Fragments Preserved in Syriac and Arabic

Contents

Reading pages: 1.1–2.6 · 3.1–3.21

1. 1.1Against Gaius, who denied that the plagues of the Revelation could precede a sudden coming of the Lord, Hippolytus compares them to the plagues of Egypt, now extended to the whole world.
2. 1.2Against Gaius's appeal to the suddenness of the flood, Hippolytus argues that at the end the order of heaven and earth must dissolve gradually, as Joel and Luke foretell.
3. 1.3Against Gaius, Hippolytus explains that the locusts of the Revelation strike only the ungodly persecutors, while the sealed saints have rest, as the Hebrews did in Egypt.
4. 1.4Against Gaius, Hippolytus interprets the four angels bound at the Euphrates as the angels of four nations, held back by the Word until the Antichrist comes.
5. 1.5On Rev 11:2 and Matt 24:15–20, the forty-two months are read as the half-week of Daniel, and Hippolytus applies the abomination of desolation to the Antichrist rather than to the fall of Jerusalem.
6. 1.6Hippolytus argues that the great tribulation and the abomination of desolation refer not to Vespasian's siege but to the Antichrist, against whom Enoch and Elijah, the two witnesses, will prophesy before they are killed and raised.
7. 1.7Against Gaius, who held that Satan is already bound, Hippolytus argues that the devil still tempts and fights, and reads the thousand years of Rev 20 as one perfect day at the Lord's coming.
8. 2.1From Hippolytus's sermon on the resurrection to the empress Mammaea: the Nicolaitan sect began with the deacon Nicolaus, who taught that the resurrection had already happened in faith and baptism.
9. 2.2Hippolytus says that Paul, facing confusion at Corinth, weighed whether to answer first the deniers of the resurrection or those who would return to the law.
10. 2.3Hippolytus explains that he examines Paul's words so that what Paul handed down may be kept for all who call on the Lord's name.
11. 2.4Hippolytus interprets the treasure in earthen vessels as the knowledge and gift of the Spirit placed in our fragile flesh.
12. 2.5Hippolytus argues that the body that has received the Spirit does not finally perish, citing Rom 8:10–11.
13. 2.6Hippolytus concludes that the Spirit dwelling in the flesh makes the body incorruptible through faith in Christ, the firstfruits of the resurrection.
14. 3.1An Arabic commentator on Rev 7:4–8 reads the sealed of the twelve tribes as Jewish believers, the firstfruits, and says Hippolytus held the same view.
15. 3.2The commentator reports that Hippolytus applied the prophecy to the dead who rise, not to the Maccabees.
16. 3.3The commentator reports that Hippolytus identified the angel seen by Daniel and by John with the Word of God.
17. 3.4Hippolytus reads the woman of Rev 12:1 as the church, the sun as Christ, the moon as John the Baptist, and the twelve stars as the apostles.
18. 3.5The twelve stars are the apostles, because they first preached Christ, as a crown is first on the head.
19. 3.6Hippolytus explains the seven heads of the dragon as seven kingdoms ending with Rome and the Antichrist, and the ten horns as ten kings.
20. 3.7The commentator reports that Hippolytus took the heavenly voice to come from the angels.
21. 3.8Hippolytus explains the two wings given to the woman as hope and love.
22. 3.9On Rev 12:16 the commentator gives a literal reading and Hippolytus's figurative one, that the dragon's armies went astray on the earth, and prefers the literal.
23. 3.10On Rev 12:17 the commentator praises those who kept God's commandments in deed, and questions Hippolytus's view that some gave way out of concern for their possessions.
24. 3.11On Rev 13:3 Hippolytus explains the healed wound of the beast as the contempt shown to the Antichrist at first, overcome when false signs win obedience to him.
25. 3.12The commentator, against Hippolytus, holds that the beast from the earth comes after the Antichrist rather than before him.
26. 3.13Hippolytus interprets the beast's two lamb-like horns as the law and the prophets, a gentle appearance hiding a ravening wolf.
27. 3.14Hippolytus explains the mark on the hand as prostration and the mark on the forehead as wearing it like a crown.
28. 3.15The commentator reports that Hippolytus proposed four names whose letters add up to the number of the beast, including Teitan, Euanthas, and Lateinos.
29. 3.16The commentator notes that if, with Hippolytus, the one seated on the cloud is the Lord, the following angel need not be taken as the Lord of all.
30. 3.17On Rev 16:12 the commentator poses four questions about the kings of the east and reports Hippolytus's view that they are followers of the Antichrist who come to help him.
31. 3.18Hippolytus identifies Armageddon with the valley of Jehoshaphat.
32. 3.19On Rev 17:3–6 the commentator identifies the beast ridden by the woman with the power of the Latins, claiming Hippolytus's authority for this reading.
33. 3.20Hippolytus identifies the scarlet beast of Rev 17 with the beast from the sea of Rev 13.
34. 3.21Hippolytus interprets the five fallen heads of Rev 17:10 as the kingdoms from Nebuchadnezzar to Alexander's successors, the one that is as Rome, and the one to come as the Antichrist.