Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 1.19.17

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: Plato defines happiness as becoming as like God as possible, holy and just with wisdom.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 36

Τὴν δὲ εὐδαιμονίαν εἶναί φησιν ὁμοίωσιν θεῷ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν. Τὴν δὲ ὁμοίωσιν τῷ θεῷ, ὅταν τις ὅσιός τε καὶ δίκαιος γένηται μετὰ φρονήσεως. Τέλος γὰρ τοῦτο τῆς ἄκρας σοφίας καὶ ἀρετῆς ὑποτίθεται.

English · Claude translation

Happiness, he says, is likeness to God as far as possible; and likeness to God is when one becomes holy and just with prudence. For he supposes this to be the goal of the highest wisdom and virtue.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 36 · 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
  • Plato, Theaet. 176b (Plato (works)) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusion is to Plato, Theaetetus 176b.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 1.19.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/1/19/17/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 1.19.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/1/19/17/).

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