Rome From Greek to Latin

There is one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures and from no other source.

-          Hippolytus

A Patristic Treasury: Early Church Wisdom for Today, edited by James R. Payton, Jr.

The Trinity

For the Father is indeed One, but there are two Persons, because there is also the Son; and then there is the third, the Holy Spirit.

-          Hippolytus

The God of all things became human for this purpose, that by suffering in the flesh, which can suffer, He might redeem our whole race, which was sold to death…

-          Hippolytus

…uniting God to humanity and humanity to God… This most profound and recondite mystery…is found to be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, both God and man…

-          Novatian

I keep coming back to the Trinity and that this idea existed with many early Church Fathers from the beginning.  Obviously not all, as the controversy lasted even after Nicea. However, it wasn’t merely an invention of a Church Council or a demand of an emperor.

God

For that which is without beginning can be preceded by none since He has no time.

-          Novatian

There is nothing before God, because there is no such thing as “before” for God.  Before implies time, a reality of creation and therefore a thing that is sustained by God, not a thing which contains Him.

He is greater than mind itself; it cannot even be conceived how great He is, since, if he could be conceived, He would be smaller than the human mind in which He could be conceived.

-          Novatian

What can you fittingly either say or think about Him who is greater than all discourses and thoughts?

-          Novatian

He is too great for our senses… the understanding we have is too limited to comprehend Him.

-          Minucius Felix

In other words, perhaps pushing the boundaries of what God is beyond what He has revealed of Himself is only a cause of division for Christians and a futile exercise for Christians to debate with non-Christians.

Christ Jesus

In these last days, the Father sent this Logos forth, no longer to speak by a prophet, and not wishing that the Word, beings obscurely proclaimed, should be made the subject of mere conjecture, but that He should be manifested, so that we could see Him with our own eyes.

-          Hippolytus

Jesus was not merely a prophet for God to speak through; God was speaking through no one when Jesus spoke.  The Father was manifested and we saw Him and heard Him.

We know that this Logos received a body from a virgin… And we believe that the Logos passed through every period in this life, in order that He Himself might serve as a law for every age….

-          Hippolytus

Creation

Human beings are possessed of neither reason nor any sense, nor even eyesight, when they refuse to regard the whole of this beautiful universe as the finished work of divine intelligence, but rather consider it as a random collection and conglomeration of bits and pieces.

-          Minucius Felix

This folly that “we are nothing but the result of random atoms smashing together randomly” has apparently been floated for some time.

And after these things [the rest of the Creation], He placed humanity as the head of the world. … and although the first elements of the human body were earthly, the substance was inspired by a heavenly and divine breathing.

-          Novatian

Humans are not a cancer on the planet.

The Fall

By envy, mortality came back upon humankind, since, although they could have escaped it by obedience, they rushed into it by hurrying to be God under the influence of perverse counsel.

-          Novatian

There is a hint here of the idea which I have read elsewhere: that man was intended eventually to eat from the tree, but just not yet.  Man needed to mature into this gift, and needed to demonstrate that he could be obedient to God by at least obeying one simple negative command.

Escaping Judgement

Through the knowledge of Christ, you will escape the approaching threat of the fire of judgement… You will escape the boiling flood of hell’s eternal lake of fire….

-          Hippolytus

Baptism

You are to baptize the little ones first.  All those who are able to speak for themselves should speak.  With regard to those who cannot speak for themselves, their parents, or somebody who belongs to their family, should speak.  Then baptize the grown men and finally the women.

-          Hippolytus

Hippolytus would write being baptized three times (not in Anabaptist style, but in succession).  Once each time for answering affirmatively if one believes in each of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the holy church and resurrection of the flesh.

In any case, this seems to make the case for baptism both of adult believers and infants.  Perhaps families as a whole (as is indicated in the Scriptures)?  Entire communities?

The Eucharist

Everybody should be concerned that one who is not of the faithful, nor a mouse nor any other animal, should eat of the Eucharist, and that none of it should fall and be altogether lost.  For it is the body of Christ to be eaten by the faithful, and not to be despised.

-          Hippolytus

Prayer

Hippolytus writes that prayer should begin the day – before any work, but after washing hands.  But if instruction in the word of God takes place, one should go there.  He concludes:

For he who prays in the church will be able to pass by the wickedness of the day.

-          Hippolytus

A call for daily morning mass?

Pray also before your body rests on the bed.

-          Hippolytus

Resurrection

Is there anyone so senseless and stupid as to dare to object to the claim that man can be reshaped by God anew, just as he was fashioned by Him in the first place?

-          Minucius Felix

Yes.  Those who believe we are just the result of random atoms smashing together randomly.

Other Comments

This is the ultimate significance of the proverb “Know yourself” – i.e. discover God within yourself, for He formed you in His own image.

-          Hippolytus

If you are tempted, reverently sign yourself on the forehead [with the sign of the cross].

-          Hippolytus

Biographies / Sources

Hippolytus (c. 170 – 235) was bishop of Pontus (near Rome) and an eminent scholar.  He was well versed in Greek philosophy, and claimed to be a disciple of Irenaeus.  He would write in Greek, the last Christian author in Rome to do so.

Novation (c. 200 – c. 258) served as a priest in Rome and was the first Roman theologian to write in Latin.  He fell into disgrace when he set himself up as an antibishop of Rome, although his treatise on the Trinity continued to be respected.

Minucius Felix lived most of his life in Rome.  Little is known of him beyond this.  He was a lawyer by profession, and one of the earliest Christian authors to write in Latin.