Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.9.12

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 derive the word for temple from the serpent, claiming every rite honors him.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 170

Νάας δὲ ἐστὶν ὁ ὄφις, ἀφʼ οὗ φησὶ πάντας εἶναι τοὺς ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν προσαγορευομένους ναούς, ἀπὸ τοῦ νάας· κἀκείνῳ μόνῳ τῷ νάας ἀνακεῖσθαι πᾶν ἱερὸν καὶ πᾶσαν τελετὴν καὶ πᾶν μυστήριον, καὶ καθόλου μὴ δύνασθαι τελετὴν εὑρεθῆναι ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν, ἐν ᾗ ναὸς οὐκ ἔστι, καὶ ὁ νάας ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀφʼ οὗ ἔλαχε ναὸς καλεῖσθαι.

English · Claude translation

Naas is the serpent, from which, he says, all things under heaven called temples (naoi) are named, from the Naas; and to that Naas alone every sanctuary, every rite, and every mystery is dedicated; and in general no rite can be found under heaven in which there is not a temple, and the Naas in it, from which it received the name of temple.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 170 · 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.
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The etymology links ναός "temple" with the Hebrew naas "serpent".

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.9.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/9/12/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.9.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/9/12/).

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