Hypsistarians
Hypsistarians, i.e. worshippers of the Hypsistos (
coasts that are today part of Russia.Some modern scholars identify the group, or groups, with God-fearers mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, non-Jewish (gentile) sympathizers with Second Temple Judaism.[2][3]
History
The name Hypsistarioi first occurs in Gregory of Nazianzus (Orat., xviii, 5) and the name Hypsistianoi in Gregory of Nyssa (Contra Eunom., II), about 374 CE. Gregory of Nazianzus describes a syncretic Jewish-pagan group that does not worship idols, reveres lamps and fire, and worships the Almighty (Pantokrator). They keep Sabbath and adhere to dietary restrictions, but they do not circumcise. Gregory of Nyssa adds that they refer to God as the Highest (Hypsistos) or Almighty (Pantokrator). Gregory of Nazianzus' description of this cult occurs in his eulogy for his father, who was a Hypsistarian before his conversion to Christianity. This cult may have formed as the native Cappadocian cult of Zeus Sabazios integrated with the cult of Jahve Sabaoth[4] practiced by the numerous and intellectually predominant Jewish colonies, and that associations (sodalicia, thiasoi) of strict monotheists formed, who fraternized with the Jews, but who considered themselves free from the Law of Moses.[citation needed]
A late 3rd century CE).
Contemporary Hellenistic use of hypsistos as a religious term appears to be derived from and compatible with the term as appears in the
The existence of Hypsistarians may have contributed to 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.[citation needed]
Mention by Goethe
After describing his difficulties with mainstream religion, Goethe laments that
...I have found no confession of faith to which I could ally myself without reservation. Now in my old age, however, I have learned of a sect, the Hypsistarians, who, hemmed in between heathens, Jews and Christians, declared that they would treasure, admire, and honour the best, the most perfect that might come to their knowledge, and inasmuch as it must have a close connection to the Godhead, pay it reverence. A joyous light thus beamed at me suddenly out of a dark age, for I had the feeling that all my life I had been aspiring to qualify as a Hypsistarian. That, however, is no small task, for how does one, in the limitations of one's individuality, come to know what is most excellent?[8]
See also
Sources
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Hypsistarians". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Boerner, Peter, ed. (1981), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1832/1982: A Biographical Essay, Bonn: Inter Nationes.
References
- ^ Mitchell, Stephen (1999). "The Cult of Theos Hypsistos Between Pagans Jews and Christians". In Athanassiadi, Polymnia; Frede, Michael (eds.). Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 81–148.
- ^ Davila, James R., The provenance of the Pseudepigrapha: Jewish, Christian, or other?, p. 29.
- ^ Athanassiadi, Polymnia; Frede, Michael (1999), Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity, p. 19.
- ISBN 978-0199730889– via Google Books.
Their ideas about God derived from a syncretized monotheism, combining elements of the Cappadocian cult of Zeus Sabazios with the Jewish God Yahweh Sabaoth. Hypsistarians accordingly amalgamated religious practices from paganism and Judaism.
- ^ Hall, A.S. (1978). "The Klarian Oracle at Oenoanda". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 32: 263–268.
- ^ Mitchell, Stephen (1999). "The Cult of Theos Hypsistos Between Pagans Jews and Christians". In Athanassiadi, Polymnia; Frede, Michael (eds.). Pagan Monotheism in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 81–148.
- ^ Robert, Louis (1971). "Un oracle gravé à Oinoanda". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 115 (3): 597–619.
- ^ von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang (1981) [letter, 22 March 1831], "To Sulpiz Boisserée", in Boerner, Peter (ed.), Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: 1832/1982: A Biographical Essay, Bonn: Inter Nationes, p. 82.