Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.26.6

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 tree of life is the angel Baruch and the tree of knowledge is the angel Naas.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 220

Τούτου τοῦ παραδείσου ἀλληγορικῶς οἱ ἄγγελοι κέκληνται ξύλα, καὶ ἔστι τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ὁ τρίτος τῶν πατρικῶν ἀγγέλων Βαρούχ, τὸ δὲ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνῶσιν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ ὁ τρίτος τῶν μητρικῶν ἀγγέλων, ὁ Νάας. Οὕτως γὰρ λέγει δεῖν τὰ Μωσέως ἑρμηνεύειν, λέγων· περιεσταλμένως αὐτὰ εἶπεν ὁ Μωϋσῆς διὰ τὸ μὴ πάντας χωρεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν.

English · Claude translation

The angels of this paradise are allegorically called trees; and the tree of life is the third of the paternal angels, Baruch, and the tree of knowing the knowledge of good and evil is the third of the maternal angels, Naas. For so he says the writings of Moses must be interpreted, saying: “Moses spoke them in veiled form because not all can receive the truth.”

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 220 · 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 2:9 · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • Naas represents the Hebrew nachash, “serpent.”

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.26.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/26/6/).

The SBL abbreviation for this work has not been checked yet.

Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.26.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/26/6/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage