Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 10.11.1

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: Summary of the Sethians: three principles, each able to become all things as a child can learn any art.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 506

Τοῖς δὲ Σηθιανοῖς δοκεῖ, ὅτι τῶν ὅλων εἰσὶ τρεῖς ἀρχαὶ περιωρισμέναι. Ἑκάστη δὲ τῶν ἀρχῶν... πέφυκε [δύνασθαι] γενέσθαι, ὡς ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῃ ψυχῇ πᾶσα ἡτισοῦν διδασκομένη τέχνη, οἱονεὶ γένοιτο παιδίον αὐλητῇ γενέσθαι αὐλεῖν, ἢ γεωμέτρῃ γεωμετρεῖν, ἢ τινὶ τέχνῃ ὁμοίως.

English · Claude translation

The Sethians hold that there are three defined principles of all things. And each of the principles … is by nature [able] to become, as in a human soul any art whatever that is taught, as if a child should become able to play the flute through a flute-player, or do geometry through a geometer, or likewise with any art.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 506 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.
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
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The Sethians were treated in Book 5. The printed text marks a gap.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 10.11.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/10/11/1/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 10.11.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/10/11/1/).

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