Hippolytus: The First Antipope

In Rome around 215 A.D., Hippolytus, a priest of Rome—and the first antipope, composed a treatise in order to preserve practices that he thought were in “danger of falling into disuse and innovation.” (intro) The original document only survives in parts of a Latin text and several oriental versions of it. This church order can be divided into three parts. The first section of this treatise talks about the hierarchy of the Church (i.e. bishops—who are chosen by the people, priests, and deacons) and other non-ordained positions in the ecclesial community (i.e. subdeacons, confessors, widows, readers, and virgins). The second portion of the Apostolic Tradition covers the catechumenate (i.e. an inquiry of whether they are a slave or free, what