Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.12.1

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: Callistus, a Christian slave of Carpophorus, ran a bank in Rome and lost the deposits of widows and fellow Christians.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 452

Οἰκέτης ἐτύγχανε Καρποφόρου τινὸς ἀνδρὸς πιστοῦ ὄντος ἐκ τῆς Καίσαρος οἰκίας. Τούτῳ ὁ Καρποφόρος, ἅτε δὴ ὡς πιστῷ, χρῆμα οὐκ ὀλίγον κατεπίστευσεν, ἐπαγγειλάμενος κέρδος προσοίσειν ἐκ πραγματείας τραπεζιτικῆς· ὃς λαβὼν τράπεζαν ἐπεχείρησεν ἐν τῇ λεγομένῃ πισκινῇ πουπλικῇ, ᾧ οὐκ ὀλίγαι παραθῆκαι τῷ χρόνῳ ἐπιστεύθησαν ὑπὸ χηρῶν καὶ ἀδελφῶν προσχήματι τοῦ Καρποφόρου. Ὁ δὲ ἐξαφανίσας τὰ πάντα ἠπόρει.

English · Claude translation

He happened to be a household slave of a certain Carpophorus, a believer from Caesar's household. To him Carpophorus, since he was a believer, entrusted no small sum of money, and he promised to bring in profit from banking business. Taking up a bank, he set to work in the so-called Piscina Publica; and in time not a few deposits were entrusted to him by widows and brethren on the strength of Carpophorus's name. But he made away with everything and was at a loss.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 452 · 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
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The Piscina Publica was a district of Rome. “Caesar's household” means the imperial household (compare Phil 4:22).

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.12.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/12/1/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.12.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/12/1/).

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