Refutation of All Heresies 9.12.26

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.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 462

Ἐπὶ τούτου πρώτως τετόλμηται δεύτερον αὐτοῖς βάπτισμα. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ θαυμασιώτατος Κάλλιστος συνεστήσατο, οὐ διαμένει τὸ διδασκαλεῖον φυλάσσον τὰ ἔθη καὶ τὴν παράδοσιν, μὴ διακρῖνον, τίσι δεῖ κοινωνεῖν, πᾶσι δʼ ἀκρίτως προσφέρον τὴν κοινωνίαν· ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὀνόματος μετέσχον ἐπίκλησιν καλεῖσθαι διὰ τὸν πρωτοστατήσαντα τῶν τοιούτων ἔργων Κάλλιστον Καλλιστιανοί.

English · Claude translation

In his time a second baptism was first dared by them. These, then, are the things the most admirable Callistus established. His school continues, not keeping the customs and the tradition, not discerning with whom one ought to have communion, but offering communion to all without discrimination. From him they have also taken the designation of the name, to be called Callistians, after Callistus who led the way in such deeds.

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 462 · 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

Baptism, Eucharist, Church office, Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

What “second baptism” means here is disputed (possibly rebaptism of heretics); it is not explained. “Most admirable” is ironic.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (wrong breathing/accent: οὗ): ἀφʼ οὖ → ἀφʼ οὗ.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.12.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/12/26/).

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

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.12.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/12/26/).