Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.29.4

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 Sadducees, strong around Samaria, keep only the law of Moses without interpretation and reject the prophets.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 490

Αὕτη ἡ αἵρεσις περὶ τὴν Σαμάρειαν μᾶλλον ἐκρατύνθη. Καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ τοῖς τοῦ νόμου ἔθεσι προσέχουσι, λέγοντες δεῖν οὕτω ζῆν, ἵνα καλῶς βιώσῃ καὶ τέκνα ἐπὶ γῆς καταλείπῃ. Προφήταις δὲ οὐ προσέχουσιν, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἑτέροις τισὶ σοφοῖς, πλὴν μόνῳ τῷ διὰ Μωσέως νόμῳ, μηδὲν ἑρμηνεύοντες. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν, ἃ καὶ οἱ Σαδδουκαῖοι αἱρετίζουσιν.

English · Claude translation

This sect was strengthened especially around Samaria. They too give heed to the customs of the law, saying that one must live so as to live well and leave children on the earth. They do not give heed to the prophets, nor to any other wise men, except only the law given through Moses, interpreting nothing. These, then, are the views which the Sadducees too choose.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 490 · 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
Scripture and canon

Notes

Translation notes

  • The claim that the Sadducees accepted only the Pentateuch is found in several early Christian writers; its accuracy is disputed.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.29.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/29/4/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.29.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/29/4/).

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