Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.33

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: Justin identifies the Good one with Priapus, “maker before” all things.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 228

Ὁ δὲ ἀγαθός ἐστι Πρίαπος, ὁ πρίν τι εἶναι ποιήσας· διὰ τοῦτο καλεῖται Πρίαπος, ὅτι ἐπριοποίησε τὰ πάντα. Διὰ τοῦτο, φησίν, εἰς πάντα ναὸν ἵσταται, ὑπὸ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως τιμώμενος καὶ ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς βαστάζων τὰς ὀπώρας ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς κτίσεως, ὧν αἴτιος ἐγένετο, πριοποιήσας τὴν κτίσιν πρότερον οὐκ οὖσαν.

English · Claude translation

The Good one is Priapus, who made before anything was; he is called Priapus for this reason, because he pre-made all things. For this reason,” he says, “he stands in every temple, honored by the whole creation, and on the roads carrying the ripe fruits upon him, that is, the fruits of creation, of which he became the cause, having pre-made the creation, which did not exist before.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 228 · 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.
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The etymology plays on πρίν (“before”) and ποιέω (“make”).

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.26.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/26/33/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.26.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/26/33/).

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