Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.8.36

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: They read "more are the children of the desolate" as the many reborn spiritual children.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 162

Οὕτως, φησίν, οἱ Φρύγες αἰπόλον τοῦτον καλοῦσι τὸν πάντοτε πάντα πανταχῆ στρέφοντα καὶ μεταβάλλοντα πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα. Καλοῦσι δὲ αὐτόν, φησί, καὶ πολύκαρπον οἱ Φρύγες, ὅτι πλείονα, φησί, τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα, τουτέστι τὰ ἀναγεννώμενα ἀθάνατα καὶ ἀεὶ διαμένοντα ἐστὶ πολλά, κἂν ὀλίγα ᾖ τὰ γεννώμενα· τὰ δὲ σαρκικὰ, φησίν, φθαρτὰ πάντα, κἂν ᾖ πολλὰ πάνυ γεννώμενα.

English · Claude translation

Thus, he says, the Phrygians call him goatherd, who always turns and changes all things everywhere to what is their own. And the Phrygians, he says, call him also "fruitful," because, he says, "more are the children of the desolate than of her who has the husband," that is, the reborn, immortal and ever-abiding, are many, even if few are born; but the fleshly, he says, are all perishable, even if very many are born.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 162 · 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
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Isa 54:1 (Gal 4:27).

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.8.36 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/8/36/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.8.36 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/8/36/).

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