Canons of Hippolytus

The Canons of Hippolytus is a Christian text composed by 38 decrees ("canons") and belongs to genre of the Church Orders. The work can be dated on about 336 to 340 CE even if a slightly later date is sometime proposed. The provenience is regarded as Egypt.[1]

The author is unknown, even if the work presents itself as being written by " Hippolytus, the high bishop of Rome, according to the instructions of the Apostles".

It contain instructions in regard to the choice and ordination of Christian ministers, regulations as to widows and virgins, conditions of reception of converts from paganism, preparation for and administration of baptism, rules for the celebration of the Eucharist, for fasting, daily prayers, charity suppers, memorial meals, first-fruits, etc.

Manuscript Tradition

The Canons of Hippolytus exist only in an Arabic version, itself made from a Coptic version of the original Greek.

Attention was called to the book by Vansleb and Ludolf towards the end of the 17th century, but it was only in 1870 that it was edited by Daniel Bonifacius von Haneberg, who added a Latin translation, and so made it generally accessible.[2] In 1891 Hans Achelis reproduced this translation in a revised form, embodying it in a synopsis of allied documents. He suspected much interpolation and derangement of order, and consequently rearranged its contents with a free hand. In 1900 a German translation was made by H. Riedel, based on fresh manuscripts. These showed that the book, as hitherto edited, had been thrown into disorder by the displacement of two pages near the end; they also removed other difficulties upon which the theory of interpolation had been based. The first critical edition was published in 1966 by René-Georges Coquin[3]. An English translation has been published in 1987.[4]

Content

The book is divided into thirty-eight canons, to which short headings are prefixed. This division is certainly not original, but it is convenient for purposes of reference.

The last canon hereupon passes into a general exhortation to right living, which forms a sixth part of the whole book. Riedel's translation shows this for the first time as a connected whole. It falls into two parts, and describes, first, the true life of ordinary Christians, warning them against an empty profession, and laying down many precepts of morality; and then it addresses itself to the ascete who "wishes to belong to the rank of the angels," and who lives a life of solitude and poverty. He is encouraged by an exposition, on somewhat strange lines, of the temptations of the Lord, and is specially warned against spiritual pride and contempt of other men. The book closes with an appeal for love and mutual service, based on the parables in Gospel of Matthew 25:2.

Notes

  1. ^ Bradshaw, Paul F. (2002). The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship. Oxford University Press. pp. 83. ISBN 9780195217322. 
  2. ^ von Haneberg, Daniel Bonifacius (1870). Canones S. Hippolyti, Arabice e codicibus Romanis cum versione Latina. Munich. http://www.archive.org/details/canonesshippoly00hanegoog. , free download including the full text in Latin
  3. ^ Patrologia Orientalis, Paris, 31/2 1966
  4. ^ Bradshaw, Paul F. (1987). The Canons of Hippolytus. Grove Books. ISBN 1851740570. 
  5. ^ compare Didache 4, part of the Two Ways

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.