Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 10.11.5

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: Like the dark pupil of the eye lit by spirit, the darkness holds countless powers that shape all things like seals.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 508

Εἰκόνα τούτου ταύτην παρεισάγουσι, λέγοντες· ὥσπερ ἡ κόρη τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ [ὑπὸ] ὑποκειμένων ὑδάτων σκοτεινὴ φαίνεται, φωτίζεται δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος, οὕτως ἀντιποιεῖται τὸ σκότος τοῦ πνεύματος, ἔχει δὲ παρʼ ἑαυτῷ πάσας τὰς δυνάμεις βουλομένας ἀφίστασθαι καὶ ἀνιέναι. Εἰσὶ δὲ αὗται ἀπειράκις ἄπειροι, ἐξ ὧν τὰ πάντα τυποῦται καὶ γίνεται ἐπιμιγνυμένων δίκην σφραγίδων.

English · Claude translation

They introduce this as an image of it, saying: just as the pupil of the eye appears dark [because of] the waters beneath, but is lit up by the spirit, so the darkness lays claim to the Spirit and holds by itself all the powers, which wish to depart and go up. And these are infinitely infinite, from which all things are shaped and come to be, mingling like seals.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 508 · 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

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (wrong accent): σκοτεινῂ → σκοτεινὴ.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 10.11.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/10/11/5/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 10.11.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/10/11/5/).

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