Hypsistarians
Hypsistarians
Hypsistarians or worshippers of the Hypsistos, i.e. of the “Most High” God; a distinct Jewish-pagan sect which flourished from about 200 B.C. to about A.D. 400, mostly in Asia Minor (Cappadocia Bithynia, Pontus) and on the South Russian coasts of the Euxine Sea.
The names Hypsianistai, Hypsianoi first occur in Gregory of Nazianzus (Orat., xviii, 5) and the name Hypsistianoi in Gregory of Nyssa (Contra Eunom., II), i. e. about A. D. 374, but a great number of votive tablets, inscriptions, and oracles of Didymos and Klaros establish beyond doubt that the cult of the Hypsistos (Hypsistos, with the addition of Theos or Zeus or Attis, but frequently without addition) as the sole and supreme God was widespread in the countries adjacent to the Bosphorus (cf. Acts 16:17, “these men are servants of the most high God” — oracle of the pythonissa at Philippi). It seems probable that the native Cappadocian cult of Zeus Sabazios was deliberately merged in the cult of Jahve Sabaoth practised by the numerous and intellectually predominant Jewish colonies, and that associations (sodalicia, thiasoi) of strict monotheists were formed, who fraternized with the Jews, but considered themselves free from the Mosaic Law. The importance and exalted ideas of these associations can be gathered from the fact that when someone asked Apollo of Klaros whether the Hypsistos alone was without beginning and end, he answered: “He is the Lord of all, self-originated, self-produced, ruling all things in some ineffable way, encompassing the heavens, spreading out the earth, riding on the waves of the sea; mixing fire with water, soil with air, and earth with fire; of winter, summer, autumn, and spring, causing the changes in their season, leading all things towards the light and settling their fate in harmonious order.” The existence of these Hypsistarians must have been partially responsible for the astounding swiftness of the spread of Christianity in Asia Minor, yet not all of them accepted the new faith, and small communities of monotheists, neither Christians nor Jews, continued to exist, especially in Cappadocia. The father of Gregory of Nazianzus belonged to such a sect in his youth, and they are described in his panegyric written by his son. They rejected idols and pagan sacrifices, and acknowledged the Creator (pantokrator) and the Most High, to whom however, in opposition to the Christians, they refused the title of “Father”; they had some superstitions in common with the Jews, their worship of fire and light, the keeping of the Sabbath, the distinctions of food, but circumcision they rejected. No doubt Persius had Hypsistarians in view when he ridiculed such hybrid religionists in Satire v, 179-184, and Tertullian seems to refer to them in “Ad nationes”, I, xiii. The statement that Hypsistarians continued to exist till the ninth century, is based on a mistaken interpretation of Nicephorus Const., “Antirhet. adv. Const. Copr.”, I, in Migne, P.G., col. 209. Hypsistarians are probably referred to under the name Coelicoloe in a decree of the Emperors Honorius and Theodosius (A.D. 408), in which their places of worship are transferred to the Catholics.
———————————–
LEVI in Revue des Etudes Juives (Paris, 1898), a criticism of SCHÜRER, Die Juden im bosporan. Reiche etc. (Berlin, 1897) in Sitzungsber. d. Berlin. Acad., XIII, 200-225. See also CUMONT, Hypsistos (Brussels, 1897); DREXLER in Roscher’s Lexicon (Leipzig, 1890), s. v. Hypsistos; BURESH, Klaros (Leipzig, 1889); STOKES in Dict. Christ. Biog., s. v. Hypsistarii.
J.P. ARENDZEN Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Hypsistarians
(worshippers of the , or Most High God, as such), a sect mentioned by Gregory of Nazianzum, whose father was a member of it before his conversion to Christianity. They are represented as combining. in their doctrines the elements of Judaism and paganism. They assigned a place to fire and light in their worship, but rejected circumcision and the worship of images; they kept the Sabbath, and abstained from the eating of certain kinds of meats. Gregory of Nyssa also mentions the Hypsistarii, to whom he gives the surname . He says that, like the Christians, they acknowledge only one God, whom they call or , but are distinguished from them in not considering him as Father.
All that subsequent writers have said of this sect is derived from the above statements. The Hypsistarii do not appear to have extended outside of Cappadocia, and they seem to have existed but a short time there, for no mention is made of them either before or after the 4th century. Contrary to the statement of the ancient writers, who described them as Monotheists, Bohmer concludes from the remark made by Gregory concerning his father, , that, though the Hypsistarii worshipped but one God, they did not formally deny the existence of more. It is not to be wondered at, in view of the scanty information we possess concerning this sect, that very great differences of opinion should exist in regard to them. Mosheim considers them as belonging to the Gnostic school; J. J. Wetstein (in Prolegom. I., N.T. p. 31, 38) and D. Harenberg consider them as identical with the Caelicol/e (q.v.), regarding them as descendants from the worshippers of Thor; others trace a resemblance between their doctrines and those of Zoroaster. That they were not a Christian sect is proved by the fact of Gregory of Nazianzum’s father having belonged to it before his becoming a Christian. Ullmann considers them as Eclectics, combining the elements of Judaism with the Persian religion, while Bohmer looks upon them as identical with the Euphemites, which Neander (CG. Hist. 2, 507) also thinks probable. Their morals are represented as having been very good. See Herzog, Real- Encyclop. s.v.; Fuhrmann, Handwrterb. d. Kirchengesch. 2, 380 sq.; Walch, Hist. d. Ketzereien, 2, 180 sq.; Schrckh, Kirchengesch. 13, 278 sq.; C. Ullmann, De Hypsistariis (Heidelb. 1833); G. Bohmer, De Hypsistariis (Berol. 1834).