Fragments Preserved in Syriac and Arabic 1.1–2.6

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?