Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.23.1

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: Candidates are tested for a year outside the community, receiving a hatchet, a loincloth, and a white robe.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 478

Τοῖς δὲ βουλομένοις τῇ αἱρέσει μαθητεύειν οὐκ εὐθέως τὰς παραδόσεις ποιοῦνται, εἰ μὴ πρότερον δοκιμάσωσιν, ἐπʼ ἐνιαυτὸν δὲ τὰς ὁμοίας τροφὰς παρατιθέασιν ἔξω τῆς ἑαυτῶν συνόδου οὖσιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ οἴκῳ, ἀξινάριόν τε καὶ τὸ λινοῦν περίζωμα καὶ λευκὴν ἐσθῆτα δόντες.

English · Claude translation

To those who wish to become disciples of the sect they do not at once hand on their traditions, unless they first test them. For a year they set before them the same food, while they remain outside their assembly in another house, giving them a small hatchet, the linen loincloth, and a white garment.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 478 · 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. 2.137 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.137.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.23.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/23/1/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.23.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/23/1/).

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