Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.14.3

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: The Elchasaites practice astrology, magic, and incantations for dog-bites and demon possession.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 464–466

Οὗτοι καὶ μαθηματικοῖς καὶ ἀστρολογικοῖς καὶ μαγικοῖς προσέχουσιν ὡς ἀληθέσι, καὶ τούτοις χρώμενοι ταράσσουσι τοὺς ἄφρονας νομίζειν αὐτοὺς λόγου δυνατοῦ μετέχειν· ἐπαοιδάς τε καὶ ἐπιλόγους τινὰς διδάσκουσι πρός τε κυνοδήκτους καὶ δαιμονιῶντας καὶ ἑτέραις νόσοις κατεχομένους, ὧν οὐδὲ ταῦτα σιωπήσομεν. Ἱκανῶς οὖν τὰς ἀρχὰς αὐτῶν διηγησάμενος τάς τε αἰτίας τῶν τολμημάτων, παρελεύσομαι ἐπιδιηγησόμενος τὰ ἔγγραφα, διʼ ὧν εἴσονται οἱ ἐντυγχάνοντες τόν τε λῆρον καὶ τὰ ἄθεα αὐτῶν ἐπιχειρήματα.

English · Claude translation

These men also give heed to mathematicians, astrologers, and magicians as true, and using these they confuse the foolish into thinking that they share in a powerful word. They teach incantations and certain formulas for those bitten by dogs, the demon-possessed, and those held by other diseases; about these too we shall not keep silent. Having sufficiently related their beginnings and the causes of their acts of daring, I shall go on to relate their writings, through which readers will know their nonsense and their godless attempts.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 464–466 · 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
Heresy

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent: οὖν): Ἱκανῶς οὗν → Ἱκανῶς οὖν.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.14.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/14/3/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.14.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/14/3/).

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