Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.12.25

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: Hippolytus says that as a result some Christian women used contraceptives and procured abortions, and he calls Callistus's teaching adultery and murder.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 460–462

Ἔνθεν ἤρξαντο ἐπιχειρεῖν πισταὶ λεγόμεναι ἀτοκίοις φαρμάκοις καὶ περιδεσμεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ τὰ συλλαμβανόμενα καταβάλλειν, διὰ τὸ μήτε ἐκ δούλου βούλεσθαι ἔχειν τέκνον μήτε ἐξ εὐτελοῦς, διὰ τὴν συγγένειαν καὶ ὑπέρογκον οὐσίαν. Ὁρᾶτε εἰς ὅσην ἀσέβειαν ἐχώρησεν ὁ ἄνομος μοιχείαν καὶ φόνον ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ διδάσκων· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις τοῖς τολμήμασιν ἑαυτοὺς οἱ ἀπηρυθριασμένοι καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀποκαλεῖν ἐπιχειροῦσι, καί τινες νομίζοντες εὖ πράττειν συντρέχουσιν αὐτοῖς.

English · Claude translation

From then on, women called believers began to attempt drugs for sterility and to bind themselves tightly in order to expel what had been conceived, because they did not wish to have a child from a slave or from a low-born man, on account of their family and excessive wealth. See into what great impiety the lawless one has advanced, teaching adultery and murder at the same time! And with these acts of daring, these shameless people attempt to call themselves a catholic church, and some, thinking they do well, run along with them.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 460–462 · 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.
Topics
Ethics, Marriage, Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • μοιχεία is rendered “adultery.” “Catholic church” is Hippolytus's scornful report of the name claimed by Callistus's community.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.12.25 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/12/25/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.12.25 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/12/25/).

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