Refutation of All Heresies 9.22.1

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, 476

Πάντες μὲν οὖν τῷ προεστῶτι προσέχουσι, καὶ ὅσα κελεύσει ὡς νόμῳ πείθονται. Ἐσπουδάκασι γὰρ πρὸς τὸ ἐλεεῖν καὶ βοηθεῖν τοῖς καταπονουμένοις. Πρὸ δὲ πάντων ὀργῆς ἀπέχουσι καὶ θυμοῦ καὶ πάντων τῶν ὁμοίων, ἐπίβουλα ταῦτα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κρίνοντες. Οὐδεὶς δὲ ὄμνυσι παρʼ αὐτοῖς, ὅσα δʼ ἄν τις εἴπῃ, τοῦτο ὅρκου ἰσχυρότερον κρίνεται. Εἰ δὲ ὀμόσει τις, καταγινώσκεται ὡς μὴ πιστευθείς.

English · Claude translation

All of them give heed to the superintendent and obey whatever he commands as law. For they are zealous to show mercy and to help the distressed. Above all they refrain from anger and wrath and all such things, judging them treacherous to a human being. No one swears among them; whatever anyone says is judged stronger than an oath. And if anyone swears, he is condemned as not to be trusted.

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 476 · 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

Matt 5:34–37 · echo, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Josephus, B.J. 2.134–135 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.134–135; on oaths compare Matt 5:34–37.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (wrong accent: οὖν): μὲν οὗν → μὲν οὖν.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.22.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/22/1/).

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

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.22.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/22/1/).