Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.20.2

Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation of All Heresies · ca. 222–235 · Rome · Read in context

Authorship disputed: The work names no author. Book 1 was long printed among Origen's works as the Philosophumena; after books 4–10 were found in a manuscript from Mount Athos (published 1851), it was assigned to Hippolytus, the usual view today, though some scholars ascribe it to another Roman writer of the same circle. Books 2 and 3 are lost, and book 4 lacks its beginning.

Summary: The Sethians find their three principles in every triad of the books of Moses.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 206–208

Λέγουσι δὲ καὶ Μωσέα αὐτῶν συναίρεσθαι τῷ λόγῳ, ἐπὰν εἴπῃ σκότος καὶ γνόφος καὶ θύελλα· οὗτοι, φησίν, οἱ τρεῖς λόγοι· ἢ ὅταν εἴπῃ ἐν παραδείσῳ γεγονέναι τρεῖς, Ἀδάμ, Εὔαν, ὄφιν· ἤ ὅταν λέγῃ τρεῖς, Κάϊν, Ἄβελ, Σήθ, καὶ πάλιν τρεῖς, Σήμ, Χάμ, Ἰάφεθ· ἢ ὅταν λέγῃ τρεῖς πατριάρχας, Ἀβραάμ, Ἰσαάκ, Ἰακώβ· ἢ ὅταν λέγῃ τρεῖς ἡμέρας πρὸ ἡλίου καὶ σελήνης γεγονέναι· ἢ ὅταν λέγῃ τρεῖς νόμους, ἀπαγορευτικόν, ἐφετικόν, διατιμητικόν.

English · Claude translation

They say that Moses too supports their doctrine when he speaks of darkness and gloom and whirlwind: “these,” he says, “are the three principles”; or when he says that three came to be in paradise, Adam, Eve, and the serpent; or when he speaks of three, Cain, Abel, Seth, and again three, Shem, Ham, Japheth; or when he speaks of three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; or when he says that three days came before sun and moon; or when he speaks of three laws, prohibitive, permissive, and penal.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 206–208 · Ludwig Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, eds., S. Hippolyti episcopi et martyris Refutationis omnium haeresium librorum decem quae supersunt (Göttingen: Dieterich, 1859); section divisions from Paul Wendland, ed., Hippolytus Werke 3: Refutatio omnium haeresium, GCS 26 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1916) · Greek text: L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, Refutationis omnium haeresium (Göttingen, 1859), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library; section divisions from P. Wendland (GCS 26, 1916), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin); both CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Duncker–Schneidewin. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Duncker–Schneidewin; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Its chapter numbers differ from the standard (Wendland) numbering used here.
Scripture
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Darkness, gloom, whirlwind” are from Deut 4:11 and 5:22 LXX.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.20.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/20/2/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.20.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/20/2/).

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