Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.16.1

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: The book prescribes repeated cold baths for the sick and possessed, and teaches that some stars are evil.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 468

Ἕτερα δὲ πλεῖστα φλυαρεῖ, ταὐτὰ καὶ ἐπὶ φθισικοῖς ἐπιλέγειν διδάσκων καὶ βαπτίζεσθαι ἐν ψυχρῷ τεσσαρακοντάκις ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ ὁμοίως καὶ ἔτι δαιμονῶντας. Ὢ σοφίας ἀμιμήτου καὶ ἐπαοιδῶν δυνάμεων μεμεστωμένων! Τίς οὐκ ἐκπλαγήσεται τῇ τοιαύτῃ καὶ τοσαύτῃ δυνάμει τῶν λόγων; Ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἀστρολογικῇ πλάνῃ κεχρῆσθαι αὐτοὺς ἔφημεν, ἐξ αὐτῶν δείξομεν· φησὶ γὰρ οὕτως· Εἰσὶν ἀστέρες πονηροὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας.

English · Claude translation

He talks a great deal of other nonsense, teaching that the same words should be said over consumptives too, and that they should be baptized in cold water forty times over seven days, and likewise the demon-possessed. O inimitable wisdom and incantations filled with powers! Who will not be struck with amazement at such and so great a power of words? But since we said that they use astrological error too, we shall show it from their own words; for he says thus: “There are evil stars of impiety.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 468 · 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, Baptism

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent: interjection Ὢ): Ὤ σοφίας → Ὢ σοφίας.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.16.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/16/1/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.16.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/16/1/).

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