Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.19.17

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: The captured ray of light is the spirit “borne above the water” of Genesis; the rest is damaged.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 204–206

Ἄνωθεν γὰρ ἦν ἀκτὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ τελείου φωτὸς ἐκείνου, ἐν τῷ σκοτεινῷ καὶ φοβερῷ καὶ πικρῷ καὶ μιαρῷ ὕδατι κεκρατημένος, ὅπερ ἐστὶ πνεῦμα φωτεινὸν ἐπιφερόμενον ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος· ἐπεὶ οὖν...... ημάτων κύματα... διαφόροις γ...... εσι μήτρα τίς... κατεσπαρμέν...

English · Claude translation

For it was a ray from above, from that perfect light, held fast in the dark, fearful, bitter, and foul water; this is the luminous spirit borne above the water. Since, then, … waves … various … a womb … sown …

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 204–206 · 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
  • Gen 1:2 · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The second half of the section is too damaged to translate.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.19.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/19/17/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.19.17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/19/17/).

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