Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies, Book 1, preface 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: Because the heretics do not repent, Hippolytus will expose the secret teachings they give only to those they have drawn in.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 4

Ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ ὁρῶ μὴ δυσωπουμένους αὐτοὺς τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐπιείκειαν μηδὲ λογιζομένους, ὡς θεὸς μακροθυμεῖ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν βλασφημούμενος, ὅπως ἢ αἰδεσθέντες μετανοήσωσιν ἢ ἐπιμείναντες δικαίως κριθῶσι, βιασθεὶς πρόειμι δείξων αὐτῶν τὰ ἀπόρρητα μυστήρια, ἃ τοῖς μυουμένοις μετὰ μεγάλης ἀξιοπιστίας παραδιδόασιν οὐ πρότερον ὁμολογήσαντες, εἰ μὴ τὸν τοιοῦτον δουλώσωνται χρόνῳ ἀνακρεμάσαντες καὶ βλάσφημον πρὸς τὸν ὄντως θεὸν κατασκευάσαντες καὶ περιεργίᾳ γλιχόμενον τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἴδωσι.

English · Claude translation

But since I see that they are not put to shame by our forbearance, and do not consider how God is long-suffering though blasphemed by them, so that either, feeling shame, they may repent, or, persisting, they may be justly judged, I am compelled to go forward to show their secret mysteries, which they hand on to the initiated with great show of trustworthiness. They do not confess them first, until they have enslaved such a person, keeping him in suspense for a long time, and have made him blasphemous toward the true God, and see him eager with curiosity for what is promised.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 4 · 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.
Scripture
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (misread letters in the digital text): αἰδεσθένιες → αἰδεσθέντες.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 1.0.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/1/0/2/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 1.0.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/1/0/2/).

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