?? St. Hippolytus (c. 170 - c. 234)





ST. HIPPOLYTUS (c. 170 – c. 234)

St. Hippolytus (c. 170–235 AD) was one of the most important second-third century Christian theologians, whose provenance, identity and corpus remain elusive to scholars and historians. Suggested communities he could have belonged to include Palestine, Egypt, Anatolia, Rome and regions of the mideast. The must skilled historians of literature in the ancient church, including St. Eusebius of Caesarea and St. Jerome, openly confess they cannot name where Hippolytus the biblical commentator and theologian served in leadership. They had read his works but did not possess evidence of his community. Photios I of Constantinople describes him in his “Bibliotheca” (cod. 121) as a disciple of St. Irenaeus, who was said to be a disciple of St. Polycarp, who in turn was a disciple of St. John, and from the context of this passage it is supposed that he suggested that St. Hippolytus so styled himself. One older theory asserts he came into conflict with the popes of his time and seems to have headed a schismatic group as a rival to the Bishop of Rome, thus becoming an Antipope. According to this view, he opposed the Roman Popes who softened the penitential system to accommodate the large number of new pagan converts. However, he was reconciled to the Church before he died as a martyr.


Various legends rose about him in the 4th century, identifying him as a priest of the Novatianist schism or as a soldier converted by St. Lawrence. He has also been confused with another martyr of the same name. Pope Pius IV identifies him as "Saint Hippolytus, Bishop of Pontus" who was martyred in the reign of Severus Alexander through his inscription on a statue found at the Church of Saint Lawrence in Rome and kept at the Vatican as photographed and published in Bunsen.

Despite the confusion regarding his biography and the legends, there is no doubt St. Hippolytus existed, and, that he produced famous theological works, but, the Great Monarch prophecy attributed to him is under question.


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Real or Pseudo Prophecy?


While St. Hippolytus was a real saint and made extensive commentaries on the prophecy of Daniel and the Antichrist, his prophecy about the Great Monarch is considered suspect as it could be from the 'pseudo-Hippolytus' collections.

It has been suggested the prophecy was written in by an unknown Greek-speaking Sicilian in the 8th century sometime after Louis II’s capture of Bari, and that it was this work was then later attributed to St. Hippolytus by Bishop Liutprand of Cremona (c. 920 – 972 AD) who declares that Hippolytus was a Sicilian bishop:

(Bishop Liutprand): “But a certain Hippolytus, a Sicilian bishop, wrote the very same thing about both our bishop and our people… For he says that scripture shall now be fulfilled which says, “The lion and the cub together shall exterminate the wild donkey.” … The same Hippolytus writes that not the Greeks, but the Franks shall crush the Saracens.” (i.e the Muslims). (Source for quote: See footnote 1)

It is also suggested that Monk Adso based his commentary on this work as well, and, it is also noted the original text of this work attributed to St. Hippolytus is no longer extant, therefore Monk Adso's and Bishop Liutprand's commentaries gives us the most details of what it contained. (Click here for Monk Ado's commentaries).

If that is the case, it is a curiosity where the following text attributed to St. Hippolytus came from:

“The Great French Monarch, who shall subject all the East, shall come around the end of the world." (Quoted by Fr. Culleton in 'The Prophets and Our Times”)

One finds longer versions of it on the internet:

“The Pope crowns a Christian king [The Great Monarch]. This King defends the west from the kings of the east. The Great Gaulish Monarch, who shall subject all the East, shall come around the end of the world.”

“Great Gaulish King” meaning King of France.


Is it from St. Hippolytus, and, is it a real Great Monarch prophecy? Elijah Wallace observes this text originated around the time of Louis II's exploits and may have referred to him.(2) If so, this would mean it is not an authentic Great Monarch prophecy, and, Monk Adso and Bishop Liutprand were duped by a fake.


HOWEVER: the few things that shows this prophecy attributed to St. Hippolytus may not be fake is that declares it will be a 'Frankish king' i.e. French king, who will rule over the Roman Empire and bring the peace, and, that he will crush the Muslims and subdue the Middle East, which corresponds with the Great Monarch prophecies of latter approved and / or credible mystics that affirm the Great Monarch is indeed going to be a great French King who will conquer the Middle East.


Of interest, the real writings of St. Hippolytus assert that the Rome, i.e. the Roman Empire, would be partitioned into ten kingdoms. Then, the Antichrist would come sometime after that and will be defeated at the Second Coming of Christ.

Therefore, if he did make this Great Monarch prophecy, when joined with his confirmed writings regarding the end times, it shows the Great Monarch comes first, that the Empire that comes at the end of time will consist of ten kingdoms, then the Antichrist will come after that, and he will eventually be defeated at the Second Coming – therefore, this timeline based on both the pseudo and legitimate writings attributed to St. Hippolytus are in accordance with Traditional Church teaching regarding the End Times.

Considering this, I have not listed his Great Monarch with the suspect quotes, but have marked it with a double “??” and leave it open for discernment.


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Footnotes:

(1) Liudprand De Cremona “The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona”. Trans. Paolo Squatriti (Washington D.C., The Catholic University of America Press, 2007), pp. 262-265 - quoted by Elijah Wallace, “IMPERIUM ET CREDO: Frankish-Byzantine Rivalry over Leadership of the Roman-Christian Credo-State in the Ninth Century, Hortulus Online Graduate Journal of Medieval Studies: https://hortulus-journal.com/imperium-et-credo-frankish-byzantine-rivalry-over-leadership-of-the-roman-christian-credo-state-in-the-ninth-century-by-elijah-wallace/#ref84)
(2) “Imperium et Credo”.


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August 3, 2020