Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.26.1

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 Essenes split into four groups; the strictest will not carry coins or pass under statues at city gates.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 482

Διῄρηνται δὲ [κα]τὰ [χρ]όνον καὶ οὐχ ὁμοίως τὴν ἄσκησιν φυλάττουσιν, εἰς τέσσαρα μέρη διαχωρισθέντες. Ἕτεροι γὰρ αὐτῶν τὰ ὑπὲρ τὸ δέον ἀσκοῦσιν, ὡς μηδὲ νόμισμα βαστάζειν, λέγοντες μὴ δεῖν εἰκόνα ἢ φέρειν ἢ ὁρᾶν ἢ ποιεῖν. Διὸ οὐδὲ εἰς πόλιν τις αὐτῶν εἰσπορεύεται, ἵνα μὴ διὰ πύλης εἰσέλθῃ, ἐφʼ ᾗ ἀνδριάντες ἔπεισιν, ἀθέμιτον τοῦτο ἡγούμενοι τὸ ὑπὸ εἰκόνας παρελθεῖν.

English · Claude translation

They have become divided over time and do not keep the discipline alike, having been separated into four parts. For some of them practice more than is required, so as not even to carry a coin, saying that one must neither carry nor look at nor make an image. Therefore none of them even enters a city, so as not to go in through a gate on which statues stand, considering it unlawful to pass under images.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 482 · 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. 2.150 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.150; the fourfold division and what follows go beyond Josephus's account.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.26.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/26/1/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.26.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/26/1/).

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