Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.26.2

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: Another group forcibly circumcises or kills Gentiles who speak of God's law, called Zealots or Sicarii; others call no one lord but God.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 482

Ἕτεροι δὲ ἐπὰν ἀκούσωσί τινος περὶ θεοῦ διαλεγομένου καὶ τῶν τούτου νόμων, εἰ ἀπερίτμητος εἴη, παραφυλάξας τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ μόνον, φονεύειν ἀπειλεῖ εἰ μὴ περιτμηθείη· ὃς εἰ μὴ βούλοιτο πείθεσθαι, οὐ φείδεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφάζει. Ὅθεν ἐκ τοῦ συμβαίνοντος τὸ ὄνομα προσέλαβον, Ζηλωταὶ καλούμενοι, ὑπό τινων δὲ Σικάριοι. Ἕτεροι δὲ αὐτῶν οὐδένα κύριον ὀνομάζουσι πλὴν τὸν θεόν, εἰ καὶ αἰκίζοιτό τις ἢ καὶ ἀναιροῖτο.

English · Claude translation

Others, when they hear someone discussing God and his laws, if he is uncircumcised, watch for such a man in some place alone and threaten to kill him unless he is circumcised; and if he is not willing to obey, they do not spare him but even slay him. From what happened they took the name, being called Zealots, and by some Sicarii. Others of them call no one lord except God, even if one should be tortured or even killed.

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, A.J. 18.23 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Hippolytus here merges the Zealots and Sicarii with the Essenes; Josephus treats them separately (e.g. Jewish War 2.254; Antiquities 18.23).

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.26.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/26/2/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.26.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/26/2/).

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