While my translation of Hippolytus’ Chronicon is being edited, I have decided to begin translating his Commentary on Daniel from Greek to English.  This is the oldest Christian commentary on scripture that we possess yet it has never been completely translated into English. Some fragments of it were published in the 19th century and can be found in the Ante-Nicene Church Father Library here. Another translation was also done in the 19th century on part of the commentary as well: Part of the commentary of S. Hippolytus on Daniel (lately discovered by Dr. Basilios Georgiaoles), with introductions, notes & translation by J.H. Kennedy, Dublin : Hodges, Figgis, & Co, 1888. The place holder can be found here on Google Books but it is not available to read.

For my translation I am using the GCS (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller) series number NF 7 which supersedes the older SC (Source Christianes) Series 13 edition (published in 1947). The mostly complete Greek text was not made available until 2000 when the GCS edition came out, the SC edition made use of Old Slavonic manuscripts to fill in the gaps. I have asked around and it seems that there is no one who is currently translating this text into English, so it is a good choice.

In his Commentary Hippolytus frequently references the persecution Christians endured under the Roman empire and also discusses Daniel’s visions and dreams, the meanings of which are still, sometimes heatedly, discussed in our day. He includes the apocryphal parts of the book and does not shy away from difficulties in scripture (at least he hasn’t so far…). It’s a good read and an inspiring one too. I hope by doing this a little of Hippolytus’ world and faith may be shared with those who live today.

To keep up interest and also to keep me from being lazy, I plan to post interesting excerpts from my translation weekly. Keep in mind that these are rough draft translations and I am purposefully leaving out all footnotes and book/chapter references to simplify things. Today we will begin with a quote that sets the stage for the coming weeks:

And he, the King and those with him, were judged in spirit on account of the transgression of the oath of the Lord and the covenant, which were set before him. And taking his sons, Nebuchadnezzar slaughtered them before him and he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah who was also called Jeconiah, and shackled him in iron fetters and brought him into Babylon and he ground at the mill until the day in which he died. When he died they took his body and hurled it behind the wall of Nineveh. At this the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled…

Therefore after all of the people were deported and both the city was deserted and the holy place destroyed in order to fulfill the word of the Lord, which he spoke through the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet: “The holy place will be deserted seventy years.” Here we find the blessed Daniel in Babylon as a prophet and as an avenger of Susannah.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Hippolytus, Translation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.