God, then he himself is the Father, if indeed he is God; but Christ suffered, being himself God; therefore the Father suffered. For he was the Father." But it is not so; nor do the Scriptures relate it thus. They use also other testimonies, saying thus: "It is written: 'This is our God; no other shall be reckoned alongside him. He has found out every path of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved; after these things he appeared on earth and conversed with men.'" "You see, then," he says, "that this is God, who is alone, and afterward appeared on earth, and conversed with men." And in another place, he says, "the Scripture says: 'Egypt has labored, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians and the Sabeans, men of tall stature, shall pass over to you; and they shall be your servants, and shall walk behind you bound in shackles, and they shall worship in you, because God is in you; and they shall pray in you, because there is no God beside you. For you are God, and we did not know, the God of Israel, the Savior.'" "You see," he says, "how the Scriptures proclaim one God?" Because this is clearly declared, and since these things are thus testified, it is necessary, one having been established by confession, to subject this one to suffering. "For Christ was God, and suffered for our sakes, himself being the Father, so that he might be able to save us." "Other than this," he says, "we cannot say; for even the Apostle confesses one God, saying, 'Whose are the fathers, of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God blessed for ever.'"

^B II. They wish, however, to establish and confirm their dogma because it is in the Law: "I am the God of your fathers; there shall be no other gods for you besides me." And again in another place, "I am the first, and I am the last; and after me there is no other." Thus they claim to prove that there is one God. And they answer: "If we confess Christ to be God, then he is the Father, if he is God; but Christ, being God, has suffered; therefore the Father has suffered. For he himself was the Father." But it is not so; for the Scriptures do not interpret it in this way. Moreover, they use other testimonies. For they say it is written to this effect: "This is our God; no other will be regarded alongside him. He has discovered every path of knowledge, and has given it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved; ^C after these things he was seen on earth, and conversed with men." "You see, therefore," he says, "that this is God, who is alone, and later was seen on earth, and conversed with men?" And in another place he says: "Labor has come through Egypt, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians and the Sabeans; tall men shall pass over to you; and they shall be your servants; and they shall walk behind you bound in shackles of their hands, and they shall worship in you, because God is in you; and they shall pray in you, because there is no God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know, the God of Israel, the Savior." "You see," he says, "how the Scriptures preach one God? Since this has been openly declared, since these things have been thus attested; it is necessary, one being established by confession, to subject this one to suffering. For Christ was God, and suffered for us while he was the Father, so that he might be able to save us." "For we cannot," he says, "say otherwise; since the Apostle confesses one God when he says: 'Whose are the fathers, from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God blessed for ever.'"

^D III. Thus they wish to recount these things, and to use mutilated passages, just as Theodotus did when he wished to prove Christ was [alt-version omitted]

a mere man. But neither they nor those others have understood the truth, as the Scriptures themselves refute their ignorance, testifying to the truth. ^A See, brothers, how rash and daring a dogma they have introduced, shamelessly saying: "Christ himself is the Father, he himself is the Son, he himself was born, he himself suffered, he himself raised himself from the dead." But it is not so; for the Scriptures speak correctly, but Noetus understands them differently. Yet it does not follow that because Noetus does not understand, the Scriptures are to be rejected. For who would not say that there is one God? Yet he would not immediately deny the economy (that is, the incarnation). ^B Therefore, it is necessary first to refute these points according to their mindset, but then to explain them according to the truth. For it is truly necessary first to set forth that the Father is one God, "from whom every paternity, through whom are all things, and from whom are all things, and we in him."

IV. Let us see, as I said, his refutation, then we will set forth the truth. For he says: "Egypt hath labored, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and of the Sabeans," ^C and what follows up to the place where he says: "Thou art the God of Israel, the Savior." He recites these things, not understanding what was said before. For when they wish to act maliciously and with evil intent, they mangle the Scriptures. But let him recite it in its entirety, and he will find the cause for which these things are said. For a little above is the beginning of the passage; from where it is necessary to begin in order to teach to whom and concerning whom he speaks. For the beginning of the passage above has it thus: ^D "Ask me concerning my sons and my daughters, and concerning the works of my hands command me. I made the earth and man upon it. I with my hand established the heaven. I have commanded all the stars. I raised him up, and all his ways are right. He shall build my city, and shall turn away my captivity, not for price, nor for rewards, said the Lord of Sabaoth. Thus said the Lord of Sabaoth: Egypt hath labored, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians and of the Sabeans, men of stature shall pass over unto thee, and they shall be thy servants; and they shall follow thee bound in hand-chains, and they shall worship in thee, and they shall pray in thee; because God is in thee, and there is no God besides thee. For thou art God, and we knew it not; the God of Israel, the Savior. In thee, therefore, he says, is God." But in whom is God, except in Christ Jesus, the Word of the Father, and in the mystery of the economy, that is, of the incarnation? Concerning whom, again teaching, he signifies his flesh when he says: "I raised him up with justice, and all his ways are right." What then? Concerning whom does the Father testify in this place? The Father says concerning the Son: "I raised him up with justice." That the Father raised his Son in justice, the apostle Paul testifies, when he says: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead dwell in you; he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead"

will also vivify your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you. Behold, that which was spoken through the prophet is confirmed: "I have raised up with justice." And the statement that "God is in thee" demonstrated the mystery of the Economy, that while the Word was made flesh and became man, the Father was in the Son, and the Son in the Father, the Son being ^A conversant among men. This, therefore, was signified, brethren, that this Word was truly the mystery of the Economy from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin, having produced one Son for God. But this I do not say; the One who descended from heaven himself testifies to it, for so he says: "No man hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven." What, then, does he seek beyond what has been said? Will he perhaps say that there was flesh in heaven? There is, indeed, the flesh which was offered by the Word of the Father as a gift; the ^B flesh, I say, manifested from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin, having been shown to be the perfect Son of God. It is manifest, therefore, that he himself offered himself to the Father. But before this, there was no flesh in heaven. Who, then, was in heaven, if not the Word without flesh, who was sent in order that he who was on earth might show himself to be also in heaven? For the Word was, the Spirit was, the Power was. He took into himself this common name, which is also comprehensible to men, being called from the beginning the Son of man on account of the future, ^C although he was not yet man, as Daniel testifies, saying: "I beheld, and lo, one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven." Rightly, therefore, did he who was in heaven with this name, being this from the beginning, say that he was called the Word of God from the beginning.

"But," he says, "what does he say to me in another place: 'This is God; no other shall be accounted equivalent to him'?" Well said. For who shall be accounted equivalent to the Father? And what he says: "This is our God; no other shall be accounted equivalent to him. He found out all the way of knowledge, and gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved by him." Well said. For who ^D is Jacob his servant, and Israel his beloved by him, but this one about whom he cries out, saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him"? Having therefore received all the knowledge from the Father, the perfect Israel, the true Jacob, afterward appeared on the earth and associated with men. And who is Israel, but the man who sees God? But seeing God...

^A no one sees God, except only the child and perfect man, and the only one who has recounted the counsel of the Father. For John also says: “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has recounted it.” And again: “He who descends from heaven, what he has heard and seen, he testifies.” This, therefore, is he to whom the Father has given all knowledge, who appeared on the earth and associated with men.

VI. But what the Apostle says: “Whose are the fathers, from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever,” ^B he narrates the mystery of the truth beautifully and clearly. This one who is over all is God, for he speaks thus with boldness: “All things have been delivered to me by the Father.” The one who is over all, God blessed, has been begotten, and having become man, is God for ever. For thus also John said: “He who is, and who was, and who is coming, the God Almighty.” He rightly called Christ Almighty. For he said this which Christ himself will also testify. For testifying, Christ said: “All things have been delivered to me by the Father”; and he holds dominion over all; Christ was established Almighty by the Father. And now also Paul, showing that all things have been delivered to him, said thus: “The firstfruits Christ, then those who are Christ’s at his coming; then the end, when he shall deliver the kingdom to God and the Father; when he shall have abolished every principality and every power and virtue. For he must reign until he puts all enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death. For he has subjected all things under his feet. But when he says: All things are subjected to him, it is clear that it is except the one who subjected all things to him. Then also the Son himself shall be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.” ^C If, therefore, all things are subjected to him except the one who subjected all things, he holds dominion over all; but the Father holds his dominion: that God may be revealed as one in all, to whom all things are subjected together with Christ, to whom the Father subjected all things except himself. For Christ said this, as in the Gospel he confessed both his own Father and God. For he says thus: “I am going to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” If therefore Noetus dares to say that he is the Father, to which Father will he say that Christ is going, according to the evangelical voice? And if he claims... ^D

that, having abandoned the Gospel, one should believe in his own folly, he labors in vain; for “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts v, 29).

VI. If, however, he should say: “He Himself said: ‘I and the Father are one’” (John x, 30), let him pay attention to the mind and learn that He did not say: “I and the Father am one,” but “are one.” For “are” is not said of one, but He pointed out two persons, yet one power or virtue. He Himself explained this when He spoke to the Father concerning the disciples: “The glory which You gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one, just as We are one. I in them, and You in Me; that they may be perfect in one, that the world may know that You sent Me” (John xvii, 22, 23). What can the Noetians say to this? Are all of them one body according to substance, or are we made one by the power and disposition of unanimity and concord? In the same way the Son, who was sent and was not recognized by those who were in the world, confessed that He was in the Father by power and disposition. For the Son is one mind with the Father. We who have the mind of the Father believe thus; but those who do not have the mind have denied the Son. And if they should also wish to quote what was asked by Philip regarding the Father, saying: “Show us the Father, and it is enough for us,” to whom the Lord replied, saying: “Have I been with you for so long a time, Philip, and you have not known Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” (John xiv, 8, 9), and if they wish to say that through this their dogma is confirmed, since He Himself confesses that He is the Father, let them know that they are bringing the greatest contradiction upon themselves, being refuted and convicted by the very text itself. For since Christ had said and shown Himself in all things to be the Son, they did not recognize Him, nor were they able to understand or contemplate His power. And because Philip could not grasp this, insofar as it was possible to see, he asked to see the Father. To whom the Lord said: “Philip, have I been with you for so long a time, and you have not known Me? He who has seen Me, has seen the Father.” That is to say: If you have seen Me, you can know the Father through Me. For by ^B the ^C image which is comparable, the Father becomes known. ^D

But if you have not known the image, which is the Son, how do you wish to see the Father? That these things are so, the words added to the chapter and those that follow make clear; which signify that the ^A Son is proposed as sent by the Father and proceeding to the Father.

VIII. Many other things—indeed, everything—bear witness to this truth. Therefore, even if he is unwilling, he must confess the Father to be God Almighty, and Christ Jesus to be the Son of God, having become God and man, to whom the Father has subjected all things except Himself, and the Holy Spirit, and that these are truly three. But if he wishes to learn how one God is demonstrated, let him know that there is one power of this [God]. And as far as power is concerned, God is one; but as far as the economy ^B or disposition is concerned, the manifestation is threefold, as will be demonstrated later when we render an account concerning the truth. These things, therefore, brothers, are shown to us as having been spoken in harmony. For there is one God whom we must believe: unbegotten, impassible, immortal, doing all things as He wills, how He wills, when He wills. What, then, will Noetus dare to say to these things, not understanding the truth? Since, therefore, Noetus has already been refuted, let us come to the demonstration of the truth, that we may establish the truth against which so many and such great heresies ^C have arisen, being able to say nothing.

IX. There is one God, whom we do not recognize from another source, brothers, than from the holy Scriptures. For just as if anyone should wish to practice the wisdom of this world, he will not be able to attain this unless he peruses the dogmas of the philosophers; so, whoever of us wishes to practice piety toward God will learn it from no other source than the divine Scriptures. Whatever, therefore ^D the holy Scriptures proclaim, let us see, and whatever they teach, let us understand, and as the Father wills our belief to be...

let us believe; and as he wills the Son to be glorified, let us glorify him; and as he wills the Holy Spirit to be bestowed, let us receive him. Not according to our own inclination, nor according to our own mind, nor by forcing those things which have been given by God; but in the manner that he himself willed to show through the holy Scriptures, so let us see.

God, being alone and having nothing coeval with himself, willed to create the world. Thinking of the world, and willing, and speaking, he brought it into being, and that which was made stood forth immediately as he had willed. It is sufficient, therefore, for us to know only that nothing is coeval with God. There was nothing except him; and being alone, he was multiple 88. For he was not without reason, nor without wisdom, nor without power, nor without counsel. Everything was in him, and he himself was all. When he willed 89, even as he willed, he showed forth his Word at times defined by him, through whom he made all things. When he wills, he acts; when he contemplates, he brings to completion; when he speaks, he manifests; when he forms, he acts with wisdom. For all things that were made are fashioned through reason and wisdom, creating by reason and adorning with wisdom. He made, therefore, as he willed, for he was God. Of the things that were coming into being, he begot the Word 90 as leader and counselor and worker; which Word, having in himself—and being ^A invisible to the world that was being created—he renders visible, bringing forth a prior voice, and begetting light from light 91, he produced for creation a Lord, his own mind 92—who indeed was previously visible to him alone, but was invisible ^B to the world that was being created—he renders visible, in order that the world, through seeing him who appeared, might be able to be saved.

Ⅺ. And thus, another stood by him. But in saying 93 another, I do not mean two Gods, but as light from light, or as water from a spring, or as a ray from the sun. For there is one power which is from the whole; but the whole is the Father, from whom is the power, the Word. This truly is the mind 94, which going forth into the world was shown as the Son of God. All things, therefore, are through him, while he himself is alone from the Father. Who, therefore, comes forward ^C to say...

^A that a multitude of gods is brought forward from time to time? For everyone is forced, even against their will, to admit that all things flow back to one. If, therefore, all things flow back to one, even according to Valentinus, and Marcion, and Cerinthus, and all their drivel, they have fallen into this, even against their will, that they must confess the one cause of all things. Thus, then, even they, though unwilling, concur with the truth in saying that there is one God who made all things as he willed. This one gave the law and the prophets, and by giving it, he compelled them to speak through the Holy Spirit, in order that, having received the inspiration of the Father's power, they might announce the counsel and will of the Father.

XII. In these things, therefore, the Word was engaged, speaking of himself. For he was already his own herald; and he was showing that it would come to pass that the Word would appear among men. For this reason he cried out thus: «I became manifest to those who did not seek me; I was found by those who did not inquire for me.» But who is it that has become manifest, if not the Word of the Father? Whom the Father, in sending, showed to men the authority that is his own. Thus, then, the Word became manifest, even as the blessed John says. For he repeats summarily what was said by the prophets, demonstrating that this is the Word through whom all things were made. For he says ^B thus: «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him not one thing was made.» And lower down he says: «The world was made through him, and the world knew him not. He came into his own, and his own did not receive him.» If, therefore, he said, the world was made through him, as the Prophet says: «By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established,» ergo this is the Word which was made manifest. Therefore, we perceive the Word incarnate; we understand the Father through him; we believe in the Son; we worship the Holy Spirit. Let us see, therefore, the things that are written, that it was indeed proclaimed that the Word would be made manifest.

XIII. Jeremiah also says: «Who has stood in the ^C counsel of the Lord, and has seen his Word?» But the Word of God alone is visible; the word of a man is audible. When he speaks of seeing the Word, it is necessary for me to believe that this visible one was sent. But there is no other who was sent than the Word. And that he who was sent is he, Peter testifies, when he said to Cornelius the centurion: «God sent his Word to the sons of Israel through the preaching of Jesus Christ. He is God, the Lord of all.» If, therefore, the Word is sent through Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the will of the Father. ^D

XIV. ^A These things, then, brethren, the Scriptures signify. The blessed John also delivers this economy to us in his Gospel, bearing witness, and he confesses this Word to be God, saying thus: «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.» If therefore the Word was with God, being God, what then? Will someone say that John speaks of two Gods? I will not say two Gods, but one; yet two Persons, and a third economy, which is the grace of the Holy Spirit. For the Father is one, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and the third is the Holy Spirit. The Father commands, the Word performs, and ^B the Son is manifested, through whom the Father is believed. The economy of concord is gathered into one God; for one is God, who commands—the Father—and who obeys—the Son—and who teaches knowledge—the Holy Spirit. The Father, who is «over all,» and the Son, «through all,» and the Holy Spirit, «in all.» Moreover, we cannot think of one God unless we truly believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For the Jews glorified the Father, but they did not offer thanks, because they did not recognize the Son. The disciples recognized the Son, but not in the Holy Spirit, which is why they also denied him. Therefore, the paternal Word, knowing the economy and the will of the Father—that the Father does not wish to be glorified ^C otherwise than in this way—arose and delivered it to the disciples, saying: «Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,» showing that whoever fails in any one of these, has not perfectly glorified God. For it is through this Trinity that the Father is glorified. For the Father willed, the Son performed, the Holy Spirit manifested. All the Scriptures, therefore, preach concerning this.

XV. ^D But someone will say to me: "You offer me something strange, when you call the Son the Word." For John indeed says "the Word," but otherwise...

he interprets it allegorically. ^A Nay, it is not interpreted allegorically in another way: for in showing that this Word of God was from the beginning and has now been sent, he said afterwards in the Apocalypse: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he who sat upon it is faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are as a flame of fire; and on his head are many diadems; having a name written, which no one knows except himself. And he was clothed in a vesture sprinkled with blood; and his name is called, The Word of God." ^B See then, brethren, how by a symbol the vesture sprinkled with blood described the flesh, through which the impassible Word of God came to undergo passion, just as the prophets bear witness to me. For thus says the blessed Micah: "The house of Jacob provoked the Spirit of the Lord. These are their practices. Are not his words good with them, and do they walk uprightly? But they have risen up in enmity against his peace, they have stripped off his glory." That is, they caused him to suffer in the flesh. Likewise the blessed Paul also says: "For what was impossible for the law, in which it was weak through the flesh; God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be manifested in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." What Son of his own, then, did God send through the flesh, if not the Word, whom he called Son because he was to have a birth? And the Son, being so called, assumes the common name of love toward mankind. ^C For neither was the Word, by himself and without flesh, a perfect Son, although he was the perfect Word, the Only-begotten. Nor was the flesh...

^A able to subsist by itself without the Word, because it had its consistency in the Word; that is, it subsisted in the Word. Thus, therefore, one perfect Son of God was manifested. 12

XVI. And these indeed are the testimonies concerning the incarnation of the Word: and there are very many others. Let us see now what is set before us: that in truth, brethren, the Power of the Father, which is the Word of God, descended from heaven, and not the Father himself. For he says thus: "I went forth from the Father, and I come" (John XVI, 28). But what is it that went forth 12 from the Father, if not the Word? And what is that which was begotten of him, if not the Spirit, that is, the Word? But you will say to me: "How was he begotten?" You cannot explain the account of your own generation, as you were begotten, although you see each day the human cause, and yet you are not able to describe the ^B economy concerning it with precision. For it is not permitted to you to know the experienced and unutterable art of the Creator, but only, by seeing, to understand and believe that man is the work of God. Yet you inquire concerning the generation of the Word, whom God the Father, willing it, begat as he willed. Is it not enough for you to learn that God made the world, but you also dare to seek out from whence he made it? Or is it not enough for you to learn that the Son of God was manifested to you for salvation, if you believe, but you must also curiously investigate how he was begotten according to the Spirit? And whereas it was granted to no more than two 14 to recount his generation according to the flesh, you dare to seek out the account according to the Spirit, which the Father keeps with himself, intending to reveal it then to the saints and to those worthy to see his face? ^C Be content with what was said by Christ: "That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit" (John III, 6). Even as through the Prophet he signifies the generation of the Word, that he has been begotten, but *how* he keeps for a time appointed by himself, intending to reveal it. For he says thus: "From the womb before the morning star I have begotten thee" (Ps. CIX, 3).

These testimonies are sufficient to exercise the faithful in the truth; but the unbelievers believe in nothing. For indeed the Holy Spirit testified in the person of the apostles, saying: "Lord, who hath believed our report?" (Isa. LIII, 1). So that we may not become unbelievers, lest that which is spoken be fulfilled in us. Let us believe, therefore, ^D beloved brethren, according to the tradition of the apostles (15), that God the Word descended from heaven to the holy Virgin Mary, in order that, having been incarnate from her, and having also taken a human soul—and I mean a rational one—being made all things that man is, except sin,

^A to save him who had fallen, and to bestow immortality upon men who would believe in his name. In all things, therefore, the word of truth has been demonstrated to us: that the Father is one, whose Word is present, through whom he made all things; whom the Father, as we said above, sent in later times for the salvation of men. This was proclaimed through the Law and the prophets as one who was to come into the world. Just as he was proclaimed, therefore, so when he was present he manifested himself, having become a new man from the Virgin and the Holy Spirit; possessing the heavenly element as the Father’s, as the Word, but the earthly element as if from the ancient Adam, being incarnate through the Virgin. Having come forth into the world, he appeared as God in a body, having come forth as a perfect man. For he did not become man by imagination or change, but truly.

^B XVIII. Thus, therefore, he who was demonstrated to be God does not refuse his own human conditions, when he hungers and labors, and being weary thirsts; when he flees in fear, and while praying is sorrowful, and sleeps upon a pillow—he who has a sleepless nature as God; when he shrinks from the cup of the passion, he who had come into the world for this very purpose; when he sweats in anxiety and is strengthened by an angel—he who strengthens those who believe in him, and taught them by his work to despise death; when he is betrayed by Judas, he who knew who Judas was; and is dishonored by Caiaphas, he who had shortly before been honored by him as God; when he is scorned by Herod, he who is to judge the whole earth; and is scourged by Pilate, he who took upon himself our infirmities; and is mocked by the soldiers, he whom thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand angels and archangels attend; and is fastened to the wood by the Jews, he who fixed the heaven like a canopy; and crying to the Father he commends his spirit, he who is inseparable from the Father; and bowing his head, he expires, he who said: "I have power to lay down my soul, and I have power to take it up again." That death did not rule over him, seeing that he was Life, he signifies when he said: "I lay it down of myself." And his side is pierced with a lance, he who bestows life upon all; and he is wrapped in a linen cloth and placed in a tomb, he who raises the dead; and on the third day he is raised by the Father, he who is himself the resurrection and the life. For he accomplished all these things for us, who for our sake was made as we are; "for he himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases," and suffered for us, as the prophet Isaiah said. Praised by angels, seen by shepherds, awaited by Simeon, attested by Anna, sought by the magi, signified by a star, he dwelt in the house of the Father, and was pointed out by the finger of John; to whom the Father...

living by the Father's home, and pointed out by John; ^A he who is testified to from above by the Father: "This is my beloved Son, hear him." [Matth. XVII, 5.] This one is crowned against the devil. This is Jesus the Nazarene who was called to the wedding in Cana of Galilee, and changed the water into wine, and rebuked the sea when it was tossed by the violence of the winds, and walked upon the sea as upon dry land, and made the man blind from birth to see, and raised Lazarus who had been dead four days, and performed various miracles, and forgave sins, and gave authority to the disciples, and poured forth blood and water from his holy side, having been pierced by a lance. On account of this, the sun is darkened, the day is not illuminated, rocks are rent, the veil is torn, the foundations of the earth are shaken, graves are opened and the dead rise; and the princes are filled with shame when they see on the cross him who adorned the universe, closing his eyes and yielding up the spirit. ^B When the creation saw this, it was troubled; and since it could not contain his surpassing glory, it wrapped itself in darkness. This one, by breathing on them, gives the Spirit to the disciples, and enters through closed doors; and while the disciples are looking on, he is taken up by a cloud into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and is coming as judge of the living and the dead. This is God, who became man for our sake, to whom the Father subjected all things. To him be glory and power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the holy Church, both now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS, BISHOP OF PORTUS, THAT IS, OF THE HARBOR OF ROME, AND MARTYR OF THE TRUTH,

From the discourse which is by element, *On theology and the incarnation*, against the heretics Beron and Helicon, whose beginning is: "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord Sabaoth, the Seraphim, crying out with unceasing voice, glorify God."

^C I. For by the infinite power of the will of God all things have been made, and those things which have been made are saved, according to their own

^A natural laws, remaining immovable, with God, the maker of all things, and His divine will, by which He has made and moves all things, continuing with them. For the infinite, in no way or manner, admits of motion, not having where nor around what it might be moved. For change in that which is by nature infinite, and which is not of a nature to be moved, is its motion. Wherefore also the Word of God, having truly become man in our image without sin, having performed and suffered humanly what things of the nature are without sin, and having endured for us the circumscription of natural flesh, underwent no change, nor did He experience any mutability whatever in consequence of the emptying; for to Him, the same is done for the Father as is done for the flesh. But just as He was without flesh, He remained exempt ^B from all circumscription; and through the flesh He performed divinely things that are of the Godhead; showing Himself as both, through which He worked in both ways, I say, divinely and humanly, according to that which is truly the true and natural substance; Being and being understood as God infinite and simultaneously circumscribed man, having the perfection of both perfectly, with the same operation, that is, natural property; from which we know the difference between them, always remaining by nature without change. (ζ) But not as some say, by way of comparison, lest we call the same being, in relation to Himself, and beyond what is fitting, greater and lesser. For comparisons exist of things of the same nature, not of those which are of a different nature. For that which is made is not compared in any way of ^C reasoning to God the maker of all things, nor the finite to the infinite, nor the end to the infinity, since they always and in all things differ naturally from one another, but not by way of comparison. Although a certain ineffable and indissoluble union of both has come about in one hypostasis, (25) escaping every knowledge of every created thing entirely. For the divine, as it was before the incarnation, is also after the incarnation, by nature infinite, unconditioned, impassible, incomparable, unalterable, immutable, self-potent; and to say all in a word, subsisting substantially, the only good of infinite power.

Of the same, from the same discourse. II.

II. Therefore, He has truly become, according to the Scriptures, not changed, the God of all, a man without sin; as ^D

^A He alone knows, existing as the natural Artificer of those things which are above sense, having simultaneously in the very saving incarnation produced for the flesh the operation of His own divinity, not circumscribed for it by reason of the emptying; nor even as from His own divinity, so also from the flesh itself naturally emanating; but in whatever things He as incarnate performed divinely, through it [the flesh] those things were manifested. For the flesh did not become (for nature is not changed) the deity, nor did the deity become flesh by nature; but what it was, even when united to the divinity, it remained in nature and operation ^B—as the Savior said: «The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak» (Matt. xxvi, 42)—in which, having performed and suffered those things which belonged to sinless flesh, He made manifest the emptying of His divinity for our sake, which was naturally confirmed by the miracles and the passions of the flesh. For because of this, the God of all became man: that, suffering in the passible flesh, He might redeem our entire race which had been sold to death; and by His impassible divinity working wonders through the flesh, He might lead it back to that immortal and blessed life from which it had fallen, compliant to the devil; and that He might strengthen the holy orders of intellectual substances in heaven toward immutability by the mystery of His incarnation; the work of which is the recapitulation of all things in Him. Therefore, even having been incarnate, He remained God, infinite according to nature, having an operation akin and suitable to Himself: one which, indeed, originates substantially from the divinity, but which is manifested dispensatorily in miracles through His most holy flesh, so that He might be believed to be God, working out the salvation of all through flesh that is weak by nature.

Of the Same, from the Same Discourse. III.

^C III. For indeed, in order that I might clarify by a paradigm that which was said concerning the Savior, my natural word is akin and suitable to me, as I am a soul rational and intellectual, whose natural operation and primary power is to be self-moving, ever-moving, the word naturally flowing from it. Which, having expressed in words and well-traced in characters—the tongue indeed ^D organically, when necessary, brings forth, and with letters artificially—I show it to be heard, not existing through dissimilar things, nor escaping through dissimilar things. For my natural word is not of the tongue and letters, even though I make its utterance through them; but it is mine, because I speak according to nature, and through both, I pronounce it as my own: that is, from my intellectual soul, it has always...

^A naturally derived, and by my bodily tongue, it has been organicaly produced, as I said, when it is appropriate. Just as, therefore, in us—to the extent that we can estimate what is in every way inestimable—the rational power of the soul is produced inconvertibly through our physical tongue, which is according to nature: so also in the glorious incarnation of God, through His most holy flesh, in whatever matters He operated divinely, the operation of the whole deity, which is omnipotent and the maker of all things, was exhibited without change, remaining without any circumscription according to nature, even though ^B it shone through flesh, which is by nature circumscribed. For a nature that is not created according to nature cannot be circumscribed by a generated nature, even if it co-existed with it in a conception that circumscribes all intellect; nor, moreover, can there at any time be a transition of nature and natural operation into it, as long as each remains within its own natural inconvertibility. For the motion that manifests the substance, of which the natural power consists, belongs only to those of common nature; it is by no reasoning possible for a substance of a different nature ^C to be or to become such without change.

Of the same, from the same discourse. IV.

IV. For the mystery of the divine incarnation is known to the apostles, prophets, and teachers to have a double and distinct natural theory in all things, being demonstrative of the perfect deity and the full humanity. Until the Word be recognized as one in substance and of one operation, of which both may be, the motion will never be known at any time. For God, always existing according to nature, having become by super-infinite power, as He willed, a man without sin, is what He was, with whatever attributes God is known; and what He has become, He is, with whatever attributes a man is naturally known to be. Remaining ^D always without fallback according to each nature—those through which He operated both divinely and humanly—He saves within Himself the perfection according to the reason of each in a naturally unchangeable way.

Of the same, from the same discourse. V.

V. For a certain Bero, lately, along with some others, having abandoned the fantasy of Valentinus, became entangled in a worse evil, saying that the flesh assumed by the Word was the very thing that operated what the divinity operated; and that the divinity was capable of suffering together with the flesh on account of the emptying; dogmatizing at once convertibility, commixtion, or confusion, and the change of both into one another. For if the assumed flesh

^A has become a co-worker with the divinity, it is clear that it is also by nature God, with all those attributes by which God is naturally understood. And if the divinity has become emptied and admits of the same passions as the flesh, it is clear that it is also by nature flesh, with all those attributes by which flesh is naturally known to be constituted. For things which are mutually cooperative, and produce the same work, and are wholly of the same nature, and admit of the same passions, do not admit of a difference of nature. And if their natures are confused, Christ will be a duality, and with separated persons, a quaternity—which is most to be avoided. And how, according to them, will he be one and the same, God both by nature and man, Christ? What existence, then, will he have according to them, becoming man by a change of divinity, and God by a transformation of flesh? For the transition of these into one another is the complete destruction of both. Let the discourse now be considered by us in another way.

Of the same, from the same discourse. VI.

VI. A pious dogma has been established for Christian believers, that according to the same nature and operation, and everything else that is commensurate with Him, God is equal to Himself and remains the same, having nothing at all belonging to Him that is unequal or inconsistent with Himself. If, therefore, according to Berones, the flesh that was assumed by Him became of the same operation, there is no doubt that it was also made of the same nature as Him, along with all that belongs to that nature—that is, unoriginatedness, unbegottenness, infinity, eternity, incomprehensibility, and whatever else the theological discourse contemplates most amply in the Godhead according to superiority: and both have suffered change, with neither retaining the essential reason of its own nature. ^B For he who considers the same operation of things of different natures introduces at once a natural confusion and a personal division of them; the natural existence of their properties having become totally unrecognizable through the transmutation.

Of the same, from the same discourse. VII.

VII. But if it was not of the same nature with Him, it will not at any time become of the same natural operation with Him; lest he appear to have an operation that is unequal and inconsistent according to nature, and to have become an alien to his own equality and ^C identity in all those things which are natural to Him, which is thoroughly impious.

Of the same, from the same discourse. VIII.

VIII. But they have been led into this error, having falsely believed that the divine operation which was manifested through the flesh in the miracles became the property of the flesh; by which Christ, substantiating the whole, holds fast that according to which He is understood as God. For they did not know that it is impossible for the operation of a divine nature to become the property of a substance of a different nature without change; nor did they understand that it is not in any way a property of flesh that which is indeed manifested through it, but does not naturally spring from it—even though the proof of this is clear and evident to them. For I, speaking with my tongue and writing with my hand, one and the

same thought of my intellectual soul I manifest through both, not indicating that its natural operation arises naturally from the tongue or the hand; nor does it become their thought, or what is called such, because of its manifestation through both. ^A For no wise man knows the tongue or the hand to be discursive; just as he does not know the all-holy flesh of God to be creating by nature, because of its being assumed and because the divine operation was made clear through it. But with piety he confesses, believing that for the sake of our salvation, and to bind the universe to immutability, the Creator of all things, from the all-holy ever-virgin Mary, by an immaculate conception, without change, having endowed Himself with an intellectual soul together with a sensible body, became man by nature, a stranger to wickedness: being Himself wholly God, and Himself wholly man; Himself wholly God and man together by nature. He acts out divine things by His all-holy flesh by deity—not because these things exist by the nature of the flesh—and He suffers human things by humanity—not because these exist by the nature of deity—by the condescension of the deity. He works nothing divine stripped of the body; nor does He, the same, perform anything human devoid of deity; maintaining for Himself the mode according to both, unchangeable, through which He worked both in a becoming manner, for the approval of His perfect and true incarnation, which has nothing of depravity. ^B Bero, therefore, being thus disposed, as I said, by the monad of operation, confusing the deity and humanity of Christ naturally together, and dividing them personally, destroys the life: ^C ignoring that the same operation is only indicative of the identity of the consubstantiality of people of the same nature.

SYLLOGISMS.

Concerning the divinely wise testimonies, and others, of the same Saint Anastasius.

I. Behold now, this most holy and great doctor, and faithful witness of the truth, in harmony with all the other holy founders of the Catholic and Apostolic Church of God, confesses and proclaims with a loud voice that, just as there are two natures according to the unconfused and indivisible union, so also there are two wills and two operations, agreeing and befitting the natures, divine as has been said, and human, uncreated and created, not beginningless and originated, as of God at once and of man, of one and the same our Lord Jesus Christ, and he bids us confess it without prevarication. ^D He defines it as most difficult, and in every way impossible, that those who wish to live piously should confess one will and operation, or one nature of His deity and humanity. On account of which he rejects and condemns as impious and alien to our immaculate Christian faith those who dogmatize such a thing in him, and protests that we should do this. For concerning the two natures and operations of our Saviour Christ, that I may briefly expound a few things from his sacred utterances, this is evidently set forth.

^A II. Both 40 show themselves, in that he operated in a twofold manner—that is, divinely and humanly—according to the same substance which is truly and naturally real: God immense and at the same time circumscribed, existing as man and understanding, having the essence of each perfectly perfected with its own operation, that is, its natural property. And again: "For nature" 41 "was not made into deity, nor nature changed into flesh, nor the nature of divinity made into flesh; but what it was, even when joined to the deity, it remained," namely, flesh weak and passible in nature and operation, as the Saviour says: "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And again: "Through which he operated and suffered those things which were of the flesh without sin, for our sake, he showed the emptying of the deity, naturally strengthened by miracles and by the passions of the flesh." And again: "The mystery" 43 "of the divine incarnation is recognized by the apostles, prophets, and teachers as having a twofold and different natural theory in all respects, existing as the undiminished deity and demonstrating the full humanity." And again: "By which he operated both divinely and humanly, saving its perfection in every respect of its natural immutability." And again: "He performed nothing divine naked of the body, nor did he himself bear anything human devoid of divinity; keeping to himself the ^C mode according to both immutable, through which he operated both in a becoming manner, to the approval of his perfect and true incarnation, which contains nothing of depravity."

^B III. But concerning those who dogmatize the one operation and one nature of his deity and humanity, he says: "For the created nature is not circumscribed by that which is by nature uncreated, even if it has coalesced with it through conception, which circumscribes all sense of the mind; nor are they ever turned into the same nature and natural virtue or operation, as long as each remains within its own natural inconvertibility." And again: "For it is only of those things which are of the same nature that the motion is of the same virtue and efficacy, indicating the substance of which it is the natural virtue; since with a substance of diverse nature, the property ^D can by no means exist or come to be without conversion." Likewise: "For those things which are mutually cooperating, and are of the same operation, and of the same origin—if they do not admit a distinction of nature—then with the natures confused, Christ will be a duality, and with the persons divided, there will be a quaternity: which is most to be avoided." And again: If

^A therefore, as the author Bero holds, the flesh assumed by Him was made of the same power or operation, it was clearly made also of the same nature, with all those things that constitute nature—what is without beginning, what is unbegotten, what is infinite, what is eternal, what is incomprehensible, and whatever else of this kind theological discourse contemplates excellently in the Godhead; and both have undergone succession, with neither preserving the substantial rationale of its own nature unharmed beyond this." And again: "For whoever perceives the same operation in things of differing nature introduces both a natural confusion and a natural division of them; the natural substance and existence of these things being entirely unknown and obscured by the exchange of properties." Item: "If it was not made of the same nature as He, it will never be of the same operation." And again: "They have stumbled into this error, badly believing that the divine operation, which was manifested through the flesh in miracles, became the flesh’s own property; by which operation Christ, having founded this whole universe, holds and preserves it in accordance with his being understood as God." And again: "For they did not know that it is impossible for the operation of the divine nature to become a property of another and different substance without convertibility." And again: "As long as the Word is not known as one in operation according to essence, there is no way that the movement of both can be known." And again: "Therefore Bero, who holds as I said, by naturally confusing and personally dividing the Godhead and humanity of Christ in one operation, dissolves life; for he indeed does not know that the same operation signifies only the identity of persons who are of the same nature."

[IV.] Having thus attended to what has been said more clearly by this most sacred and great doctor and martyr of the truth—for it is the same as saying by the most holy Spirit who speaks in him—let those who wish, and especially those who associate with those who have now wrought these novelties, listen diligently; and let them know most certainly that those who deny and reject the two natural wills and operations of our Savior Christ, and call such a sacred and orthodox confession of the Christian dogma impious and alien, and dogmatize one will and operation of His Godhead and humanity, anathematizing those who do not confess in harmony with them, openly and without any covering veil, anathematize the holy prophets and apostles and doctors; or rather, to speak more truly, they anathematize the most holy Spirit who spoke and indeed continues to speak in them, and they deny and reject the sacred and orthodox confession handed down to us by Him through them, and assert that it is impious and alien to the Christian dogma. And just as the aforesaid heretic—or rather as all profane heretics together who have been deceived by confusion, fantasy, and division—they do not merely subvert the mystery of the supersubstantial theology and the incarnate dispensation: ^D while they confess the holy Trinity of Persons as a quaternity, they introduce one of this Trinity, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, as inanimate and without intellect and without reason, in accordance with the fact that He became man for our sake, and they proclaim at once a convertibility, an intermingling, a mutability, a confusion, and a fantasy and division of each of His natures, and thereby describe the holy ever-virgin Mother of God and Birth-giver of God (Theotokos), Mary, as the mother of a mere man or of some sort of prodigy.

[V.] But then, this, which is clearly by them in it...

^A dogma has been set forth, rejecting one will and one operation, and wishing to confess neither one, nor two—that is, the divine and human will or operation—in Him, or some one from all things. They show themselves, by their own words and dogmas, to be not only unstable and evasive, but even more impious than those heretics who fell into error through confusion, fantasy, and division. For some want Him to have only one will and operation, while others want Him to have none at all, and by this, they render Him unsubstantial and unessential; for to say that He is without a will and powerless according to both natures is less than what they proclaim, since according to sacred definitions and reasons, corruption—that is, the destruction and non-existence of a nature—consists in the infirmity and defect of natural habits, operations, and virtues. And that which is universally deprived of natural will and substantial operation neither exists, nor is it anything, nor is it any essence at all.

^B VI. And they declare not only Him, but also the Father and the Holy Spirit, to be unsubstantial and non-existent. For the existence of both the Father and the Spirit, that is, of the Deity, and the will, and the operation, resides in the Savior, according to which He is and is called God by nature; so that, consequently, they describe our Lady, the truly most holy—she who is to be venerated and praised above all the saints—not properly and truthfully as the Mother of God and ever-virgin, but rather they describe not properly nor truthfully the Mother of God, but the mother of him who, according to them, does not exist at all. And these are indeed caught by such and so great impieties ^C and are made manifest by their own dogmas. But those who, together with the two wills and operations which are piously spoken of by the holy and Catholic founders of the Church in our Savior Christ, wish to confess yet another one, I know not from where they invent it, and who anathematize those who do not harmoniously confess with them one and two—that is, three—wills and operations in Him; nevertheless, these men also anathematize the holy prophets and apostles and doctors, and even Him who spoke in them, nay rather, who even now speaks through them, the most holy Spirit. They renounce the holy and immaculate faith handed down to us by Him through them, adulterating it with new inventions, and they fashion for themselves in the Savior Christ another nature besides the divine and human, a certain alien nature, ^D foreign to all existing things, for which they wish to claim the one will and operation they have invented in Him. Since every natural will and substantial operation are surely the idioms of a nature that is volitional and operative. And every natural operation indicates the substance from which it proceeds and in which it inheres (60): and it indicates a nature’s operation to be that of each being, and it is known as natural; and every nature is recognized by the substantial reason of its own operation, and every nature has an operation that is appropriate to it and signifies itself, distinguishing it from others, and true reason knows the natural operations of substances as their definitions. And to put it concisely, it is established that neither a nature without an operation that characterizes it substantially, nor again a will or operation, exists without some substance—that is, it is possible (61); just as the divine Scriptures proclaim, and the very nature of things cries out.

VII. Therefore, those who invent one will and operation besides the two in the Savior Christ, and out of necessity (62) even fashion another nature besides the divine and human, as has been said, a certain alien one, foreign to all existing things, apply to it what they have already called the one will, which is an empty figment of fictitious thought, and a germ that differs in no way from idolatry. For the Savior, being at once God and man, has only two natures and wills and operations that correspond to Him—that is, the divine and the human—just as our noble preceptors and doctors affirm: not one and two, which is three, as the adversaries dogmatize; whereby they most evidently carry out that which was once spoken by God through the prophet Isaiah as a reproach, namely: "Thy taverners mix wine with water" (Isa. 1, 22). For it is apparent that they too, by adulterating the word of truth after the manner of taverners, force the two sects to confess the natural duality of the wills and operations of our Savior Christ by means of one will and operation—which has been impiously dogmatized in Him by heretics who have been deceived by confusion and division or fantasy—just as if they were mixing wine with water; which is truly impious and foreign to our immaculate Christian faith; and they, who from the opposite direction, similarly to their predecessors, also fall away from the truth by this method. For it is an equal and similar evil, from the opposite direction, to reject and disapprove of the paternal orthodoxy along with heretical opinion, and on the other hand, to confess and approve of this and that alike: "For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" (II Cor. vi, 14-16), the divine Apostle says. And I for my part ask: What participation, or communication, or concord, or part, or agreement has the paternal orthodoxy with the wicked opinion of the heretics, such that one is proclaimed along with the other, or even rejected?

VIII. And let them also diligently attend to this, because

as that great one named for immortality ^A, or rather the whole chorus of the saints, affirms, that the faith of our Savior almost does not admit him, while he exists as something unstable according to his own logic. But if it has suffered this, and will without doubt sustain what is contrary to this—namely, an addition—how then will faith remain unchanged by defects and advancements? Let them tell us, they say, who create a faith for themselves every day, nay rather, who fashion diverse gods for themselves, since with the word of faith that which is believed is changed and multiplied by such people. Therefore, also the adversaries, condemning different faiths for themselves, without any contradiction according to the quality and quantity and change of their doctrines, simultaneously change and multiply that which is believed, and are shown to have thereby fashioned five Christs. One, they say, has one operation, another indeed has not even one operation, another one will, and another not even one will: furthermore a fifth has one and two, and one and two, that is, three operations and three wills, as they say. And let them say, if they wish, those very people who put forward such doctrines, and who communicate with them, into whom of such and so many Christs fashioned by themselves they have been baptized or are being baptized: or whose body and blood they take and distribute; whether his who has one operation, or his who has not one; his who has one will, or his who has one and two, and one and two, that is, three operations and three wills, and therefore now by necessity also has three natures. But there was no voice and no hearing, as the great prophet Elias says 87, refuting the wicked priests and the pseudo-prophets of confusion.

[IX.] For whatever they may say of these things, from that source their discourse will carry with it along with impiety also refutation; since they do not believe in and baptize into the true and truly existing Christ, nor do they receive and distribute his body and blood. For him, the true one indeed, and he who truly consists, Christ, God at once and man, whom our illustrious teachers and preceptors know, they confess in him two and only two natures, just as also two wills, and as many operations consistent with these—namely, the divine, as it has already been said and proved, and the human, uncreated and created, without beginning and with beginning—and they command us to confess this. But they do not, as these now have made innovations, confess him to have one and not even one, nor two, and again one and two, that is, three wills and operations.

[X.] Furthermore, over all these things which have been said, let them also know this most certainly, that they who dogmatize one and not one, nor two, and again one and two wills and operations, and all things with anathemas and depositions and excommunication, are proven to contradict themselves and one another; and they among themselves and in turn subvert and destroy, alternating words and doctrines, and anatomize themselves and one another, and those who communicate with them, and remove and depose them from every sacred dignity and ministry. They also sequester them from the perception of the unpolluted communion of the life-giving body and blood of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

[XI.] And these things we, seeing and knowing with no veil standing in the way, clearly—not only on account of the multiform error, but also on account of the instability and absurdity and inconsistency of such men and doctrines—keep ourselves with every guard from their impiety and communion, as many as wish to be and to be called Christians in truth. For it is alien to Christians to undertake impiety along with orthodoxy; or to confess the orthodox faith, yet communicate with those who through new inventions deny and adulterate it. On account of which, the divine law and the apostolic one at the same time commands us, that those who have attempted to teach and introduce anything beyond what we have received from the Christ-bearing men 88, we should turn away (65) and anathematize, not only if they be men, but even if they should be angels having descended from heaven. And if we have done this, and have fulfilled the divine precept without prevarication, and have possessed and confessed the sacred and orthodox faith without adulteration simultaneously and innovation; we shall be saved unto eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord: with whom to God and the Father, together with the most holy and good and life-giving Spirit, be glory, honor, dominion, and adoration now and always, and unto the never-ending ages of ages. Amen.

Observations of the honorable Claudius Capperonnier on the Latin Version of the Fragments of Hippolytus, Against Beron and Helix: according to the Fabrician edition.

Anast. version. α Produced by natural laws. β For the change/turnability of him who is devoid of motion is the motion of the infinite (66). γ Remained even with all exception of circumscription.

Greek. Τοῖς ἕκαστα φυσικοῖς διεξαγόμενα νόμοις. Τροπὴ γὰρ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἀπείρου, κινεῖσθαι μὴ πεφυκότος, ἡ κίνησις. Πάσης ἔξω περιγραφῆς μεμένηκε.

Emended. Treated or ordered according to its own laws. Change should not be attributed to him who by his nature is of immobility. The immense cannot be moved. Remained without any circumscription.

^A

According to that which is truly and naturally existent.

Possessing the substance of each perfectly perfect.

But not, as some say, according to comparison: for comparisons are between those of the same nature, and not those which are different; but with God the Creator of all creators, the Infinite, he who sets limits to those that are limited, and by infinity, in no way is the finite compared.

Although in one substance ^B the unity of both has been made.

Showing him to exist through things that are dissimilar, and by not fleeing from those that are dissimilar, showing him to be understood.

As far as we are able to estimate, that which is in all ways inestimable.

Even if through the flesh his finite nature shone forth.

Even if it united with him through a conception that circumscribes every mind.

Nor is it possible for his nature and natural operation to be referred to himself. For the moving force is of those of the same nature only, signifying the substance, whose natural power it is.

So long as the Word is not recognized as one according to substance of a single operation, its motion will never be known by any means.

Remaining always according to each of his own without fall, by which he acted both divinely and humanly: saving the perfection according to the reason of each naturally incommutable.

What substance, according to them, will he have, having become man through the change of divinity, and God through the change of flesh? For the mutual change of these into one another is the total destruction of both.

According to the same nature.

And in all things that are his own, having become outside his natural equality and identity. ^{C D}

^A Christ, who substantiates all things according to that by which He is understood to be God, holds fast that which He contains. ^B Ignorant that the identity of operation is merely significant of the connatural identity of the persons who are of the same nature.

OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS BISHOP AND MARTYR SERMON ON THE HOLY THEOPHANY

^A 1. The works of our God and Savior are surely all good, and very good; as many as either the eye sees or the mind thinks; as many as speech expresses or the hand touches; as many as the intellect grasps and human nature attains. For what beauty is more multiform than the celestial sphere? Or what appearance on the earthly soil is more flowering and variegated? What is swifter in its course than the solar chariot? What other chariot is more pleasing than the lunar star? And what is more worthy of admiration than the ineffable mosaic work of the stars? What is more fruitful for the yield of crops than timely winds? What mirror is purer than the light of day? What living creature is more preeminent than man? ^B Therefore, the works of our God and Savior are indeed all very good. But what gift is found to be more necessary than the nature of water? For there is nothing that is not washed, nourished, purified, and irrigated by waters. Water bears the earth, water produces the dew, it gladdens the vine; water brings the ear of corn to maturity, it rids the grape of its sourness, it softens the olive, it sweetens the date; water paints the rose with a red color, it pushes forth the flower of the violet, it nourishes the lily to be seen in its splendid calyxes. And why do I use many words? Without the nature of water, nothing of the things we see is able to consist; so necessary is it that, while other elements have taken their dwelling place beneath the vaulted heavens, the nature of water has taken its station even above the heavens. And the Prophet himself is witness to this fact, crying out: “Praise the Lord, ye heavens of heavens, and the water that is above the heavens.” ^C

^A Nor does this alone establish the trustworthiness of the water, but also what is more venerable than all things: that Christ, the Creator of all, descended like rain, and was known as a spring, and was distributed like a river, and was baptized in the Jordan. For you heard just now how Jesus came to John and was baptized by him in the Jordan. O wonderful things! How is it that the infinite river which gladdens the city of God was washed in a little water? The incomprehensible spring, which causes life to sprout for all men and has no end, was covered by meager and temporal waters. He who is present everywhere and is nowhere absent, who is incomprehensible to angels and invisible to human sight, comes to baptism as it pleased Him. When you hear these things, beloved, do not understand what is said according to a natural sense, but accept what is put before you as a dispensation. Therefore, the very nature of the waters did not remain unaware that the Lord, in His love for mankind, was humbling Himself and working in secret. “For the waters saw Him and were afraid.” They were all but troubled and fled from their boundaries. Whence the Prophet, having seen this long before it happened, questions them and says: “What is it to you, O sea, that you fled? And you, Jordan, that you turned back?” But they responded and said: “We saw the Creator of all in the form of a servant, and, for we did not understand the mystery of the dispensation, we were shaken with fear.”

^{B C} III. But we, to whom that dispensation is now known, adore His mercy, because He came to save the world, not to judge it. Whence also John, the forerunner of the Lord, having been taught and having understood this mystery which he had not known before—namely, that He was truly the Lord—cried out to those who had come to be baptized by him: “Brood of vipers, why do you gaze upon me so intently? I am not the Christ; I am a minister, not the master; I am a private citizen, not a king; I am a sheep, not the shepherd; I am a man, not God. I loosed the barrenness of my mother when I was born, I did not make virginity barren. I emerged from below, I did not descend from above. I bound my father’s tongue, I did not unfold divine grace. I was known by a mother, I was not signaled by a star. I am mean and the least, but there comes after me He who is before me; after me indeed in terms of time, but before me because of the inaccessible and ineffable light of His divinity. He comes who is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ^D I am subject to power, He possesses power by Himself. I am guilty of sins, He is the remover of sins. I inculcate the law, He brings forward the light of grace. I instruct as a slave, He judges as Master. I have the earth for a bed, He possesses the heaven.

^A For He bestows the gift of adoption; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Why do you give attention to me? I am not the Christ.

IV. ^B When John had said these things to the multitude, and the people waited with heads raised to behold some new spectacle with their bodily eyes, while the devil was also struck with amazement at such testimony from John; behold, the Lord is present, plain, alone, naked, without retinue, clothed in the human body as with a garment, hiding the dignity of His divinity so that He might elude the wiles of the dragon. And not only did the Lord come to John without royal guard, but also, as a plain man subject to sins, He bowed His head to be baptized by John. When he saw such condescension, John, stunned by the wonder of the thing, began to restrain Him, saying, as you have just heard: "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" What are you doing, O Master? You are ordaining things out of order. I preached one thing concerning You, and You do another. The devil heard one thing, and sees another. Baptize me with the fire of the divinity; why do you wait for the water? Enlighten me with the Spirit; why do you await a created thing? Baptize me, the baptizer, that Your prerogative may be known. I, Master, baptize the baptism of repentance, and I cannot baptize those who come to me unless they have first confessed their sins. Even if I were willing to baptize You, what do You have to confess? You are He who takes away sins, and You wish to be baptized with the baptism of repentance? Even if I should endure to baptize You, the Jordan does not dare to draw closer to You: "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?"

V. What, then, does the Lord answer him? "Permit it now, for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness." Permit it now, John, you are not wiser than I. You as a man look on; I as God foreknow. It behooves Me to do first, and thus to teach. I undergo nothing indecorous, for I am completely clothed in decorum. Do you marvel, O John, that I have not come with the insignia of My dignity? For royal purple does not befit a private citizen; but military attire befits a king: for have I not come against a tyrant, rather than to a friend? ^C But permit it now, for thus it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. I am the fulfiller of the law, I wish to leave nothing omitted toward the fulfillment of the whole, so that after Me Paul may be able to cry out: "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Permit it now, for thus it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. Baptize me, John, so that no one may despise baptism. I am baptized by You, the servant, so that no one among kings or the powerful may disdain to be baptized by a lowly priest. Permit me to descend into the Jordan, that they may hear the Father’s testimony, and recognize the power of the Son. Permit it now; for thus it becomes every one

^A of us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John permits him; and Jesus being baptized, forthwith ascended from the water; and the heavens were opened unto him, and lo, the Spirit of God descending in the form of a dove, and remaining upon him. And a voice from heaven saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

VI. You see, beloved, what and how great were the good things we would have suffered the loss of, if the Lord had yielded to John’s entreaty and had declined the baptism? For the heavens were closed before this, the region above was inaccessible. Into the lower parts we had descended; but to the higher parts we did not ascend again. But was it merely the Lord who was baptized? He both renewed the old man, and again entrusted to him the scepter of adoption. For straightway ^B “the heavens were opened unto him.” A reconciliation was made between visible and invisible things; the celestial orders were filled with joy; diseases on earth were healed; things that were hidden were made manifest; those things which were in the number of enemies were restored as friends. For you heard the evangelist saying: “The heavens were opened unto him,” for the sake of three marvels. For the bridegroom Christ being baptized, it was fitting that the celestial bridal chamber should open its bright gates. Likewise, also with the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove, and the Father’s voice running through every place, it was fitting that the “celestial gates should be raised up.” And lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and a voice came, saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

^C VII. Beloved begets love, and immaterial light begets inaccessible light. “This is my beloved Son,” who appeared below, and yet was not separated from the Father’s bosom: he appeared and did not appear. For it is one thing that which appeared; indeed, as he appeared, the one baptizing was superior to the one being baptized. Therefore, the Father from heaven sent down the Holy Spirit upon the one being baptized. For just as in the ark of Noah the love of God toward men is signified by a dove, so also now the Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, as though bearing the fruit of an olive tree, rested upon him to whom testimony was borne. Why? So that the Fatherly voice also might be established as certain and firm, and that faith might be had in the prophetic prediction made many times before. What is that? “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thundered, the Lord is upon many ^D waters.” What voice? “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This is he who is named the son of Joseph, and is my Only-begotten according to the divine essence. “This is my beloved Son”: he who hungers, and feeds myriads; and who toils, and gives rest to those who toil; who has not where to lay his head, and yet bears all things in his hand; who suffers, and heals the passions; who is smitten with blows, and grants freedom to the world; who is pierced in his side,

^A and corrects the side of Adam.

VIII. But apply your mind to me, I beseech you, with attention; for I wish to run back to the fountain of life, and to behold the fountain gushing forth with healings. The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world; who, having come to man, to wash them with water and Spirit; and having regenerated them to the incorruptibility of soul and body, breathed into us the spirit of life, and clothed us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he shall also be God. And if he becomes God through water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the laver, he is found to be also a co-heir of Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Therefore, I proclaim with the voice of a herald: Come, all you tribes of the nations, to the immortality of baptism. I announce life to you who are still dwelling in the darkness of ignorance. Come from slavery to freedom, from tyranny to the kingdom, from corruption to incorruptibility. And how, you say, shall we come? How? Through water and the Holy Spirit. This is the water joined with the Spirit, by which ^B paradise is watered, the earth is enriched, plants receive their increase, and animals are brought forth; and, to encompass all things in brief, through which man is regenerated and vivified, in which Christ was baptized, and into which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove.

IX. This is the Spirit who from the beginning was moving over the waters; by whom the world is moved, by whom created nature subsists, and by whom all things receive life; who worked in the prophets, and flew down upon Christ. This is the Spirit who was given to the apostles in the form of fiery tongues. This was the Spirit whom David sought when he said: "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my inward parts." Of Him Gabriel also said to the Virgin: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." Through this Spirit Peter uttered that blessed voice: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." ^C Through this Spirit the rock of the Church was established. This is the Spirit the Paraclete, sent for your sake, that He might show you to be a child of God.

X. Approach, therefore, and be regenerated, O man, into the adoption of a child of God. And how? you ask. If you no longer commit adultery, nor murder, nor worship idols; if you are not conquered by pleasure, if you do not allow the passion of pride to rule over you; if you wipe away the filth of impurity, and cast off the burden of sin; if you put off the armor of the devil and put on the breastplate of faith, as Isaiah says: "Wash yourselves, and seek judgment, rescue the oppressed, judge for the orphan, absolve" ^D

crimson; I will make it white as snow; and if they should be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool. And if you are willing and obey my voice, you shall eat the good of the land." Do you see, beloved, how the prophet foretold the cleansing power of baptism? For he who descends with faith into the laver of regeneration renounces the devil and attaches himself to Christ; he denies the enemy and confesses that Christ is God; he casts off slavery and puts on adoption; he rises from the baptism bright as the sun, shining with the rays of righteousness; and, most important of all, he emerges a son of God and a co-heir with Christ. To Him be glory and power, with His all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and for all ages of ages. Amen. ^B

FRAGMENTA OF THE SERMONS OR HOMILIES OF ST. HIPPOLYTUS

I.

From the Sermon on the Resurrection. - At Anastasius Sinaita, in the Hodegos, p. 350.

^C "They shall be," he says, "in the resurrection, as the angels of God," clearly meaning in incorruptibility, immortality, and freedom from flux. For an incorruptible essence is not generated, does not grow, does not sleep, does not hunger, does not thirst, does not toil, does not suffer, does not die, is not pierced by nails and a spear, does not sweat, does not bleed. Such are the essences of the angels, and of souls that have been released from the bonds of the body. For both natures are of a different kind, and alien to the creatures of this world that fall under our gaze and are subject to corruption. ^D

II.

From the Sermon on Theology, that is, on the Deity. - Extant in the Acts of the Lateran Council celebrated under Martin I in the year 649, secretar. v, p. 287, tom. VII, Venetian edit. of Labbé.

God has the power of willing, but not the power of not willing; for this latter belongs to that which is mutable and capable of choice. For the things that come into being follow the eternal will of God, by which, once brought into being, they remain preserved.

III. From the Homily on the Lord’s Pasch. - Ibid. p. 293.

IV. From the Sermon on Elkanah and Hannah. - From Theodoret, Dial. I, titled "The Immutable," Works, Vol. IV, p. 36.

The same, from the same sermon. Tell me, O blessed Mary, what was conceived from you in the womb, and what was carried by you in a virginal womb? For it was the firstborn Word of God descending from the heavens upon you, and a firstborn man being formed in the womb; so that the firstborn Word of God might be shown united to the firstborn among men.

The same, from the same sermon. The second, through the prophets, as through Samuel, calling back and freeing the people from the slavery of the aliens. The third, when he was present in the flesh, having assumed the man from the Virgin; who, having seen the city, wept over it.

V. From the same sermon. - From the same Theodoret, Dial. II, which is titled "The Unmixed." Ibid. p. 88.

VI. From the oration on that which is written, "The Lord is my shepherd." - From the same Theodoret, Dial. I, p. 36.

was signified, in that it produced no rot of sin. For he who sinned confesses and says: "My wounds have festered and rotted because of my foolishness." But the Lord was without sin, and according to his humanity was [formed] from wood not subject to rot—that is, from the Virgin and the Holy Spirit—clothed within and without, as if with the purest gold, by the Word of God. ^B

VII.

From the sermon on the great Canticle.

Of the same, from the same sermon.

Of the same, from the same sermon.

VIII.

From the sermon on the exordium of Isaiah.

IX.

From the second oration on Daniel.

of the furnace. Beginning, therefore, from the holy, glorious, and magnificent name, they came to the very works of the Lord; first naming the heavenly things, they glorified them, saying: "Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord." ^A Then they passed on to the sons of men, and, presenting the hymn in order, they next named the subterranean spirits of the angels who hold the abyss, and the souls of the just, so that they too might join with them in singing praises to God. ^B

*From the Oration on the Distribution of the Talents. Of the holy Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, from the Oration on the Distribution of the Talents. — *In Theodoret, Dial. II, ibid., p. 88.*

One might say that these and those who think differently are involved in a similar error. For they also either confess that Christ appeared on earth as a mere man, denying the talent of his divinity; or, while confessing him to be God, they again deny the man, teaching that he eluded the eyes of those who beheld him with a deceptive appearance, since he did not wear humanity, but was rather an empty phantom: as do Marcion, Valentinus, and the Gnostics, who tear the Word away from the flesh, and cast aside one talent, that is, the incarnation. ^C

XI. *From the Sermon The Two Thieves.* — *In the same author, Dial. III, which is inscribed [Apathes], ibid., p. 156.*

Of the same, from the sermon The Two Thieves. The body of the Lord provided both to the world: the sacred blood and the holy water.

Of the same, from the same sermon. And the body, although dead after the human manner, possesses in itself a great power of life. For that which does not flow from dead bodies flowed from this one—blood and water—so that we might know how great is the power that dwelt in the body for life, that it might not appear like other corpses, and might be able to pour forth for us the causes of life.

Of the same, from the same sermon. The bone of the holy Lamb is not broken, the figure showing that the passion does not affect the power. For the bones are the power of the body.

FRAGMENTS FROM OTHER WRITINGS OF S. HIPPOLYTUS

I. *In the author of the Paschal Chronicle, from the edition of Cangius, p. 6.*

Hippolytus, therefore, martyr of piety, having been bishop of the so-called Portus near Rome, in the book which he composed against all heresies, wrote regarding the matter word for word as follows: “I see, indeed, in what the force of the contention consists.” For he says

FRAGMENTS OF SERMONS

^A thus: "Christ did the pasch at that time on the day, and suffered; therefore it is necessary that I too should do as the Lord did." But he is deceived, not noticing that at the time in which Christ suffered, He did not eat the legal pasch. For He Himself was the pasch which had been announced beforehand, and which was fulfilled on the appointed day.

II. Ibidem. And again the same author says in the first book of his treatise *On the Holy Pasch*: "It is clear that He did not lie in the first things nor in the last; for He who had long before foretold, 'Because I shall no longer eat the pasch,' rightly ate the supper before the pasch, but did not eat the pasch, but suffered; for it was not the time for that eating."

III. From the letter of St. Hippolytus to a certain queen.

^B He calls Him "the first fruits of those that are asleep," inasmuch as He is "the firstborn from the dead." Who, rising again and wishing to show that that which had been raised was the very same which had died, while the disciples doubted, called Thomas and said: "Draw near, touch and see, that a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me having."

From the same, from the same letter.

Having spoken of Him as "the first fruits," he confirmed what we have said, that the Saviour, having taken flesh from the same lump, raised it up, making it the first fruits of the flesh of the just, so that we ^C all who have believed, raised up by the confidence of this, may await the future resurrection.

ON CHARISMS, APOSTOLIC TRADITION

NARRATION OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS CONCERNING A CORINTHIAN VIRGIN AND A CERTAIN MAGISTRATE.

^ANarrative of Hippolytus, who was a familiar of the apostles.

In another book, upon which was inscribed the name of Hippolytus, who was a familiar of the apostles, I found a narrative of this kind: "There was a certain most noble and very beautiful virgin, who was engaged in living a life of virtue in the city of Corinth. At that time, men brought a charge against her before the judge, who was a Gentile in the time of the persecutors, alleging that she spoke ill of the times, the emperors, and the idols. The traffic-dealers in such matters, however, had heralded her beauty to the godless judge, who was madly obsessed with women. He, receiving the slander with his equine ears, and with thoughts lusting after women ^B, welcomed it. When she was brought before that bloodthirsty man, he was seized by an even greater, unbridled insanity. But after that profane man had employed every device against her and could not seduce this person of God, he subjected the brave woman to various torments. When he had not achieved even by these means what he wanted—namely, to lead her away from the confession of Christ—acting in a cruel frenzy against her, he afflicted her with a punishment of this kind. Placing the chaste and temperate woman in a brothel, he commanded the one who kept them, saying: 'Take this woman, and bring me three coins from her daily.' He, therefore, demanding gold from the shameful act, handed her over to those who wished it in that workshop of abominable wickedness. When, therefore, those who were possessed by a mad love for women learned of this, they sat by that wicked workshop of destruction, offering the wages of dishonorable activity and desiring to consort with her shamefully. She, however, being most honest and truly venerable, and turning her words toward deception, begged them imploringly, saying: 'I have an ulcer in a hidden spot, which gives off a marvelous and offensive odor; and I fear that I may become an object of aversion to you because of the ulcer. Grant me, therefore, a few days, and then you shall be permitted to have me, even for free.' ^C By these words, the blessed one sent those intemperate men away for the time being, having persuaded them. But by means of constant prayers, she placated God, and with contrite supplications, she moved Him toward mercy. God, therefore, who knows the thoughts, attending to how the chaste woman from the heart of her purity...

^A and in those days the guardian of the salvation of all men brought about something of this kind.

Of a certain Magistrianus.

A certain young man, Magistrianus, of handsome appearance and pious mind, into whom God had instilled a spiritual zeal so ardent that he even despised death, when he had approached the man who kept those women under the pretext of intemperance, entered late in the evening and gave him five solidi, and said to him: "Grant me leave to remain this night with this girl." Having therefore entered into the private room with her, he says to her: "Arise, save yourself." And having stripped her of her clothes, and having clothed her in his own garments—in the shirt, and the tunic, and the chlamys, and all the masculine attire—he says to her: "Go out, covering yourself with the top of the chlamys." And having done so, and having sealed her whole self with the mystery of the cross, she departed from that place entirely incorrupt and undefiled, having been saved by the grace of Christ and by the agency of the young man, who by his own blood delivered her from shameful ruin.

On the following day the drama was discovered, and Magistrianus was brought before the most brutal judge. When the ungodly man had examined the brave athlete of Christ and had learned everything, he ordered him to be thrown to the beasts, in order that the demon—the hater of goodness—might also be put to shame in him. For, thinking to cast the brave man into nefarious execution, he made him a double martyr of Christ: as one who had fought nobly for his own soul, and had strenuously persevered in his labors for that blessed woman. Therefore, he was deemed worthy of double honor by Christ and of two illustrious and blessed crowns by His philanthropy. ^{B C}

OF HIPPOLYTUS

DEMONSTRATION OF THE TIMES OF PASCHA

In the first year of the reign of the Emperor Alexander, the 14th of the Pascha fell on the Ides of April, on a Saturday, in an intercalary month; and in past years as has been marked. It is necessary to fast wherever the Sunday falls.

[index: entries preserved]

[Note: [original-script column: see facsimile]]

THE PASCHAL CANON OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS, AND A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS OF THE SAME HOLY FATHER,

As they appear on the two side-panels of the marble chair, unearthed not far from the Church of St. Lawrence in the City, in the year of our Lord 1551, along with the statue of Hippolytus.

In the first year of the reign of Emperor Alexander, the 14th of the Pascha occurred on the Ides of April, a Saturday, when the month was intercalary. It will be so in the following years as is set out in the table below. It happens indeed in the past as has been indicated. But one must break the fast when Sunday falls.

[index: entries preserved]

(Note: In his *Liturgies*, vol. I, p. 106, he read with Moinus *Concerning the creation of the world*; but in the former place he wrote back *Demonstration against the Jews*. Perhaps Thomas Gale, in the cited place, was more correct when he conjectured that the first should be read *Demonstration against the Jews*, for an excerpt of this work still survives; and in the second place, *Concerning regimine* (On Rule); which indeed the learned man Ecchellensis, adhering to the version, thought was the writing Ebediesu mentioned in his Catalogue. However, the celebrated Assemani held otherwise, who in *Bibliotheca Orientalis*, vol. III, p. 15, translates that part of the Catalogue into Latin as *Concerning the dispensation*; that is, *Concerning the economy of Christ in the flesh*, or *Concerning the mystery of the Incarnation*. But enough of these matters.)

^A

PASCHAL CANON.

IN THE YEAR OF ALEXANDER CAESAR, THE FIRST: THE BEGINNING, THE SUNDAYS OF PASCHA BY YEAR.

The marks of punctuation indicate the leap year. ^B

Anno Alexandri Cæsaris primo initium, Dominica Paschales secundum annos; adpunctiones vero ostendunt Bissextum.

(94) See rather Z; for the damaged letter in the marble makes the reading uncertain.

(95) See rather VII; for the damaged letter in the marble makes the reading uncertain. ^{C D}

PASCHAL CANON

^A Thus [it begins] in the first year of the reign of Alexander Caesar. The Sundays and the Passover for each year. The pointings (parakentēseis) indicate the twice before the ex[a]...

[The table follows]

1. An ancient marble seat of St. Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, found with a fragment of his statue, excavated at St. Lawrence extra muros of the City, in the Verano field, in the year 1551, and moved to the Vatican Library. 2. Expansion of the Paschal cycle of St. Hippolytus of 112 years through seven hexakaidecaeterides (sixteen-year cycles). St. Hippolytus suffered at Ostia Tiberina under the Emperor Severus Alexander on the 11th of the Kalends of September.

S. HIPPOLYTUS' PASCHAL CANON

In the first year of the reign of Emperor Alexander, it came to pass. On the 14th of the Pasch, April 14, a Saturday, an intercalary month having occurred, it shall be in the following years as set forth in the table; and it happened as noted in the marginal sections. To fast until the day of the Lord's Resurrection.

[The table follows, displaying the cycle details for Ezra and Daniel and the succession of the Paschal dates.]

[Catalog of the works of St. Hippolytus, inscribed on his marble throne:]

Psalms Odes Against Gastrimargia (Gluttony) On the account of the soul and the body On the Gospel and the Revelation On the Charismata (Spiritual Gifts) Apostolic Tradition Against the Greeks, and against Plato, and concerning the universe Exhortatory dialogue against the Greeks Demonstration of the times of the Pasch, according to the table All the Scriptures On God and the incarnation (resurrection) On the Good and where evil came from

In the marble throne of St. Hippolytus, the flat surface of the right side exhibits a Paschal Chronology ordered through 112 Julian years proleptically from the Holy Scriptures. 1. The epoch of the final cycle is drawn from the first year of Severus Alexander. In the fold of the seat is read the catalog of the works of St. Hippolytus, the surviving part of whose inscription we provide entire in the lower part of the page.

ANIMADVERSIONS OF EGIDIUS BUCHERIUS, OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, ON THE PASCHAL CANON OF ST. HIPPOLYTUS.

INDEX OF CHAPTERS.

I. From what year the Hippolytean Canon begins. II. Why Hippolytus doubles the octaeteris. He could have been content with a simple octaeteris. III. Explanation of the parerga of the first table. Why occasionally two days of the fourteenth moon are designated. IV. A third paschal table, more conformable to the Victorian, is proposed. The age of the Hippolytean paschal moon is elicited. The Canon of Hippolytus is reduced to the Victorian type. V. Hippolytus follows the paschal methods of the Latins of the first sort. For he begins the head of the paschal month from March 5. VI. And he admits March 20 for the paschal Sunday. VII. He never exceeds the limit constituted by the Council of Caesarea. The arrangement of the Hippolytean cycle in the Julian calendar. VIII. Whether the paschal octaeteris was used generally by the first Christians. Scaliger deems the octaeteris of Hippolytus absurd: which, however, preserves the methods of the Latins. IX. The octaeteris of Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria. X. Of Julius Africanus. XI. Of the Montanists. XII. Of the Audians. XIII. Of others according to Bede. XIV. Why the most ancient of the Christians preferred the octaeteris to the enneadecaeteris. XV. The inconveniences of the octaeteris.

I. From what year the Hippolytean Canon begins.

^A Such are those on that marble statue of Laurentius: two paschal tables which explicitly testify that the Canon begins from the first year of the Emperor Alexander, son of Mammaea. But that the first year of Alexander falls not in the vulgar year of Christ 224, as the Annals wish, but in 222, as our Appendix to Victorious observes, so many characters of this Canon prove. Wherefore it is no wonder if Julius Africanus, writing at this time, attempted to explain the seventy weeks of Daniel by an octaeteris (which, being doubled, composes a hexdecaeteris): especially since he saw the constancy of the Canon promised by Hippolytus for the past equally as for the future; and its excessive contraction not yet having been detected. What Hippolytus adds, that the fast must be broken when it falls on a Sunday, is true: whether we understand it of the Paschal days or of those that intervene during the solemn fast, we accept them as Sundays. Nor do I see how here *aponesthai dei* (to be postponed) is the same as that the fast must be transferred, as Scaliger wishes,^B when the term falls on a Sunday. For it does not fall on a Sunday only with the fourteenth moon, which is truly the limit, but also with the fifteenth moon (concerning which this table says nothing here), as I shall soon show.

II. Why Hippolytus doubles the octaeteris. He could have been content with a simple octaeteris.

But why does the holy Father double the octaeteris, and extend it in addition to 112 years? He saw, clearly, in a still crude age, that in two octaeterides, or one hexdecaeteris, there existed some series of feast days; and that finally, when seven hexdecaeterides were completed, the feast days returned to the beginning; and thus he wove together the hexdecaeteris. But he could have done the same thing much more briefly, and more distinctly in just as many octaeterides. For seven octaeterides contain two entire solar cycles, just as as many hexdecaeterides contain four; and both two and four solar cycles bring the Dominical letters back in a circle; and in 56 years, before 112, they evolve. Hence so in.

the first table, the ferias—while in the second the Dominical days—are the same for the first 56 years as they are for the 56 years that follow; thus, they are repeated superfluously. Here is a shorter diagram of only 56 years, showing both the fourteenth-day and the Dominical paschal days in a single cell for the same year, with the Dominical letters added for each individual year. ^A

III. Explanation of the supplementary material of the first table. Why double days of the paschal fourteenth moon are designated thereafter.

And this single table encompasses the work of both Hippolyti, although it is twice the size: nor does it omit anything that pertains to the knowledge of Pascha. For the other things, which are contained in the borders of the first or right-hand marble table, look elsewhere. The first border, which is the widest, enumerates the works of Hippolytus that had been brought to light at that time; some of which are also mentioned by Jerome and Theodoret. As for what is inserted in the other borders, such as Genesis, Exodus, in the Desert, Hezekiah, Josiah, Daniel, Ezra, Jesus Christ, the Passion of Christ, etc., Scaliger thinks these are set or variable readings from both Testaments, which were in use at that time in the Church. Since these do not pertain to our intent, we leave them to the judgment of the reader. What I would rather know, which is most relevant to our subject, is why in the third year of the octaeteris it assigns twin days for the paschal fourteenth, both the 12th and the 11th of the Kalends of April, beyond the usual custom. That year is indeed the third bissextile year of the cycle, but so is the seventh year, to which, however, it does not note anything of the kind. Moreover, that 11th day seems to be superfluously doubled; because only one Dominical letter, and that one which corresponds to the ferias and Dominical days designated here, applies to the 12th, not the 11th, of the Kalends of April; as Scaliger, before us, observed. Nothing has occurred to us thus far by which we might be able to solve this knot soundly. We could have wished it to be referable to a correction of an overly contracted octaeteris. For all agree that the Julian octaeteris of 2,922 days, which this of Hippolytus clearly is, is missing by a solid day and nearly 12 hours from the true lunar calculations; and that therefore, after two octaeterides, or one hexdecaeteris, a three-day period was wont to be intercalated by the ancients. But we do not yet grasp here, first, how that intercalation could have been made to the 12th or 11th of the Kalends of April (as is noted here) without great complication; and how, if it was done conveniently, it could have been of only two days, not three; when this Canon annexes these twin days only to the twin years of one hexdecaeteris. ^B

IV. A third paschal table is proposed, more conformable to the Victorian. The age of the Hippolytean paschal moon is elicited. The Canon of Hippolytus reduced to the Victorian type.

However, since we have undertaken this labor for the purpose of greatly clarifying and confirming our Victorius,

^A it is helpful to propose another table, which approaches the Victorian paschal calculation as closely as the Hippolytean rationales allow, so that it may be visible at a glance where both agree or differ. The first column from top to bottom contains the common years of Christ with the Dominical letters: from the year 222, where the Hippolytean period begins, to 277, over, as I said, 56 years. If these are repeated (though superfluously, as above), they will make up the Hippolytean period of 112 years: which the second column exhibits. Regarding this, I also note that the first year of the Hippolytean period is the fifth of the Victorian nineteen-year lunar cycle; but the fifty-seventh year of that same period is the 4th of that same Victorian cycle. For not LVI, but LVII solid years encompass three nineteen-year cycles. The third column shows the days of the paschal fourteenths, repeated seven times over, just as the seven octaeterides are contained here. ^B The fourth column shows the ferias of the fourteenths, the fifth the paschal Sundays. The sixth and last, added by us, determines the age of the Hippolytean moon on paschal Sundays, not according to the rules of the Alexandrians, but clearly conforming to those of Victorius and the Latins; this is what we chiefly intend here, so that we may collect the paschal epilogisms of the Latins, of the earliest age of the Church, and which were probably drawn and handed down from the sources of the Hebrews by the apostles. And although the Canon of Hippolytus does not exhibit that age of the paschal moon, it is nevertheless certainly defined from his preceding fourteenths. For as often as those fall on a Friday, they indicate the paschal Sunday at the 16th moon: if on a Thursday, the 17th moon; if on a Wednesday, the 18th moon; if on a Tuesday, the 19th moon; if on a Monday, the 20th moon; if on a Sunday, the 21st; if on a Saturday, the 22nd, as we see in this diagram.

HIPPOLYTEAN CANON REDUCED TO THE VICTORIAN TYPE

| Common Years of Christ | Solar Cycles and Dominical Letters | Years of Period | 14th PASCHAL Moons | Ferias of 14th Moons | PASCHAL Sundays | Moon Age | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 222 | 7 | 1 | Ides of April | Saturday | XI Kalends of May | XXII | | 278 | F | 57 | | | | | | 223 | 8 | 2 | IV Nones of April | Wednesday | VIII Ides of April | XVIII | | 279 | E | 58 | | | | | | 224 | 9 | 3 | XII and XI Kalends of April | Sunday | V Kalends of April | XXI | | 280 | DC | 59 | | | | | | 225 | 10 | 4 | V Ides of April | Saturday | XV Kalends of May | XXII | | 281 | B | 60 | | | | | | 226 | 11 | 5 | IV Kalends of April | Wednesday | IV Nones of April | XVIII | | 282 | A | 61 | | | | | | 227 | 12 | 6 | XV Kalends of April | Sunday | VIII Kalends of April | XXI | | 283 | G | 62 | | | | | | 228 | 13 | 7 | Nones of April | Saturday | Ides of April | XXII | | 284 | FE | 63 | | | | | | 229 | 14 | 8 | VIII Kalends of April | Wednesday | IV Kalends of April | XVIII | | 285 | D | 64 | | | | | | 230 | 15 | 9 | Ides of April | Tuesday | XIV Kalends of May | XIX | | 286 | C | 65 | | | | | | 231 | 16 | 10 | IV Nones of April | Saturday | IV Ides of April | XXII | | 287 | B | 66 | | | | | | 232 | 17 | 11 | XII and XI Kalends of April | Wednesday | VIII Kalends of April | XVIII | | 288 | AG | 67 | | | | | | 233 | 18 | 12 | V Ides of April | Tuesday | XVIII Kalends of May | XIX | | 289 | A | 68 | | | | | | 234 | 19 | 13 | IV Kalends of April | Saturday | VIII Ides of April | XXII | | 290 | E | 69 | | | | | | 235 | 20 | 14 | XV Kalends of April | Wednesday | XI Kalends of April | XVIII | | 291 | D | 70 | | | | | | 236 | 21 | 15 | Nones of April | Tuesday | IV Ides of April | XIX | | 292 | CB | 71 | | | | | | 237 | 22 | 16 | VIII Kalends of April | Saturday | IV Nones of April | XXII | | 293 | A | 72 | | | | | | 238 | 23 | 17 | Ides of April | Friday | XVII Kalends of May | XVI | | 294 | G | 73 | | | | | | 239 | 24 | 18 | IV Nones of April | Tuesday | VII Ides of April | XIX | | 295 | F | 74 | | | | | | 240 | 25 | 19 | XII and XI Kalends of April | Saturday | IV Kalends of April | XXII | | 296 | ED | 75 | | | | | | 241 | 26 | 20 | V Ides of April | Friday | III Ides of April | XVI | | 297 | C | 76 | | | | | | 242 | 27 | 21 | IV Kalends of April | Tuesday | III Nones of April | XIX | | 298 | B | 77 | | | | | | 243 | 28 | 22 | XV Kalends of April | Saturday | VII Kalends of April | XXII | | 299 | A | 78 | | | | | | 244 | 1 | 23 | Nones of April | Friday | VI Ides of April | XVI | | 300 | GF | 79 | | | | |

|

245 | 2 | 21 | VIII Kalends of April | Friday | III Kalends of April | XIX | 301 | E | 80 | | | | | 246 | 3 | 22 | Ides of April | Saturday | XIII Kalends of May | XX | 302 | | 81 | | | | | 247 | 4 | 23 | IV Nones of April | Monday | Pridie Nones of April | XVI | 16 | 303 | C | 82 | | | | | 248 | 5 | 24 | XII and XIII Kalends of April | Wednesday | VII Kalends of April | XIX | 304 | BA | 83 | | | | | 249 | 6 | 25 | V Ides of April | Tuesday | XVII Kalends of May | XX | 305 | G | 84 | | | | | 250 | 7 | 26 | IV Kalends of April | Friday | Pridie Kalends of April | XVI | 16 | 306 | F | 85 | | | | | 251 | 8 | 27 | XV Kalends of April | Wednesday | X Kalends of April | XIX | 307 | E | 86 | | | | | 252 | 9 | 28 | Nones of April | Tuesday | III Ides of April | XX | 308 | DC | 87 | | | | | 253 | 10 | 29 | VII Kalends of April | Friday | VI Kalends of April | XVI | 16 | 309 | B | 88 | | | | | 254 | 11 | 30 | Ides of April | Thursday | XVI Kalends of May | XVII | 310 | A | 89 | | | | | 255 | 12 | 31 | IV Nones of April | Monday | VI Ides of April | XX | 311 | G | 90 | | | | | 256 | 13 | 32 | XII and XI Kalends of April | Friday | X Kalends of April | XVI | 16 | 312 | FE | 91 | | | | | 257 | 14 | 33 | V Ides of April | Friday | Pridie Ides of April | XVII | 313 | D | 92 | | | | | 258 | 15 | 34 | IV Kalends of April | Monday | Pridie Nones of April | XX | 314 | C | 93 | | | | | 259 | 16 | 35 | XV Kalends of April | Friday | XIII Kalends of April | XVI | 16 | 315 | B | 94 | | | | | 260 | 17 | 36 | Nones of April | Friday | VI Kalends of April | XVII | 316 | AG | 95 | | | | | 261 | 18 | 37 | VIII Kalends of April | Monday | Pridie Kalends of April | XX | 317 | F | 96 | | | | | 262 | 19 | 38 | Ides of April | Sunday | XII Kalends of May | XXI | 318 | E | 97 | | | | | 263 | 20 | 39 | IV Nones of April | Friday | Nones of April | XVII | 319 | D | 98 | | | | | 264 | 21 | 40 | XII and XI Kalends of April | Friday | VI Kalends of April | XX | 320 | CB | 99 | | | | | 265 | 22 | 41 | V Ides of April | Sunday | XVI Kalends of May | XXI | 321 | A | 100 | | | | | 266 | 23 | 42 | IV Kalends of April | Friday | Kalends of April | XVII | 322 | G | 101 | | | | | 267 | 24 | 43 | XV Kalends of April | Monday | IX Kalends of April | XX | 323 | F | 102 | | | | | 268 | 25 | 44 | Nones of April | Sunday | Pridie Ides of April | XXI | 324 | ED | 103 | | | | | 269 | 26 | 45 | VIII Kalends of April | Friday | II Kalends of April | XVII | 325 | C | 104 | | | | | 270 | 27 | 46 | Ides of April | Friday | XV Kalends of May | XVIII | 326 | B | 105 | | | | | 271 | 28 | 47 | IV Nones of April | Sunday | V Ides of April | XXI | 327 | A | 106 | | | | | 272 | 29 | 48 | XII and XI Kalends of April | Friday | IX Kalends of April | XVII | 328 | GF | 107 | | | | | 273 | 0 | 49 | V Ides of April | Friday | Ides of April | XVIII | 329 | E | 108 | | | | | 274 | 1 | 50 | IV Kalends of April | Sunday | Nones of April | XXI | 330 | D | 109 | | | | | 275 | 2 | 51 | XV Kalends of April | Friday | XII Kalends of April | XVII | C | 331 | C | 110 | | | | | 276 | 3 | 52 | Nones of April | Friday | V Ides of April | XVIII | 332 | BA | 111 | | | | | 277 | 4 | 53 | VIII Kalends of April | Sunday | Kalends of April | XXI | 333 | G | 112 | | | | |

V. Hippolytus follows the calculations of the Latins of the first sort ^A regarding the tenth [day of the moon], along with the 15th Kalends of April, or March 18. For he begins the head of the paschal month on March 5. Secondly, he distributes the paschal moon from the 16th to the 22nd.

It is clearer than light from this table that Hippolytus follows the calculations of the Latins, not those of the Alexandrians. For he calls the head of the first or paschal month from the fifth of March with them, not the eighth with the latter; and he distributes the paschal Sundays most plainly from the 16th to the 22nd moon, not from the 15th to the 21st. The first is evident from the sixth and fourteenth years of every sixteen-year cycle; in which years he joins the fourth paschal moon—and consequently the first—with the fifth of the same March. The second is also clear from the first and 57th years of his period. For when he notes the 14th paschal moon on the Ides of April, and indeed on a Saturday, yet he announces the Lord’s or Resurrection Pascha—and that of the Christians—not on the following day, namely the day after the same Ides, nor on the 15th moon as the Alexandrians would do, but seven days later, on the 11th Kalends of May, or April 21, and on the 22nd moon, as the Latins do. He does the same as often as his 14th paschal moon falls on a Saturday.

^B it also encounters, as in the years of the cycle, the 4th and 60th, 7th and 62nd, 10th and 66th, 13th and 69th, 16th and 72nd, 19th and 75th, 22nd and 78th. Nor in his entire 112-year cycle will you ever see Pascha indicated for Christians before the 16th moon. Of this kind are all the years whose limits, or fourteenth paschal moons, fall on the sixth day of the week, such as the 17th and 73rd, 20th and 76th, 23rd and 79th, 26th and 82nd, 29th and 85th, 32nd and 88th, 35th and 91st, 38th and 94th.

VI. And he admits March 20 for the paschal Sunday. And in these two latter years, it is furthermore peculiar that they define the paschal Sunday on the 13th Kalends of April, or March 20, with the Dominical letter B. However, Victorius in the conclusion of his prologue writes that this was never thoroughly celebrated: specifically, after the Nicene Synod, or perhaps from the time the Latins abandoned this hekkaidekaeteris (16-year cycle), down to the age of Victorius, as we have said. Unless you prefer to read "celebrated" as "to be celebrated," as Bede does. Otherwise, this doubled octaeteris of Hippolytus, or hekkaidekaeteris, fixes it on this day twice in an interval of 112 years. Hence you see that Hippolytus existed according to the first and most rigid type of the Latins, who included the Jewish limits; and they equated the equinox, or at least the entry of the sun into Aries, not with March 21, as the Nicene Fathers did, nor with the 22nd, as they often attribute to Anatolius, but with the 18th, according to the opinion of some ancient and celebrated astrologers; with whom the Jews agreed, as their historian Josephus implies; and as we shall say in our treatise *On the Paschal Cycle of the Ancients, at the Time of Christ*, which was mentioned in our Commentary on Victorius, chapter 4, neither the ancient Jews, nor our own people for the first two centuries of Christianity, acknowledged the astronomical day of the equinox, or at least did not observe it with such scrupulosity: since they had no leisure for such quibbles, and hardly any respite from so many persecutions, they thought—and cared—to inquire about nothing beyond that which they saw had been used by the Synagogue until that time; nor did they interpret the month of the new moons, mentioned only in Scripture, in any sense other than the one the Jews did.

VII. It never exceeds the limit established by the Caesarean Synod. Nor should it be omitted here that Hippolytus does not exceed the limit of the paschal boundary established by the Caesarean Synod, although he anticipates the beginning by two days. For that synod concludes the *anastásimon* Pascha, or paschal Sundays, from the 11th Kalends of April, or March 22, to the 11th Kalends of May, or April 21, inclusive, over 31 days. Hippolytus extends it from the 12th Kalends of April, or March 20, to the 11th Kalends of May, over a total of 33 days, as is evident from the diagram below. In which we have affixed his sixteen years of the hekkaidekaeteris, as if they were as many Golden Numbers, just like the nineteen Latin and Alexandrian ones, to the specific days of the months of March and April according to his doctrine: yet in such a way that these sixteen years are attached to no more than eight days of those months; because two fall into one cell: since the hekkaidekaeteris is nothing else than a doubled octaeteris, as we have now so often said. Behold the arrangement of the cycle of Hippolytus in the Julian calendar.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE CYCLE OF HIPPOLYTUS IN THE CALENDAR

[index: entries preserved]

[index: entries preserved]

(98) Equinox of Hippolytus and of the Jews, or the entry of the sun into Aries. (99) Nicene Equinox. (1) Caesar’s Equinox.

^A And let these things be said concerning those matters which look to the Canon of Hippolytus and our design. I omit other things that could be noted here: both because they are irrelevant to the design and because they can be seen in Scaliger, Petavius, and others. Only one question remains.

VIII. Question. Whether the Paschal octaeteris was used generally by the early Christians. Scaliger considers Hippolytus’s octaeteris absurd; yet it preserves the Latin methods.

In his observations on this Canon of Hippolytus, Scaliger says he fears that the Hippolytan heckædecaeteris was never accepted, since so many absurdities were left in it. For otherwise, he says, we know from the letter of Bishop Dionysius, etc., that the Paschal octaeterides existed. But we see no absurdities in this Canon of Hippolytus; certainly none other than those which we have pointed out in the Paschal method of the Latins. Which no one would call absurd: and even if they were, no one on account of them would dare to deny, with Scaliger, that the Paschal cycle of the Latins was in use. For things which are used generally are not absurd, nor are they absurd just because they are used. ^B But, as I have said, we have already sufficiently proved, I think, that there is nothing absurd in these canons of the Latins or of Hippolytus, but rather that many things are subtle and plausible. And since it is already abundantly clear from what was said that the Paschal methods of the Latins flourished for a long time in the Church, we cannot deny that the Hippolytan ones also, which rest upon the same principles, were used for some time at least. Nor is it lacking in probability that his octaeterides were gradually emended; although we may be ignorant of the mode of emendation, which could have been various.

IX. The Octaeteris of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria. Again, that the use of the octaeteris was familiar to the early Christians is proved by the letter of Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria (who held that see from the year of Christ 246 to 263), to Domitius and Didymus, which Eusebius cites in *Ecclesiastical History*, bk. vii, cap. 15. In this, he says, he cites the eight-year Canon, because the feast of Pascha ought to be celebrated at no other time of the year than after the vernal equinox. Whether this octaeteris of Dionysius was that one of Hippolytus of 2922 days, it is for us to divine: yet it would seem it was not; if it exhibited those limits of Pascha which would always show the full moon after the vernal equinox, and constantly: for the Hippolytan [cycle], being a day and a half shorter, cannot hold this unless it is aided from elsewhere. At that time, therefore, in the day of Dionysius, it is certain that some were celebrating Pascha before the equinox, at least that of Caesar, as we have seen from the Canon of Hippolytus and of the Latins, and will also see in the Jewish. That Dionysius wrote against all these is a nearly certain conjecture; and indeed if he fixed the equinox on the 21st of March (Julian), which followeth thence, his earliest Paschal new moon could not have been before the 8th day of that same March, from the region of which we constructed the years of the Hippolytan heckædecaeteris III and XI: but if we set the equinox on March 25th with Caesar and the Fathers of ^C March 12, where we placed its golden numbers VIII and XVI, or, as quickly as possible, on the eleventh of March, he began the first. However, he could have held the system of solar Sundays, but not of Paschal limits—namely, that only those [Sundays] should be indicated after the equinox; as we shall observe concerning Anatolius, who seems to have been his disciple.

X. Julius Africanus. Third, Julius Africanus, who carried his Chronicle up to the year of Christ 221, writes thus in his fifth volume of *Chronographies*, as testified by Jerome in his *Commentary on Daniel*, ch. ix, and by Eusebius in his book *Demonstratio Evangelica* VIII: “The Greeks and Jews make embolisms of three months over eight years.” For if you wish to calculate eight times eleven days (which remain from the solar year combined with the lunar) and a fourth part of a day, you will make 90 days, that is three months. And a little before: “The lunar months of the Hebrews, according to their calculation, can make 29 and a half days each month; so that the solar circle (which has 365 days and a quarter of a day) in each of its years has eleven days and a quarter of a day more.” That the Greeks used an octaeteris, and indeed such as Africanus describes here, we know well enough; but not so the Jews, unless perhaps Africanus understands by the Julian octaeteris the 76-year Callippic cycle often added to their Paschal period. Although he does not say this; but only that the Jews cram three intercalary months into eight years, which is also true in their longer 84-year period, where in eight years they generally obtain three intercalary months. Why, however, Africanus should accept this cycle in this calculation of lunar years rather than so many other more certain ones, no sounder reason occurs to me than that he saw it was both easier and being brought into use by certain Christians of his age: for at that same time Hippolytus was composing his heckædecaeteris. And indeed, the slightly more difficult enneadecaeteris was not yet sufficiently known or familiar to the Christians; and the Jewish 84-year period had already lost its credibility through its excessive contraction.

XI. The Montanists. Fourth, the Montanists, as Sozomenus reports in *Ecclesiastical History*, bk. VII, cap. 18 fin., arguing against those who celebrated Pascha according to the moon's ratios and not rather by the solar circle, which is far more certain and constant, decreed as follows: That each month is of 30 days, ^D but that they begin the first day from the vernal equinox, which, according to the custom of the Romans, is called the 9th day before the Kalends of April (that is, March 24th), since, they say, those two luminaries were created then, by which times and years were to be declared. And this is demonstrated by the fact that the moon through the octaeteris makes equal account with the sun, and for both the new moon happens at the same time. Since indeed the octaeteris completes 99 months in the lunar course, and 2922 days...

within which the sun completes the course of eight years, ^A with 360 days (2) assigned to each year, plus a quarter of a day over. For from the 11th of the Kalends of April, as from the beginning of the creation of the sun and the counting of the first month mentioned in the Holy Scriptures on the 14th day, they calculate—and they say this is the 5th of the Ides of April—on which they perpetually celebrate Easter. But if by chance the day of the Resurrection should happen to coincide with this day, then they keep the holiday on the next following Sunday. For it is written: From the 14th day unto the 21st. These things the Montanists [held], according to Sozomen, from which I gather two things as certain. First, that the octaeteris was widely used by the earliest Christians for Easter—otherwise the Montanists would have been fighting against a shadow. Second, that this octaeteris was precisely 2922 days, and therefore the Julian and Hippolytean [one]; unless Sozomen is not reporting everything here, and is omitting the extra days to leave out petty details: which I scarcely think, seeing that the lunar octaeteris does not then make equal account with the solar; which, however, these Montanists here assume.

XII. Of the Audians

Fifth, but Epiphanius has all these things more clearly, and more fully in the 70th heresy, that of the Audians; especially in § 13: "When," he says, "the year, according to the sun’s course, is completed in 365 days and three hours (doubled, that is); it follows that, since the moon completes its year in 354 days, eleven days and three hours remain for it. Thus the first year has eleven days (which they call epacts) and three hours. The second, 22 days and 6 hours. The third, besides 33 days, 9 hours. From the sum of which days one intercalary month is deduced, and thirty days are inserted. There remain three days and 1 hour. Which, when joined with the eleven days and three hours of the fourth year, make 14 days and 12 hours. Then with the addition of another eleven days and three hours, 28 epacts and 15 hours arise. Finally, in the sixth year, with eleven annual days and three hours added, 36 days are piled up, with 18 hours. From these, another intercalary month exists. In this manner, with single [days] attributed to every third year, two months are inserted. For to the former triennium its own month is added, and to the latter in turn its own. There remain from those epacts 6 days and 18 hours. To which the seventh year adds eleven days and 3 hours: ^D there become 17 epacts and 21 hours. Then in the eighth year, with eleven days and three hours (always doubled) again added, 28 days and 24 hours of epacts are collected: the hours make two days, which, added to those 28, complete 30 full days. Wherefore in the eighth year 30 days are intercalated, and that biennium has one month. And so that entire octaeteric period claims for itself 90 days, which make three full months; namely, for the first two triennia one month each, and for the following biennium likewise one month." In these three intercalary months, which consist of that triple collection of days, the Jews' Easter [is found], differing from the Easter of the other Christians.

XIII. Of Others, according to Bede

Sixth, the octaeteris was used for the celebration of Easter not only in those first times of the Church: it also grew old into later centuries. For so Bede says, *De ratione temp.*, cap. 44: "But even now there are those who think the eight years of the sun and just as many lunar years are brought to an equality of days." He indeed refutes them, and rightly so, but he also teaches us that the octaeteris was already in use from the year of Christ 222, or even earlier, and was most stubbornly preserved by some persons right up to his own times, or the year of Christ 720 or 750.

XIV. Why the Most Ancient Christians Preferred the Octaeteris to the Enneadecaeteris

Why, however, those most ancient Christians, when they wished to abandon the already erroneous paschal cycle of the Jews and correct it with another, preferred the octaeteris to the enneadecaeteris, is an easy conjecture. For first, nature is wont to proceed from things better known and easier; such is the octaeteris in comparison to the enneadecaeteris. Then, the octaeteris makes equal account with two leap years, and so retains some series at least of the Dominical letters, and certainly does not disturb it in any way. The enneadecaeteris, beyond four leap years, contains only three years more; and so the Dominical letters...

the order, at least for the less educated, ^A confounding them at first sight. Wherefore even the last ones, attempted by Christians, were not brought to perfection at once, but were variously used by various people, and caused not a few contentions, as is known from Cyril.

XV. Disadvantages of the octaeteris. But these good Fathers fell into Scylla, desiring to avoid Charybdis. They fled from the Jewish cycle of eighty-four years, which in so great a space was shorter than the celestial motions of the moon by only one day, and about a quarter of a day; and they substituted the octaeteris, which ^B receded from the celestial course by as many days as there are years in the 84-year cycle; and if they supplied these by an intercalation of three days after every sixteen years, they would already exceed the calculations of the sun by as many days. Whence we read in Geminus that in the twenty-eighth octaeteris, or after a space of 160 years, the ancients struck out one month of thirty days, so that the new moons might be reduced to the first epoch. This was the cause that Christians, at least the Latins, having discovered such a flaw in the octaeteris, resumed the 84-year cycle, corrected by a certain method, and finally substituted the more certain enneadecaeteris for so many erroneous forms of cycles, as we have already warned so often.

APPENDIX TO PART II OF THE WORKS OF SAINT HIPPOLYTUS, EMBRACING DOUBTFUL AND SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS

CENSURES OF LEARNED MEN

*Hugo Grotius, in the appendix on the Antichrist, p. 60.* Let readers know that it is supposititious, for it uses names only received in the fourth century. *Robert Cocus, in the censure of certain ancient writers, p. 127.* Hippolytus is said to have lived circa the year 220, under whose name is held the oration *On the Consummation of the World and the Antichrist*, which is cited by the Anglo-Rhemists, whereby they prove that the Antichrist will abolish the Mass; and that Elijah will come before the day of judgment to preach to the Jews and Gentiles. By which names it is also cited by Bellarmine. Who also cites it, so as to prove that Christ descended in soul into the lower regions, and that the Antichrist will not reign except for three years and a half; and that he will be received by the Jews as the Messiah. The same oration is cited by the Anglo-Duacensians, whereby they prove that the ancient Fathers supposed that the Antichrist would be from the tribe of Dan; and that Elijah, together with Enoch, is still living to this day. And so that greater faith may be had in it, they ascribe to him the titles of "most blessed" and "martyr," and everywhere call him a saint. Regarding him, Campianus boasts in admiration, saying: "Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus, how beautifully, how clearly has he foretold the power of the Antichrist, the Lutheran times." That this oration is supposititious is proven, first, by the very style of speaking. For who among the ancients, if he were eloquent or learned, ever thought that an oration should be begun with *enim* (for) or *ἐπειδὴ γάρ* (since for), which this one does? Second, the dreams which this author recounts cry out against the feigned author. This one openly teaches that the Antichrist will be none other than the devil himself under the simulated appearance of human body and nature: when, however, the other Fathers by common consent write [the opposite], nay, and even St. Paul—which Bellarmine and Pererius admit—

APPENDIX TO PART II OF THE WORKS OF ST. HIPPOLYTUS

Antichrist will be a true man. This author suspects that the Jerusalem temple will be restored by Antichrist for the sake of the Jews, and that he will sit in it as if he were God; although Theodoret, Damascene, and others think that he will sit in the temples of the Christians, because these alone can truly be called temples of God, seeing that the Jewish temple, after the death of our Lord, was despoiled of all holiness and religion and became profane, impure, and impious, as Pererius notes (16). He also rightly observes in the following words: That both our Lord and Daniel foretold that the desolation of that temple would be irreparable for all time.

Hence he believes that John the Evangelist, as if not at all dead, will remain together with Enoch and Elijah until the time of Antichrist; although the Church asserts that blessed John underwent death, as testified by Picus (17), who first published this oration and warned that this opinion should be especially avoided, as it is peculiar and alien to ecclesiastical doctrine.

Andreas Rivetus, book 11, *Critici sacri*, ch. 11.

There appeared at Paris in the year 1557 a small work under the name of Hippolytus (18), *On the consummation of the world, Antichrist, and the second coming of Christ*, in Greek and Latin, from the translation of Johannes Picus, regarding which I shall subjoin the censure of that most reverend Juell, against Harding, art. 1, sect. 5.

A meager, he says, little work, of almost no value, and of not even any greater credibility. That the author was illiterate and unlearned is apparent both from the very nature of the Greek diction, which is for the most part childish, and from the truth and weight of the matter. He begins the first sentence of the book with "for" (*γάρ*), which not even a boy in school would do. It contains many empty conjectures about the birth and life of Antichrist. He affirms that Antichrist will not be a man, but a demon endowed with human form, whereas Paul calls him the man of sin. He imagines that John, who wrote the book of the Apocalypse, will return with Elijah and Enoch, in order to refute Antichrist—a view to which, says Possevinus, one should not assent. He ignorantly uses John’s Apocalypse in place of Daniel. He affirms that the souls of men have existed for ages, which was a figment of the Origenists; and there are other frequent dreams and deliriums of his, upon weighing which, we cannot be brought to believe that this little work is by that ancient bishop; although we are not unaware that in those times also some wrote not a few things which must be read from the Scriptures with judgment and caution. I do not know if this is the same book as that which Sixtus Senensis, book IV, wrote: There were found in past years at Basel certain commentaries on the Apocalypse, inscribed with the name of Hippolytus, regarding which there is doubt due to the lack of erudition and style. Whether it be the same or another, the reason for doubting is the same.

Franciscus Combefisius, preface to the notes on the genuine book of St. Hippolytus *On Antichrist*.

That the work under the name of Hippolytus *On Antichrist* has hitherto burdened the shelves is a monument of the later Greek period, and plainly like straw, signaling nothing of the sincerity of that age, nor the vein of a theologian of such great simplicity and sufficiently versed in the Scriptures; whose author was persuaded to write it for the sole reason that it was widely reported among the ancients that Hippolytus wrote on Antichrist. Add what the same Combefisius writes in his notes above p. 10, and Marquardus Gudius p. 36.

Nanus Tillemontius, notes on the Life of St. Hippolytus, vol. III *Memor. histor. eccles.*, p. 678.

Besides the little work *On Antichrist* which Gudius brought to light, there is in our hands another of the same theme, inserted in volume XII of the *Bibliotheca Patrum*, page 587, which Johannes Picus, a canon of Paris, had published nearly a hundred years earlier, inscribed *On the consummation of the world and on Antichrist and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ*. Caesar Baronius (19) accepts it as a genuine writing, yet he cannot restrain himself from condemning what is read in it, that John the Evangelist is not yet dead, which in truth also seems little worthy of so great a doctor of the Church, and so famous, who lived in the third century and even expressly testified to the contrary in his genuine book *On Antichrist*, ch. 31. And so, even before that true one had been found, not a few rejected it as false and supposititious, and thought it to be of a much later writer, such as Hippolytus Thebanus. Rivetus brings forward other points by which the same opinion is confirmed and which persuade him that the authority of the writer is no greater than the value of the writing itself. Elias du Pin, agreeing with Rivetus, uses almost the same (20) arguments. But it has also been observed by Combefisius in the Greek Catena on Jeremiah that certain words are quoted from Hippolytus which are found in the Gudian Hippolytus but not in this one of Picus. This single reason suffices to refute those who have attempted to defend and protect it, such as Philippus Labbeus in his *Diss. on ecclesiastical writers*, vol. I, p. 471, 472, and George Bull himself in his *Defensio fidei Nicænæ*, sect. III, c. 8, § 4, p. 369, 370.

The oration of the most blessed HIPPOLYTUS, bishop and martyr, on the consummation of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I. Since ^A the eyes of the blessed prophets have been made known to us, showing us the declaration of hidden things, both by their life and by their manifestation, and by the Holy Spirit...

^A and discussing those things not yet come to pass; whence they sketched out for all future generations the greatest opportunity for contemplation and action. Wherefore, having proclaimed to the world the advent of God in the flesh, and His birth and growth from the all-pure Theotokos Mary, and His association and life with men, and His demonstration through baptism, and the rebirth to be granted to all men through the laver of regeneration; the multitude of His miracles, and the blessed passion on the cross, and the mockery He endured therein from the Jews; His burial, His descent into Hades, and the ascent and redemption of the souls that had been dead from the ages, the extinction of death, His vivifying resurrection from the dead, the reformation of the whole world, and His ^B ascension into heaven, and the reception of the Spirit, of which the apostles were counted worthy; and again, His second coming which is to manifest all things: seeing these things, they were necessarily called to prefigure and foretell them.

II. And so they signified to us the day of the consummation, that which is in the last times, and they prefigured the appearance and delusion of the apostate to men, and the beginning and completion of his kingdom, and the arrival of the Judge, and the life of the righteous, and the punishment of sinners, so that all of us, bearing these things in mind day and hour, as children of the Church, know ^C that not one iota, nor one jot, shall pass away from them, as the saving Word has indicated. Therefore, all of you must necessarily open the eyes of your hearts and the ears of your soul, and receive the word we are about to speak. For I am going to reveal to you today a narrative full of all horror and fear, that is, the consummation, or rather the universal delusion ^D of the enemy and the devil; and after these things, the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

III. Whence then, O Christ-lovers, shall I take a beginning? And how shall I start, or what shall I recount? Whom shall I provide as a witness to these things said? But from where we began the discourse, let us bring these into our midst as witnesses.

Oration of St. Hippolytus on the consummation of the world, on the Antichrist, and on the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

^A witnesses who confirm the declaration of the things spoken; and afterwards, the teaching of the Apostles, or rather their prophecy, as they sound forth the day of the end throughout the whole inhabited world like a trumpet. Since, therefore, these too have ^B pre-indicated things that are not yet to come to pass, and have revealed the craftiness and evil counsel of the wicked men who will exist, come, let us bring into our midst the prophet Isaiah as the first witness, who instructs us concerning the times of the end. What then does he say? "Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Your region, strangers devour it before your face. And the daughter of Zion shall be left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a cucumber garden, as a city that is laid waste" (Isa. I, 7). You see, beloved, the light sent into the prophet, by which he predicted that time many generations ago. For he did not speak this word concerning the Jews, nor concerning the city of Zion, but concerning the Church. For all the prophets have declared Zion to be the bride brought in from the nations.

IV. Wherefore, let us apply our discourse to the second witness. Who is he? Listen also to Hosea pouring forth in grandiloquent style: "In those days the Lord shall bring a wind of parching heat from the desert against them, and shall dry up their veins and shall make their fountains desolate, and all desirable vessels shall be destroyed" (cf. Ose. XIII, 15). "Because they have resisted God, they shall fall by the sword, and those among them who are with child shall be ripped open" (cf. Ose. XIV, 4). What other wind of parching heat from the desert is there than the Antichrist, who in his own times is about to destroy and dry up the veins of the waters and the fruits of the trees, because men have embraced his works? ^C Therefore he will destroy them, and they themselves will serve him in his impurity.

V. Attend to the harmony of prophet with prophet; recognise another who also speaks of similar things. For the prophet Amos likewise predicted the same: "Thus saith the Lord: Because you smite the poor with the fist, and have taken from him choice gifts, you have built beautiful houses, and you shall not dwell in them. You have planted desirable vineyards, and you shall not drink the wine of them. Because I have known your many impieties, and heavy are your sins—you who defraud the just, take bribes, and oppress the poor in the gates. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time, for the time is evil" (Amos V, 11, 12, 15). ^D Learn,

beloved, the wickedness of the men of that time, how they will plunder houses and fields, and that they take away the justice of the just ^A, so that you may know that the end is at hand when these things come to be. For the wisdom and revelation of the prophet has been made clear to you, which was to be in those days. Moreover, all the prophets, as we said before, just as they made manifest the old things, have clearly prophesied the things that were to happen in the latter times.

VI. But lest we waste our discourse on the words of all the prophets, let us mention one, and return to what is before us. For what does Micah also predict? "Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who bite with their teeth and preach peace to them; and if nothing is put into their mouths, they prepare war against them. Therefore it shall be night for you instead of a vision, and darkness for you instead of divination. And the sun shall set upon the prophets, and the day shall be darkened over them. And those who see visions shall be ashamed, and the diviners shall be mocked" ^B. We have recounted these things beforehand, so that you might understand the torment and the commotion that will be in the last times, and the behavior of all men toward one another—the envy, the hatred, the strife, the neglect of the shepherds toward the sheep, and the disobedient disposition of the people toward the priests.

VII. Thus all will live according to their own will. Children will lay hands upon their parents; a wife will deliver her own husband to death; a husband will drag his own wife to judgment as if she were guilty; masters will act inhumanly toward their servants, and servants will bear a disobedient spirit toward their masters; no one will respect the gray hair of an old man, and no one will pity the beauty of a youth; the temples of God will be as [ordinary] houses, and the destruction of the churches will occur everywhere; ^C the Scriptures will be despised, and people will everywhere sing the songs of the enemy. Defilements, adulteries, and perjuries will fill the earth; sorceries, incantations, and divinations will be pursued after these things with great vehemence and zeal. In a word, among those who seem to be Christians, then will arise false prophets, false apostles, ^D impostors, corruptors, sorcerers, men lying to one another, adulterers, fornicators, rapacious, greedy, perjurers, slanderers, hating one another. The shepherds will become like wolves, the priests

will embrace falsehood; the monks will desire the things of the world; the rich will put on a heart devoid of mercy; princes will not help the poor; the powerful will reject deeds of compassion; judges will take away justice from the just, and blinded by gifts, they will approve iniquity. ^A

VIII. Why do I recount what will happen among men, when even the elements themselves are about to deny their own order? There will be earthquakes through all cities, pestilences through all regions, thunders without measure, horrendous lightning that will burn up houses and fields; storms of winds that will disturb land and sea without measure; barrenness of the earth, the roaring of the sea, an intolerable commotion on account of the destruction of both souls and men; signs in the sun, signs in the moon, deflections of the stars from their path, distress of nations, intemperance of the air, emissions of hail upon the face of the earth; ^B disorderly winters, unusual ice, intense heats that cannot be calmed, sudden lightning bolts, unexpected fires; and, to speak once, the groaning and lamentation of the whole earth, which lacks consolation. For because iniquity will abound, the charity of many will grow cold. Therefore, the Lord of all things calls out through the Gospel concerning the fluctuation and confusion of all these things, saying: Take heed that you be not seduced. For many will come in my name, saying: That I am He, and the time is at hand. Do not therefore be seduced after them. And when you shall hear of wars and dissensions, do not be terrified. For these things must first come to pass: but the end is not yet. Let us look to the words of the Savior, how He has commanded us so that we might always be strengthened: Take heed that you be not seduced. For many will come in my name, saying, I am He. ^C

IX. For even after He was taken up to the Father, some arose saying: That I am the Christ, such as Simon Magus, and others, whose names it is not the time at present to mention. Wherefore also on the last day of the consummation, there must again arise pseudochrists, men who say: That I am Christ; and they will seduce many. And many men will run about from the east even unto the west, and from the north even unto the sea, saying: Where is Christ here? Where is Christ there? But they move, endowed with vain wisdom, and neither reading the Scriptures diligently, nor thinking rightly; they will seek a name which they will not be able to find. For it behooves that first

^A these things to happen, and thus for the son of perdition to be seen, that is, the devil.

X. Furthermore, the God-inspired apostles, confirming the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, have individually pointed out the manifestation of these detestable and destructive men, and have openly proclaimed their wicked deeds. First, Peter, the rock of the faith, whom Christ our God called blessed, that teacher of the Church, that first of the disciples, he who holds the keys of the kingdom, taught us, saying: "Knowing this first, children, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts." "And there shall be false teachers among you, who shall privily bring in heresies of perdition." Following him, John the theologian, the beloved of Christ, cries out: "The children of the devil are manifest, and now many antichrists have appeared; but be not led astray after them. Believe not every spirit, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." Then also Jude, the brother of James, says similar things: "In the last times there shall be scoffers, walking after their own lusts in ungodliness. These are they who feed themselves without fear." You have perceived the agreement and harmony of the doctrine of the theologians and apostles. ^B

XI. Next, listen also to Paul speaking freely, how openly he reveals these men: "Beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. See then how you walk circumspectly, because the days are evil." Who, then, will have any excuse, hearing these things in the Church, from the prophets, and the apostles, and from the Lord Himself, if he does not concern himself with the care of his soul, and with the time of the consummation, and that hour in which we are to stand before the judgment seat of Christ? ^C

XII. But having finished this part of the discourse concerning the consummation, we shall turn our narrative to the matters that are to be spoken of accordingly. Indeed, I bring forward into the midst a witness worthy of belief, the prophet Daniel, who interpreted the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and from the beginning of kingdoms down to the consummation, pointed out ^D an unturning path to those who wish to walk it, a declaration of the truth.

For what does the prophet say? He clearly announced to King Nebuchadnezzar: "You were watching, O king, and behold a great statue standing before your face, whose head was of gold, its arms and shoulders of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its shins of iron; but the feet were part iron and part earthen." You were watching until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue upon the feet of iron and clay, and ground them to pieces. Then the clay, and the iron, and the bronze, the silver, and the gold were ground small at once; and they became like chaff from the summer threshing floor, and the stone which struck the statue became a great mountain, and filled all the earth.

XIII. Conjoining, therefore, these ^B visions of Daniel, we shall make one exposition of both, demonstrating how true and in agreement with the prophet were the things seen, which Nebuchadnezzar also had foreseen. For the prophet says thus: "I, Daniel, was watching, and behold the four winds of the heaven were rushing upon the great sea; and four great beasts were coming up out of the sea, differing from one another. The first beast was like a lioness, and its wings were as an eagle's. I was watching until its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and stood on two feet of a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And behold, a second beast, like a bear, and it stood on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it: 'Arise, eat much flesh.' Behind it I was watching, and behold a third beast, like a leopard, and it had four wings of a bird upon it; four heads had the beast. Behind this I was watching, and behold a fourth beast, terrible and astonishing, and exceeding strong; its teeth were of iron and great, and its claws of bronze, it was eating and grinding, and it was trampling the remainder with its feet; and it differed exceeding much from all the beasts before it. And it had ten horns. I was considering its horns; and behold, another little horn grew up in the midst of them, and three of the former horns were rooted out from before its face; and behold, eyes like the eyes of a man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things."

XIV. ^D Since, therefore, these things spoken mystically by the prophet seem difficult for all to understand, we shall conceal none of them from those who possess a sound mind.

^A When Daniel speaks of the first beast—that is to say, the lioness rising up from the sea—he signifies the kingdom of the Babylonians which was in the world, this being the golden head of the image. And when he says her wings were as an eagle’s, it signifies that King Nebuchadnezzar was exalted and lifted himself up against God. Then he says, "her wings were plucked," because his glory was cast down; for he was driven from his kingdom. But those words, "a man’s heart was given to him, and he stood upon the feet of a man," signify that he repented, when he recognized that he was a man, and gave glory to God. Behold, I have demonstrated the likeness of the first beast.

XV. After the lioness, the prophet sees a second beast, similar to a bear, which were the Persians; for after the Babylonians, the Persians held power. And when he says, "I was watching three ribs in its mouth," he showed three nations: the Persians, the Medes, and the Babylonians, which is shown after the gold as the silver in the image. Behold, we have also demonstrated the second beast. Afterwards, the third, the leopard, which were the Greeks; for after the Persians, Alexander of the Macedonians held power, having brought down Darius, which is shown by the bronze in the image. ^B And when he says, "four wings of a bird, and four heads upon the beast," he most clearly showed how the kingdom of Alexander was divided into four parts. For it had four heads—the four kings who rose up from it; for dying, Alexander divided his kingdom into four parts. Behold, we have spoken of the third beast as well.

XVI. Then he speaks of a fourth beast, terrible and appalling; its teeth were iron, and its claws bronze. Who are these, if not the Roman empire? Which is the iron, by which it will crush all the kingdoms before it, and will rule over the whole earth. After this, then, what remains for us to interpret of what the prophet saw, if not the extremities of the feet of the image, in which there is both a part of iron and a part of earthenware, both mixed together into one? For he mystically declared through the ten toes of the feet of the image the ten kings rising up from it, which Daniel interpreted. For I was contemplating, he says, the beast—the fourth, that is—and behold, ten horns behind it, in which another horn grew up like a sprout; and it will root out three of the former ones. ^C Which sprouted horn is shown to be no other than the Antichrist, who is to raise up the kingdom of the Jews. The three horns which are to be rooted up by him ^D indicate three kingdoms—Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia—which he will destroy by the line of battle; having gained power over all of these, the terrible tyrant will inflict affliction and persecution upon the saints, lifting himself up against them.

^A XVII. You see how Daniel interpreted the dominion of the kingdoms to Nebuchadnezzar; you perceive how he declared the form of the statue in all its features; you have perceived in what manner he pre-indicated to us the ascent of the four beasts from the sea. It remains that we should reveal to you the peculiar evil deeds of the Antichrist, and, as far as it is permitted, we shall proclaim from the prophets and the Scriptures his wandering over the whole earth, and his wicked coming.

XVIII. When the Lord Jesus Christ arrived according to the flesh from the holy and immaculate Virgin, and took upon Himself the tribe of Judah, and went forth from it, the Scripture declared the royal line, in accordance with the judgment of Jacob, who cried out in his blessings to his son Judah: *Te laudabunt fratres tui; manus tuæ in cervicibus inimicorum tuorum; adorabunt te filii patris tui. Catulus leonis Juda; e virgulto, fili mi, ascendisti. Recubans dormivisti ut leo, et velut catulus leonis, quis excitabit illum? Non deficiet princeps ex Juda, neque dux de femoribus ejus, donec veniant quae reposita sunt ei, et ipse est exspectatio gentium.* Attend to the words spoken by Jacob to Judah, as being fulfilled in the Lord. ^B Indeed, the patriarch proclaims the same concerning the Antichrist as well. Therefore, just as he sent forth a prophecy upon Judah, so did he also upon his son Dan. For Judah was his fourth son, but Dan was his seventh son. What did he cry out concerning him? *Occurrat ipsi Dan coluber in via, insidens in semita, mordens ungulam equi.* Who was this serpent, if not that deceiver from the beginning, who is said in Genesis to have deceived Eve and to have supplanted Adam?

XIX. But since these things must be demonstrated by us with many arguments, we shall not be burdened. He is certainly to be born from the tribe of Dan, and like a tyrant king he is about to set up a battle line from the opposing side, a severe judge and a devil, as the prophet says: *Dan judicavit populum suum, ut quævis alia tribus in Israel.* ^C But someone will say that this was spoken concerning Samson, who, born from the tribe of Dan, judged his people for twenty years. Yet that was fulfilled by Samson only in part, whereas this will be fulfilled universally in the times of the Antichrist. For Jeremiah speaks in this manner: *E Dan audiemus vocem acutissimam equorum ejus. A voce hinnitus equitatus equorum ejus concussa est universa* ^D the earth. And again, Moses says: *A lion’s whelp, Dan, and*