Refutation of All Heresies 7.26.9
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: Basilides reads the angel's words to Mary as the descent of the light through the heavens.
Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 374
Τοῦτο ἐστί, φησί, τὸ εἰρημένον· Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς υἱότητος διὰ τοῦ μεθορίου πνεύματος ἐπὶ τὴν ὀγδοάδα καὶ τὴν ἑβδομάδα διελθὸν μέχρι τῆς Μαρίας, καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι, ἡ δύναμις τῆς κρίσεως ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκρωρείας ἄνωθεν [διὰ] τοῦ δημιουργοῦ μέχρι τῆς κτίσεως, ὅ ἐστι τοῦ υἱοῦ.
English · Claude translation
This, he says, is what was said: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” that which came from the Sonship through the boundary Spirit to the Ogdoad and the Hebdomad and passed on as far as Mary; “and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” the power of distinction from the summit above, [through] the Demiurge as far as the creation, which is the son's.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotation is Luke 1:35. “Power of distinction” (δύναμις τῆς κρίσεως) is uncertain; κρίσις may mean “judgment” or “separation.”
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing rough breathing): Πνεῦμα ἄγιον → Πνεῦμα ἅγιον.
Cite this passage
Hippolytus, Haer. 7.26.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/7/26/9/).
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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 7.26.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/7/26/9/).
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