Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.8.16

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: They read Isaiah's promise of safety through rivers and fire as protection from generation and desire.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 154

Πρὸς τοῦτον, φησίν, ἐστὶν εἰρημένον· Παῖς μου εἶ σὺ Ἰσραήλ, μὴ φοβοῦ, ἐὰν διὰ ποταμῶν διέλθῃς, οὐ μή σε συγκλύσωσιν, ἐὰν διὰ πυρὸς διέλθῃς, οὐ μή σε συγκαύσει. Ποταμούς, φησί, λέγει τὴν ὑγρὰν τῆς γενέσεως οὐσίαν, πῦρ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τὴν γένεσιν ὁρμὴν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν· Σὺ ἐμὸς εἶ, μὴ φοβοῦ.

English · Claude translation

To him, he says, it is said: "You are my servant, Israel; do not fear; if you pass through rivers, they will not overwhelm you; if you pass through fire, it will not burn you." By rivers, he says, he means the moist substance of generation, and by fire the impulse and desire toward generation. "You are mine; do not fear."

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 154 · 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

  • The quotations are Isa 43:1–2 (freely).

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.8.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/8/16/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.8.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/8/16/).

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