Refutation of All Heresies 9.28.2

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: These Essenes test brides for fertility, abstain during pregnancy to show they marry for children, and their women also bathe in linen.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 486

Δοκιμάζουσι μέντοι τριετίᾳ τὰς γαμετάς· ἐπὰν δὲ τρὶς καθαρθῶσιν εἰς [πεῖρα]ν τοῦ δύνασθαι τίκτειν, οὕτως ἄγονται. Ταῖς ἐγκύμοσιν οὐχ ὁμιλοῦσιν, ἐπιδεικνύμενοι τὸ μὴ διʼ ἡδονὴν γαμεῖν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τέκνων χρείαν. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες ἀπολούονται καὶ αὐταὶ ἐπένδυμα ἐνδυόμεναι λινοῦν, ὃν τρόπον οἱ ἄνδρες τὰ περιζώματα. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν [τὰ] κατὰ Ἐσσηνούς.

English · Claude translation

They test their brides, however, for three years; and when they have been purified three times as [proof] that they can bear children, they then marry them. They do not have intercourse with pregnant wives, showing that they marry not for pleasure but for the need of children. Likewise the women also wash, putting on a linen garment, as the men do their loincloths. These, then, are [the teachings] concerning the Essenes.

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 486 · 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.

Extrabiblical texts

Josephus, B.J. 2.161 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Marriage

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.28.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/28/2/).

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

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.28.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/28/2/).

Refutation of All Heresies 9.28.2

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 486

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage