Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 4.44.2

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: Amulets and herbs are chosen for their number values.

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

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 112

Ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο λέγουσιν ὡσεὶ τὸ θεὸς ψηφίσας... καὶ μὴν εἰς πεντάδα, εἰς ἐννάδα καταντᾷ, ὅ ἐστιν ἄρτιον, ὃ ἐπιγραφὲν περιάψαντες θεραπεύουσιν. Οὑτωσὶ καὶ βοτάνη τις εἰς τοῦτο λήγουσα τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ ὁμοίως περιαφθεῖσα ἐνεργεῖ διὰ τὴν ὁμοίαν τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ ψῆφον.

English · Claude translation

They say this too: as if, reckoning the word "God" … and indeed to five, it comes to nine, which is even; and writing it and hanging it on as an amulet they heal. So too a certain herb whose number ends in this, likewise hung on, is effective because of the like reckoning of the number.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 112 · 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.

Notes

Translation notes

  • The text is damaged, marked "…"; the argument (calling nine "even") is confused as transmitted.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.44.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/44/2/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 4.44.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/44/2/).

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