HIPPOLYTUS, CANONS OF SAINT

formally Canons of the Church and Precepts Written by Hippolytus, Archbishop of Rome, According to the Ordinances of the Apostles a collection of 38 canons (church regulations) preserved in an Arabic translation. The original text was Greek and written in Egypt; the Arabic version may rest on a Coptic translation. These canons are neither the authentic work of St. Hippolytus nor the oldest church regulations but are a later adaptation of the Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus. The unknown author of the canons generally follows the order of his source and treats the same subjects: ordination, catechumenate, Baptism, prayer, and discipline of the Christian community. But he alters the text when he wishes and makes additions of his own. Internal evidence indicates that he lived after the Council of Nicaea (ad 325) but that he wrote before the Roman Empire officially became Christian at the end of the 4th century. Unlike the Apostolic Tradition, the canons do not seem to describe an actual Christian community but instead contain a mixture of apostolic fiction, ideal reform, and actual practice.