Hypatius Vifinsky

Ipatius of Vifinsky or Ipatius of Rufinians (d. C. 443-446) - a Byzantine monk from Bithynia , head of the monastic community in Rufinians . His life, written by his disciple, Kallinik, a monk of the same monastery, has been preserved. This document is a valuable source of information about the daily life of Byzantine provincial monks of the early 5th century.

The only source of information about Hypatia is the life written by his pupil Kallinik. Kallinik himself adopted Christianity at the beginning of the 5th century. Before becoming a monk, he was a notary. Because he didn’t have a high level of education, he wrote in a simple syllable, in simplified church Greek. On the other hand, the reason for the simplicity of the Kallinika language is its rejection of the language of "some former lawyers" who "philosophize the common communication of Hellenic education." In accordance with this view, the Life of Hypatia is written using the rich and precise language of everyday life ^[1] . The text was written no later than 450 years ^[2] .

Hypatius was the son of a Phrygian lawyer who moved to Constantinople and lived there in luxury. Instead of continuing the work of his father, Hypatius, while still in his youth, left the study of grammar and joined the monastery in the rural suburb of the capital, in Thrace . His hegumen was an Armenian, Jonah, who had previously served in the imperial guard. The area where their monastery was located was heavily damaged by invasions of the Goths and the Huns in the early 380s, and the efforts of Jonah, who had connections among the metropolitan aristocracy, accepted refugees from the surrounding villages in the monastery. Not all of these villages were Christianized, and it is reported that Jonah, together with the monks, arranged the burning of sacred trees and other cult objects. Subsequently, Hypatius acted in a similar way in Bithynia ^[3] . On April 3, 400, Ipatius occupied the deserted monastery of Rufinian, founded by the prefect Rufin in his Vyphinian dominions. After the execution of Rufin in 395, the monastery was transferred to another owner, who was not interested in maintaining the monastic community living there. By the time of arrival there Hypatius was believed that demons had settled in this place. It was believed that the monastery kept the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul . During the time the desolation of the building of the monastery suffered greatly. Thanks to the efforts of Hypatius, who organized the production and sale of baskets and garden tools, as well as with the support of a rich Christian matron, the monastery grew and flourished. By 406, it was inhabited by 30 monks. A certain Aetius, whom Hypatius cured from madness, paid for the repair of buildings and the construction of a new chapel. The monastery had its own aqueduct , which was used until it was built its own tank. During the heyday, the number of Rufinian monks reached fifty ^[4] .

The biography of Ipatiy Vifinsky contains information about the spread of Christianity in Phrygia at the beginning of the V century and in Bithynia of the first half of the V century. Kallinik’s story about the Artemis festival in the mountainous part of Bithynia, relating to the last years of Hypatia’s life, is very detailed. The struggle against the cult of Artemis in Asia Minor , started by Ipatius, was continued by his students, in particular Kallinik ^[5] . In addition to fighting pagan cults in the countryside, Hypatius intervened in 431 in the affairs of Chalcedon , where they resumed the Olympic celebrations. The program of this local festival, banned during the reign of Constantine the Great , is not known, but it probably included sports, literary and musical competitions. In response, Hypatius gathered a detachment of twenty monks and went to Chalcedon to prevent this celebration. Not receiving support from Archbishop Eulalia, Hypatius appealed to the local archimandrites to join his fight against the pagan "festival of Satan " ^[6] .

Kallinik reports that many pagans from other cities came to Hypatius to be baptized ^[7] .