Refutation of All Heresies 6.52.4

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 say the twelfth Aeon's fall is the lost sheep, since twelve contains the “notable” number six.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

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Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 332

Τὴν οὖν δωδεκάδα διὰ τὸ ἐπίσημον ἐσχηκέναι συνεπακολουθῆσαν αὐτῇ τὸ ἐπίσημον πάθος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περὶ τὸν δωδέκατον ἀριθμὸν τοῦ σφάλματος γενομένου τὸ πρόβατον ἀποσκιρτῆσαν πεπλανῆσθαι.... ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς δεκάδος.

English · Claude translation

The dodecad, then, because it had the episemon, had the notable passion following along with it; and for this reason, since the error arose around the twelfth number, the sheep leapt away and went astray …; and likewise also from the decad.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 332 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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

  • There is a play on ἐπίσημον (the numeral sign for six) and ἐπίσημον πάθος (“the notable passion”). There is a gap in the text.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent in the digital text): Τὴν οὗν → Τὴν οὖν.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 6.52.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/6/52/4/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 6.52.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/6/52/4/).

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