The initiatory process of revealing
mysteries, according to Pseudo-Hippolytus, reaches its completion with the
highest revelation, which is the vision of the light that fills the whole
creation, the huge luminous body of Christ. A significant aspect of the nature
of this light regards its manifestation as a body not of material, but of
pneumatic or spiritual nature. The allusion to a human-like form or body of God
echoes a central Jewish theme, both scriptural and apocryphal; namely, that the
divine luminous human form contemplated by the prophets and apocalyptic
visionaries alike. Just for the sake of reminding them, some of the most famous
passages are Exod 24:9011, Ezek 1:26 (where on the throne sits a “figure” [דמות]
with the appearance [מראה] of a man [אדם];” cf. LXX: ομοιωμα ως ειδος ανθρωπου), Daniel 7, and Phil 2:6 (“in the
form of God” [εν μορφη θεος]). It is plausible that Pseudo-Hippolytus
inherited this theme from a Jewish context, given the considerable Jewish
presence in Asia Minor at the time, the author’s Quartodeciman position and his
mention of a “secret” Hebrew tradition about creation (IP 17.4). At the
same time, it is also plausible that he acquired the apocalyptic tradition of
God’s form through the mediation of his Christian community, where the theme
was popular in the second century. The idea of the image or form of glory, or
the huge body of Christ, also appears in other early Christian materials, for
example, in Phil 3:21, 1 Cor 11:7, Acta Pauli, 2 Clement, Pseudo-Clementine
Homilies 17:7, and probably in Herakleon of Alexandria who, in his
community to John 1:27, reads, “The whole world is the shoe of Jesus” (see
Origen, Comm. Jo. 6:39).
Pseudo-Hippolytus describes a
cosmic body touching the heavens and making the earth fast by its feet while
the huge hands embrace the winds between heaven and earth (IP 51. Cf. IP
63, for the hands of God). At the same time, this body is identical with the
celestial tree, the tree of paradise, the pillar of the universe, the Spirit
which permeates all things, and the “ladder of Jacob, the way of angels, at the
summit of which the Lord is truly established” (IP 51). It is wroth
noticing that none of these realities is described as visible and sensible but
as mystical and pneumatic. For Pseudo-Hippolytus, such titles as “divine” (θειος), “pneumatic/spiritual” (πνευματικος), perfect (τελειος), or “separated/inaccessible” (απροσιτος) refer to something radically
different from the visible universe, something belonging to the noetic realm.
Being separated, the effusions or emanations (εμβολαι) of the Spirit/Christ remain
unmixed (ακρατος, αμιγες) with sensible things (IP
45.7-9. Cf. 1 Tim 6:16, where God is called φος απροσιτος. The same title also appears in
Athenagoras’s Legatio 16.3, along with πνευμα, δυναμις, and λογος).
Among the expressions related to
the huge body of Christ—scattered among different parts of the text—there are a
few concerning the fiery constitution of his body (For the idea of Christ’s
gigantic body, see IP 1.11: μεγας Χριστος: μεγαλη μεγαλου βασιλεως επιδημια; 9.28: μεγαλου βασιλεως; 32.3: τω μαγαλω σωματι; 45.10: το
μεγεθος παν της θεοτητος [cf. Col. 2:9: παν το πληρωμα τηε θεοτητος]; 15.14: των
εκταθεισων χειρων ‘Ιησου; 38.3-4: χειρας εξετεινας πατρικας, εκαλυψας ημας
εντος των πτερυγων σου των πατρικων; 63.2-3: τας χειρας τας μεγαλας. For the huge dimensions of the
cosmic tree and body, see also IP 51
). Passages IP 1.1-12
indicates that the mighty (μεγας)
Christ, immortal and immense (πολυς),
sheds light brighter than that of the sun. In IP 55.11, the Johannine
christological title “the light of the world” receives as qualification the
attribute “mighty” (το μεγα του κοσμου φος). Furthermore, commenting on Exod 12:8 (They shall eat the flesh
that same night, roasted with fire”) the author makes the following cryptic
affirmation: “This is the might on which the flesh is eaten, for the light of
the world has set on the great body of Christ: Take and eat; this is my body”
(IP 26.1: ‘Εν νυκτι δε τα κρεα εσθιεται). The interpretation of this passage
has to be completed through a liturgical key, since the liturgical or
eucharistic context is an obvious element. My reading would be that Pseudo-Hippolytus
refers to the Christian Eucharist, which is taken or received without the
vision of Christ’s glory; in other words, it is taken “in the night.” This “night”
does not refer to the incapacity of seeing the visible light, but rather to the
incapacity of perceiving the noetic, mystical, and pneumatic glory.
The Eucharist is subsequently
identified with the “great body of Christ” on which the “light of the world” is
set (εδυ). A series of analogies may
provide a better understanding of these expressions:
1) The visible sun parallels
the light of the world (a comparison frequently used in Christian
literature; see IP 1.12) which is the noetic and real nature of Christ.
2) The night denotes the mystery
encapsulated within the visible elements of the Eucharist, within a matter in
fact concealing the divine light of Jesus’ glorious body.
3) The earth refers to the bread
of the Eucharist, to the visible realm again described as veiling the
divine light.
In the next chapter, Pseudo-Hippolytus
straightforwardly affirms that the “flesh is roasted with fire, for the
spiritual or rational body of Christ is on fire” (IP 27.1-2: τα δε κρεα οπτα πυρι εμπυρον γαρ λογικον σωμα του Χριστου Πυρ ηλθον βαλειν εις την γην). The christological conception implies a particular understanding
of the incarnation. Pseudo-Hippolytus does not employ such verbs as σαρκοω, ενσωματοω, or ενανθτρωπεω, but he renders various aspects
of the mystery of the incarnation by employing a different terminology. He
uses, for instance, αποστολη
(sending; IP 3.21) to underline the fact that the Father sends the Son
into the world. A correlative term for “sending” is επιδημια (2.3; 7.6; 21.3; 43.2-3; 44.1;
47.10; 56.9)—“arriving,” “coming” (on, επι)—either on earth (43.2) or into the body (σωμα; 47.10). Another reason—ανατολη (Dawn,
Orient; 3.4; 17.14; 45.23)—renders the light of Christ which fills the universe
(cf. Matt 3:16 and Luke 1:78) (. . . ανατολη is already a divine name in Zech 6:12 [LXX]: Ταδε λεγει κυριος παντοκρατωρ ‘Ιδου ανηρ, ‘Ανατολη ονομα αυτω). This Dawn or Orient is also
spiritual (πνευματικη; 45.23) and, therefore, mystical,
not visible. The gigantic light, according to the author, set (εδυ), contracted (συστειλας),
collected (συναθροισας), and
compressed (συναγαγων) (For εδυ,
see IP 26.1; for the other three attributes, see IP 45.10-11. The
idea is not new in Christian context; cf. Phil 2:6; Odes Sol. 7.3-6; Acts
Thom. 15 and 80) itself in Christ’s body, while the immensity of his whole
divinity (το μεγεθος παν της θεοτητος) remain unchanged:
He willingly confined himself to
himself and collecting and, compressing in himself all the greatness of the
divinity, came in the dimensions of his own choice in no way diminished or
lessened in himself, not inferior to glory (του μειουμενος εν εαυτω ουδε ελαττουμενος ουδε τη δοξη δαπανουμενος). (IP 45.10-13. Cf. Melito
of Sardis, Frg. 14. For a more detailed analysis in the context of the
second century, see Cantalamessa, L’Omelia, 187-273. Also, cf. Philo, Gig.
6:27: “the good spirit, the spirit which is everywhere diffused, so as to fill
the universe, which, while it benefits others, it not injured by having a
participation in it given to another, and if added to something else, either as
to its understanding, or its knowledge, or its wisdom)
In order to access the divine
corporeality of light, veiled by Christ’s visible body, Christians need to be
initiated and trespass the borders between the aesthetic and noetic spheres. In
doing so, they will be able to perceive noetically the heavenly anthropomorphic
figure which marks their being and shapes them according to its own noetic
form. (Dragoş Andrei Giulea, Pre-Nicene Christology in Paschal Contexts:
The Case of the Divine Noetic Anthropos [Supplements to Vigiliae
Christianae Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language 123; Leiden:
Brill, 2014], 248-51)
