Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 4.48.2

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: The seven-stringed Lyre, made by the infant Hermes (the Word), stands for the seven days of creation.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 118

Εἶναι δὲ τὴν λύραν μουσικὸν ὄργανον ὑπὸ νηπίου ἔτι παντελῶς κατεσκευασμένον τοῦ λόγου· λόγον δὲ εἶναι παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἀκουόμενον τὸν Ἑρμῆν. Φησὶ δὲ ὁ Ἄρατος περὶ τῆς κατασκευῆς τῆς λύρας· τὴν δʼ ἆρʼ ἔτι καὶ παρὰ λίκνῳ Ἑρμείης ἐτόρησε, λύρην δʼ εἶπεν καλέεσθαι. Ἑπτάχορδος ἐστί, διὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ χορδῶν τὴν πᾶσαν ἁρμονίαν καὶ κατασκευὴν ἐμμελῶς ἔχουσαν τοῦ κόσμου [σημαίνουσα]· ἐν ἓξ ἡμέραις γὰρ ἐγένετο ὁ κόσμος, καὶ τῂ ἑβδόμῃ καταπέπαυται.

English · Claude translation

The lyre is a musical instrument constructed by the Word while still quite an infant; and among the Greeks Hermes is understood to be the Word. Aratus says about the making of the lyre: "Hermes pierced it while still by the cradle, and said it should be called a lyre." It is seven-stringed, [signifying] by its seven strings the whole harmony and melodious construction of the world; for in six days the world was made, and on the seventh he rested.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 118 · 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
  • Gen 2:2 · allusion, high confidence
Extrabiblical texts
  • Aratus, Phaen. 268–269 (Aratus, Phaenomena) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The verses are Aratus, Phaenomena 268–269; the allusion is to Gen 2:2. The square brackets are the editor's.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.48.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/48/2/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 4.48.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/48/2/).

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