Fragments Preserved in Syriac and Arabic

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

The heretic Gaius attacks this revelation and says: These things cannot possibly happen, for the coming of the Lord will be "like a thief who comes in the night." Hippolytus of Rome refutes him and says: As God did such signs in Egypt, so he does when Christ appears. Those in Egypt were partial, because only a part of the people was enslaved there; but these before the judgment are universal, for the whole world. Therefore John says through the Revelation that before the judgment plagues come as vengeance for the righteous and as retribution on the unbelievers, so that these, when they are visited by them, may not oppress the believers. So also the Lord spoke: "In that day there will be a tribulation such as there has never been"; and Joel: "I will give signs in heaven and on earth, blood and fire and vapour of smoke; the sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes"; and Amos: "What use to you is the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light; as if you fled from a lion and a bear met you, and as if one leaned his hands on the wall and a serpent bit him." That "the day of the Lord" comes "like a thief" refers to the unbelievers, who are darkness; for the believers are children of light, who do not walk in the night. Therefore this type was fulfilled in Egypt, when the Egyptians had darkness and the Hebrews had light.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Gaius says: Just as at the flood the elements were not taken away and flooded all at once, so it will not be at the consummation, as it is written: … ; and Paul: "When they say, There is peace and security, destruction comes upon them." Hippolytus says against this objection of the heretic: Before the flood no such signs took place, because the flood was partial, and the elements were not shaken, since the universal consummation had not yet come. But when heaven and earth are about to pass away, their order must necessarily dissolve little by little; and Joel testifies to this when he says: "Before him the earth is thrown into confusion and the heaven shaken; sun and moon are darkened, and the stars, their splendour is gone"; and our Lord says in the book of Luke: "And there will be signs in sun, moon, and stars, and on the earth distress of nations, and the powers in heaven will be shaken." That saying … points to the heedlessness of the unbelievers, and the saying "When they speak of peace, destruction comes upon them" points to the Jews, who think that they will take possession of their land and live in peace; and suddenly the Christ appears, and they are put to shame.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Here Gaius objects: How can the ungodly be destroyed by the locusts, when Scripture says, "Sinners prosper, and the righteous are persecuted in the world," and Paul, "The faithful will be persecuted, and the wicked will prosper, going astray and leading astray"? Hippolytus refutes him and says: The believers who are persecuted by the ungodly have rest at that time, for they are sealed; but the plague of locusts strikes the ungodly who persecuted the saints, just as the Egyptians were struck by the plagues while the Hebrews were spared by them, although they lived in one place. So the saints are well off at that time, as our Lord said: "When these things begin to happen, be strong, lift up your heads, for your redemption is near"; that is, when the plagues come upon the wicked, the righteous have rest. And the saying "Deceivers go astray and lead astray" is happening today, when deceitful men change the words of the Lord and of the Scriptures to suit their evil thoughts; but such men, even if they succeed today, will be exposed in the end, like "Jannes and Jambres, who opposed Moses," but afterwards were defeated and put to shame.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Gaius: It is not written that angels wage wars, nor that "a third of mankind" will be destroyed, but rather: "Nation will rise against nation." Against this, Hippolytus: He does not say of the angels that they come to war, but that four nations set out from the region of the Euphrates, come over the earth, and make war on mankind. That he says "four angels" is not foreign to the Scriptures; for Moses says: "When he scattered the sons of men, he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God." Since, then, the nations were handed over to the angels, and each nation fell to one angel, John is right when he says in the Revelation, "Loose the four angels," which are the Persians, the Medes, the Babylonians, and the Assyrians. For since those angels allotted to the nations do not have the command to stir up those allotted to them, a certain binding by the power of the Word is expressed here, which holds them back until the day comes and the Lord of all gives the command. And this happens when the Antichrist comes.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

(Matt 24:15–20.) "And they will trample the holy city for forty-two months"; that is, the city is the church, and during these months they persecute and kill it, when the false Christ comes, because it does not worship him. And Daniel says this: "He will confirm a covenant for many for one week, and in half of the week the sacrifice will cease." The "half of the week" is three and a half years, and these make up the said "forty-two months." By "sacrifice" he does not mean one of lambs, but the prayers of the righteous. And he calls the righteous "the holy city," that is, those who are oppressed and trampled down by the "horn that springs up in the midst," which is the Antichrist, as Daniel says. Hippolytus explains in another way what is said in the Gospel, "When you see the abomination of desolation"; for he says that these words do not refer to the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem, but to the end, to the Antichrist. He calls the Christians of that age "elect." He says: "Pray that you may not have to flee on the Sabbath or in winter"; that is, he advises us not to let ourselves be taken by surprise by the things that befall us, being idle in righteousness like the Jews on the Sabbath, or letting ourselves be assailed by worldly business and sins as by a winter storm.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

"There will be a tribulation such as there has never been since the beginning of the world," and so on. On this Hippolytus says: This was not the case at the siege under Vespasian, for in his time nothing new happened to the world, but only what had happened before. If you mean war, war has often taken place in earlier times; or captivities, murders and bloodshed have never been lacking, which are worse than that; or the eating of children and of unclean animals, truly this too happened in the lifetime of Ahab. Therefore the Lord does not say this of Jerusalem; for when he really meant to speak of Jerusalem, he said: "When you see armies surrounding Jerusalem, then know that its desolation has drawn near." So by "the abomination of desolations" he means the Antichrist. And Daniel says: "During half of the week the abomination remains in the sanctuary." Now Vespasian set up no idol in the temple; rather, the legion that Trajanus Quintus, a Roman commander, stationed there set up an idol there named Kore. The Apostle too wrote that this refers to the Antichrist: "But first the apostasy comes, and the man of sin must be revealed, so that he sits in the temple as God, he whom the Lord Christ will sweep away," and so on. From this it is clear that Vespasian neither called himself God, nor sat in the temple, nor was killed by the breath of the Lord; and so it is evident that at the consummation of the church a tribulation will befall such as there has never been. "And I will grant my two witnesses that they shall prophesy," and so on; that is, two prophets come, Enoch and Elijah. These he calls "two olive trees," of which Zechariah also speaks. Of Elijah the Lord said: "Elijah is to come to restore all things." These, it says, do wonders and signs and bring plagues on the unbelievers, so that the believers may have some rest. These two prophets will rise up against the Antichrist, as Moses and Aaron rose up against Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And this happens "in the half of the week," when the Antichrist scatters all mankind, so that two or three cannot come together to offer the sacrifice to God. This is fulfilled in that "the sacrifice ceases." But when these have been killed there by the false Christ, afterwards they rise in the sight of many and are caught up on clouds to the Lord. "In the half of the week," says John, Enoch and Elijah receive power "and prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth," and teach repentance to the people and to the Gentile nations. These days are "the half of the week." And "the two olive trees and the two lampstands" of which Zechariah speaks are Enoch and Elijah. "And the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them, conquer them, kill them, and cast their corpses into the plateiai," that is, into the broad streets of the city. Daniel spoke of this beast in the words: "I saw a beast coming up from the abyss," that is, from the sea, "and making war with the saints," which signifies the "horn" that "sprang up." No other kingdom persecutes the saints but this one, from which at the end "the horn springs up," that is, the Antichrist, who kills Enoch and Elijah. And afterwards there happens what Isaiah spoke: "Behold, the Lord brings out of his sanctuary his great and strong sword upon the monster, the twisting serpent"; and so Daniel said: "The beast was slain and destroyed, and its body was given to the burning fire." By "its body" he means the devil, who works in the false Christ; and by "the city" he means Jerusalem; there these things take place. For Paul says of the Antichrist: "He sits in the temple of God as if he were God."

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

The heretic Gaius objects: Here Satan is bound, on the basis of what is written: "Christ entered the house of the strong man and bound him, and plundered us, his vessels." Hippolytus refutes him and says: "If the devil were bound, how could he lead the faithful astray, and persecute and plunder men? And if you say that he is bound as regards the faithful, how could he approach Christ, who never sinned, as it says: The ruler comes and finds no sin in me? And if he is bound in this way, how could the Lord have taught us to pray that we may be delivered from the evil one? And how could he have asked to tempt Simon and the apostles? And how could he, the bound one, test the disciples and harass them? For as it says, We have not to struggle against flesh and blood, but against the powers and the rulers of this dark world. If he were bound, he would not give himself to fighting, nor snatch away the word that was sown, as it says in the parable of the seed. The meaning of he bound the strong man is this: he convicted and put to shame those who did not come to him, by opposing the devil, so as to cleanse them of his working and make them children for the Father. And this appears from the word he spoke afterwards: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. So the devil will be bound at the end of the times and cast into nothingness when the Lord comes, according to the word of Isaiah: Let the ungodly be taken away, so that he may not see the glory of the Lord. And the number of the years is not a number reckoned in days, but signifies the span of one glorious and perfect day, on which, when the King comes in glory with his slain ones, the creation will shine, according to the word, The sun will shine twofold, while the righteous eat and drink with him of his vineyard. This is, in David's words, the day that the Lord has made. Therefore John, when he beheld with the spiritual eye the glory of that day, compared it to a span of a thousand years, according to the word of Scripture, One day in the world of the righteous is as a thousand years. And by the number he showed that that day is perfect for those who believe. But when he says, After a thousand years he will be loosed and will lead the nations astray, he means that he will justly be loosed and cast into the fire and judged, together with those who have gathered with him from of old, when he gathers the strangers to the kingdom, and Gog and Magog."

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

From the holy Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, from the sermon on the resurrection to the empress Mammaea, in which he examines the relevant words in the two letters to the Corinthians. This Mammaea was the mother of Alexander, the Roman emperor, the successor of Antoninus, as Eusebius writes in the sixth book of the Church History. The occasion of the Nicolaitan sect is this. This Nicolaus was one of the deacons who were chosen at the very beginning, as he is also named in the Acts of the Apostles. He, driven by an alien spirit, was the first to introduce it in this way, by asserting that the resurrection had already taken place, understanding by resurrection that we believe in Christ and receive the washing of baptism, while denying a resurrection of the flesh. And since many took occasion from him, they founded sects. Among them arose chiefly the so-called Gnostics, to whom Hymenaeus and Philetus belonged, of whom the Apostle writes: "Those who say that the resurrection has already taken place, and overturn the faith of many."

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Soon afterwards he says: When great confusion and diversity of doctrine arose in Corinth at that time, the Apostle hesitated and considered whom he should answer first: those who were introducing false teaching and denying the resurrection of the flesh, or those who were introducing life according to the law and wished to diminish the grace of Christ "poured out on the Gentiles."

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

After other things he says: For this reason, since we see the Apostle taking upon himself no small burden, we too join him in examining the words he spoke, so that what he has handed down well may, if possible, be preserved for all righteous men "who call on the name of our Lord," if not for all men, then at least for those who are worthy of it.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Soon afterwards he says: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the greatness of the power may be from God and not from us." By "treasure" he means knowledge and the gift of the Spirit, and by "earthen vessels" our flesh, inasmuch as it breaks easily, like an earthen vessel. And that the treasure has been entrusted to us whole, just as it is, is plainly a reason for us to feel honoured and to be proud.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Soon afterwards he says: But this body, which has been counted worthy to receive the power of the Spirit, does not perish, since the "treasure" serves as a safeguard against corruption for the body that has been embodied with the incorruptible. For the Apostle says well and clearly in another place, showing what we can know: "The body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is alive because of righteousness; and if the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who dwells in you."

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Shortly afterwards he says: But to make it quite clear that he has said that the flesh is immortal because the Spirit dwells in it, he adds the words: "For we who live are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh." But what would our mortal flesh be, if the "treasure" of incorruption, placed in the "vessels" already mentioned, did not also make the bodies incorruptible through faith in the Christ "whom God raised from the dead" as the "firstfruits" of all, for the sake of our hope of resurrection?

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

And that they are of Hebrew descent is shown by the tribes among them that have been distinguished; let it not be overlooked that most of this number, the first of all who believed the preaching of Christ, belonged to the tribes of Israel. The Acts of the Apostles says that the presbyters in Jerusalem said to Paul, when he had returned there from his missionary journeys: "You see, brother, how many myriads of the Jews have already believed?" And if this was so in the one city of Jerusalem, how many more, then, in the whole world, in which the tribes have been scattered, as the word of Judas in his first letter to the twelve tribes shows: "who are scattered in the world." But we admire the agreement in the number of these firstfruits from each tribe, that the number of no tribe is greater than that of another. Praised be God, who understands these unsearchable things from eternity! Now Hippolytus, the Roman bishop, holds this view in his interpretation of this point of the vision, and it is the correct one.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Hippolytus, the Roman bishop, agrees with the view that the prophecy mentioned refers to those dead who rise, and not to the Maccabees.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Hippolytus is of the opinion that these two angels whom Daniel and John saw are the Word of God, who be praised!

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Hippolytus, the Roman bishop, in his explanation of this verse, is of the opinion that the "woman" signifies the church, and the "sun" with which she was clothed signifies our Lord Christ, because he is called "the sun of godliness"; and the "moon under her feet" signifies John the Baptist; and the "crown" on her head "of twelve stars" signifies the twelve apostles.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

The "crown on her head of twelve stars" signifies the twelve apostles, as Hippolytus says, because these were the first to carry out the preaching of Christ, just as the crown is the first thing on the head.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Hippolytus, having recognized that the heads and horns of this dragon are kings, and that these belong to the followers and servants of Satan, explains: "The seven heads are seven kings, namely these: Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, Cyrus the Mede, Darius the Persian, Alexander the Greek, and the four servants of Alexander, who count as one kingdom, the Roman empire, and the kingdom of the Antichrist." And he explains the ten horns as ten kings who will perish together with the Antichrist. He has given no explanation of the crowns.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

This which has been heard is a product of my own mind, as with similar things before. But Hippolytus explains where "the sound" comes from by supposing that it comes from the angels.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Hippolytus explains "the two wings" as hope and love.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

When it says, "And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon cast out after the woman," the statement that the earth swallowed the armies that were sent out admits of two interpretations. One is the literal one, that it happened to them as it once did to the followers of Korah, when the earth opened and they fell into its depths, and it covered them. The other explains "it swallowed them" as meaning that they, the armies, wandered about on it and strayed from the goal of their march. The latter is Hippolytus's. But the former may perhaps deserve preference, because one must not depart arbitrarily from the plain sense without an argument.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

When it says that they "kept the commandments of God," it does not mean that they kept them by studying them, but by doing them. And their "holding to the testimony of Jesus" consisted in becoming like him in patience and in the struggle for the truth, and in accepting the testimony. This speaks for the truth and for the acceptance of the testimony. And this is a proof that this company is more powerful in numbers than the first company, and greater in courage and endurance, and stronger in faith and obedience. But if they had given way because of their wealth and their concern for their possessions, as Hippolytus says, why then did they remain steadfast in these tribulations?

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

When it says, "And on its heads was a wound as of a mortal wound, and its deadly blow was healed," the Coptic translation has that this wound was "on its heads," and the Greek translation that it was "on one of its heads." But the sense remains the same, because what is on a part of the whole is also on the whole. And so it remains to interpret this wound and the head on which it is. These two, in Hippolytus's opinion, are ruler and subject. He explains the wound to mean that many despise and revile the Antichrist at the beginning of his coming; and he explains the head as his kingdom. And this contempt shown to him and the refusal of obedience are weakness and slackness in it, and that is like a wound. And he explains its healing thus: that they turn to obedience to him when signs occur that lead them astray from their confidence, such that the state of the dead and the speaking of the idols will turn into their opposites.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

On the one occasion when the apostle "stood on the sand of the sea," he saw two beasts there. The first was "the beast that came up out of the sea"; and the second was this beast mentioned in our verse, and it is this one that concerns us here. He says: "And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth"; and this passage shows that it comes after the Antichrist, contrary to the opinion of Hippolytus, according to which it comes before the Antichrist.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

When it says, "And it had two horns like those of a lamb," the image of two horns has already occurred in the vision of Daniel, where he saw a ram with two horns, and where the two horns are interpreted as two kingdoms, that of the Medes and that of the Persians. But Hippolytus interprets the two as the law and the prophets, and says that they point to the gentle appearance of this beast, which inwardly is nevertheless a ravening wolf.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

Hippolytus explains it thus: that "the mark on the hand" signifies prostration, and the mark "on the forehead" signifies that each one lifts it up on his forehead like a crown.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

And as for the name of the beast in question, to be reckoned from the number, there are different opinions among the interpreters. Hippolytus, the Roman bishop, has puzzled out four names whose letters make up the number mentioned (but this is doubtful): Teitan, Euanthas, Lateinos, and a fourth … .

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

If that one is the Lord who "sits on the clouds," as Hippolytus supposes in his explanation, then it is not necessary to suppose that this angel points to the Lord of all.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

In the words "so that the way may be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun," four questions arise about these kings of the east, their coming, and their purpose. 1. Do they belong to the following and the agents of the Antichrist, who are subject to his decision and obey him, not as one obeys a king, but as one obeys a god and reveres him, and worships his form and his image and burns incense to it, and swears by his name and scratches it on hand and forehead, so that, because the inhabitants of the earth obeyed him, he would have gone away, divided the kingdoms, and left the head and the horns as his successors? Or are these kings from the east another nation that did not submit to him? 2. Leaving open whether they belonged to those who believed and obeyed him or not: did they come to obey and help him, or did they come to fight him and overthrow his dynasty at God's command? 3. From which of its regions are they? For the territory of the east is a wide one and consists of a multitude of regions and lands. 4. Of what race are they? For many of the nations are represented in the east. Now Hippolytus, so far as he gives information about this, holds regarding the first question that they belong to the following and agents of the Antichrist; regarding the second question he says that God did not bar their way until they came to the Antichrist to help him and be subject to him. But about questions 3 and 4 the interpreters say nothing.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

"The place called in the Hebrew dialect Harmagedon" means "the soft (or: trodden) place"; and as to its particular meaning, Hippolytus says it is the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

"I saw a woman covered all over with gold, riding on a scarlet beast that was full of words of blasphemy; it had seven heads and ten horns; and she had a cup in her hand, full of the abominations and impurities of her fornication, and on her forehead was written the mystery: Babylon the great, the mother of the abominations and of the fornication of the earth. And I saw that woman drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus." This kingdom, that is, the beast she rides, a serpent bites, leading it astray and casting it into the pit of destruction. This kingdom, the Spirit dwelling in the saints has explained, is the dominion of those who are called Latins; and so too it was interpreted by the Spirit who spoke through the holy bishop and witness Hippolytus, when he interpreted that revelation which was given to John the Theologian.

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

In his interpretation Hippolytus says that this beast is the same as the one which the apostle first saw coming up from the deep "on the sand of the sea."

Translated by Claude from H. Achelis's German translation (1897) of the Syriac and Arabic; neither is shown

As for Hippolytus, he thinks that this beast signifies idolatry, and that its "five heads that have fallen" are five kings: the first, Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean; the second, Cyrus the Mede; the third, Darius the Persian; the fourth, Alexander the Greek; the fifth, his four servants, who after him are the four quarters of the earth. These kingdoms, then, have perished. And the one "that exists" is the Roman empire. But it does not stand so in the Coptic translation, but "in which, and the other is not found"; and possibly this means that the Roman empire is not yet completely found and concluded. And as for "the other" that "has not yet come," this is by common consent the Antichrist. This passage is among the darkest of the vision.