Refutation of All Heresies 9.11.1
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: Hippolytus says Callistus, hungry for the episcopate, manipulated the unlearned Bishop Zephyrinus and played both sides, telling each he agreed with them.
Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 450
Ταύτην τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐκράτυνε Κάλλιστος, ἀνὴρ ἐν κακίᾳ πανοῦργος καὶ ποικίλος πρὸς πλάνην, θηρώμενος τὸν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς θρόνον. Τὸν Ζεφυρῖνον, ἄνδρα ἰδιώτην καὶ ἀγράμματον καὶ ἄπειρον τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ὅρων, ὃν πείθων δόμασι καὶ ἀπαιτήσεσιν ἀπειρημέναις ἦγεν εἰς ὃ ἐβούλετο, ὄντα δωρολήπτην καὶ φιλάργυρον, ἔπειθεν ἀεὶ στάσεις ἐμβαλεῖν ἀναμέσον τῶν ἀδελφῶν, αὐτὸς τὰ ἀμφότερα μέρη ὕστερον κερκωπείοις λόγοις πρὸς ἑαυτοῦ φιλίαν κατασκευάζων, καὶ τοῖς μὲν ἀλήθειαν [λέγων ὅμοια] φρονοῦσι ποτὲ κατʼ ἰδίαν τὰ ὅμοια φρονεῖν [λέγων] ἠπάτα, πάλιν δʼ αὖ τοῖς τὰ Σαβελλίου ὁμοίως, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸν ἐξέστησε δυνάμενον κατορθοῦν.
English · Claude translation
This heresy was strengthened by Callistus, a man cunning in wickedness and versatile in deceit, who was hunting for the throne of the episcopate. Zephyrinus, an ignorant and illiterate man, inexperienced in the church's definitions, whom he led where he wished by persuading him with gifts and forbidden demands, since he was a taker of bribes and a lover of money, he persuaded always to throw factions among the brethren, while he himself later won both parties to friendship with himself by knavish words. To those who held the truth he would say privately at times that he held the same views, and so deceived them; and again, in the same way, to those who held the views of Sabellius, whom he also led astray, although Sabellius could have been set right.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- This is Hippolytus's own hostile account of his rivals in the Roman church. The bracketed words in the Greek are editorial supplements. κερκώπειοι λόγοι, “knavish words,” refers to the Cercopes, mythical tricksters. δυνάμενον κατορθοῦν refers grammatically to Sabellius (“who was able to come right”; compare 9.11.2); ANF takes it of Callistus's ability to correct him.
Cite this passage
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.11.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/11/1/).
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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.11.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/11/1/).
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