Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 5.20.8

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 Sethian rites resemble those of Phlius, and Homer's threefold division of the world is cited for their three principles.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 210

Ὥστε εὐλόγως ἄν τις εἴποι τοὺς Σηθιανοὺς ἐγγύς που τελεῖν παρʼ αὐτοῖς τὰ τῆς Μεγάλης Φλυῆσιν ὄργια. Τῇ δὲ διαιρέσει τῇ τριχῆ μαρτυρεῖν ἔοικε καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς λέγων· Τριχθὰ δὲ πάντα δέδασται, ἕκαστα δʼ ἔμμορε τιμῆς· τουτέστι τῶν τριχῆ διῃρημένων ἕκαστον εἴληφε δύναμιν.

English · Claude translation

So one might reasonably say that the Sethians celebrate among themselves something close to the rites of the Great at Phlius. And the poet too seems to bear witness to the threefold division, saying: “All things were divided in three, and each received its share of honor”; that is, each of the three divided parts has received power.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 210 · 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
  • Homer, Il. 15.189 (Homer, Iliad) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is Homer, Iliad 15.189.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.20.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/20/8/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.20.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/20/8/).

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