Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.18.3

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 Essenes live in self-control and mutual love, abstain from marriage themselves without forbidding it, and adopt others' children.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 472

Οὗτοι τὸν βίον σεμνότερον ἀσκοῦσι φιλάλληλοι ὄντες καὶ ἐγκρατεῖς, πάσης τε ἐπιθυμίας ἔργον ἀποστρέφονται, ἀπεχθῶς καὶ πρὸς [τὸ] τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀκοῦσαι ἔχοντες, γάμον τε ἀπαγορεύουσι, τοὺς δὲ ἀλλοτρίους παῖδας ἀναλαμβάνοντες τέκνα ποιοῦνται καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἴδια ἤθη ἄγουσιν, οὕτως ἀνατρέφοντες καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς μαθήμασι προβιβάζοντες, οὐ τὸ γαμεῖν κωλύοντες, ἀλλʼ αὐτοὶ γάμου ἀπεχόμενοι. Γυναῖκας δέ, εἰ καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ προαιρέσει βούλοιντο προσέχειν, οὐ προσδέχονται, κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον γυναιξὶ πιστεύοντες.

English · Claude translation

These practice a more dignified life, loving one another and self-controlled; they turn away from every work of desire, being averse even to hearing of such things, and they renounce marriage, but take other people's children and make them their own, and lead them into their own customs, bringing them up in this way and advancing them in learning; not forbidding marriage, but themselves abstaining from marriage. But women, even if they wish to follow the same way of life, they do not accept, trusting women in no way.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 472 · 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.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Josephus, B.J. 2.120–121 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Marriage, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.120–121.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.18.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/18/3/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.18.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/18/3/).

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