Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 8.20.3

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: Paul's words suffice to show that Encratism is a heresy; lesser sects like the Cainites and Ophites are not worth describing.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 438

Ἁγιάζεται γὰρ διὰ λόγου θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως. Ἱκανὴ μὲν οὖν αὕτη ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου πρὸς ἔλεγχον τῶν οὕτως βιούντων καὶ σεμνυνομένων δικαίων εἰς τὸ δεῖξαι ὅτι καὶ τοῦτο αἵρεσις. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἕτεραί τινες αἱρέσεις ὀνομάζονται Καϊνῶν, Ὀφιτῶν ἢ Νοχαϊτῶν καὶ ἑτέρων τοιούτων, οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἥγημαι τὰ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν λεγόμενα ἢ γινόμενα ἐκθέσθαι, ἵνα μὴ κἂν ἐν τούτῳ τινὰς αὑτοὺς ἢ λόγου ἀξίους ἡγῶνται.

English · Claude translation

For it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.” This saying of the blessed Paul, then, is enough to refute those who live in this way and pride themselves as righteous, and to show that this too is a heresy. And if some other heresies too are named, of the Cainites, the Ophites, or the Noachites, and others of the kind, I have not thought it necessary to set out what they say or do, so that they may not in this respect think themselves to be anyone or worthy of mention.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 438 · 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 concludes 1 Tim 4:5.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 8.20.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/8/20/3/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 8.20.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/8/20/3/).

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