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Hypsistarians, i.e. worshippers of the Hypsistos (, the "Most High" God), and similar variations of the term first appear in the writings of Gregory of Nazianzus ( Orat. xviii, 5) and Gregory of Nyssa ( Refutation of Eunomius' Confession 38), about AD 374. The term has been linked to a body of inscriptions that date from around 100 AD to around 400 AD, mostly small votive offerings, but also including altars and stelae, dedicated to Theos Hypsistos, or sometimes simply Hypsistos, mainly found in Asia Minor (Cappadocia, Bithynia and Pontus) and the Black Sea coasts that are today part of Russia.
Some modern scholars identify the group, or groups, with mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, non-Jewish (gentile) sympathizers with Second Temple Judaism...
More archaeological findings may be related to the presence of Hypsistarians. In what is now North Macedonia, the evidence for the presence of Hypsistarians includes three inscriptions from the Valley of the Vardar, dated to the 2nd century AD. Here there are two altars with reliefs of eagles and a statuette of an eagle, which have not been previously connected to the cult but are considered indicative. Out of twenty-five inscriptions in the region, nineteen are devoted to Zeus Hypsistos (another name for the Hypsistarian God) and six to Theos Hypsistos, showing the local significance and development of the cult. In Phrygia, numerous small rural altars decorated with agricultural motifs, such as ears of wheat and grapes, indicate local worship practices. In the Bosporan Kingdom, several inscriptions and enrollment lists from Tanais and manumission inscriptions in Gorgippia and Pantikapaion demonstrate the existence of Jewish and syncretic pagan cults. In Athens, around 20 votive plaques and altars dedicated to Zeus Hypsistos found on the Pnyx hill highlight a healing cult associated with Hypsistos, with most dedications made by women. Throughout Anatolia, a great number of votive tablets and other inscriptions are evidence that referring to one or more gods as Most High ( Hypsistos, often as Theos Hypsistos 'god most high', or as Zeus or Attis, but frequently unnamed) was widespread.
However, it is not certain that all of these inscriptions are actually related to the Hypsistarians. Indeed, calling a divinity "the highest" may just have been a form of emphasising how unique that divinity is, without excluding the possibility that other divinities are unique in their way, too.
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 Nazianzus' description of this cult occurs in his eulogy for his father, who was a Hypsistarian before his conversion to Christianity:Gregory of Nazianzus, Orat., xviii (Funeral Oration on His Father), 5. Greek text, English translation.
Gregory of Nyssa gives the following information:Gregory of Nyssa, Contra Eunom., II. English translation.
Persius (34-62) may have had Hypsistarians in view when he ridiculed such hybrid religionists in Satire v, 179–84:Persius, Satire v, 179–84. Latin text, English translation.
Tertullian () seems to refer to them in , I, xiii:Tertullian, Ad nationes, Book I, chapter 13. Latin text, English translation.
The oracle text at Oenoanda is plausibly related to the Theos Hypsistos cult, but the concepts in it are also familiar from Orphism.
The main argument in favour of this hypothesis is that the evidence yields very similar descriptions for these two groups, both in terms of space and time, and in terms of their beliefs and practices (worship of a "most high" god without images, rituals with fire and lamplight, observation of some Jewish laws such as the Sabbath or dietary regulations). Critics have argued that the similarities are too unspecific, or that either the Hypsistos worshippers or the God-fearers were not a coherent group.
Contemporary Hellenistic use of hypsistos as a religious term appears to be derived from and compatible with the term as appears in the Septuagint, from a much earlier date. (Greek ὕψιστος ( hypsistos) translates Hebrew ( elyon), meaning "highest". This term occurs more than fifty times as a substitution for the Tetragrammaton (the name of God) or in direct relation to God (most often in the Psalms, Daniel, and Sirach).
The claim that Hypsistarians continued to exist until the ninth century relies on a mistaken interpretation of Nicephorus Const., "Antirhet. adv. Const. Copr.", I, in Migne, PG, col. 209.
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