Refutation of All Heresies 5.8.26

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, 158

Ταῦτά ἐστι, φησί, τὰ ἄρρητα ὑπὸ πάντων λεγόμενα μυστήρια, ἃ [καὶ λαλοῦμεν] οὐκ ἐν διδακτοῖς ἀνθρωπίνης σοφίας λόγοις, ἀλλʼ ἐν διδακτοῖς πνεύματος, πνευματικοῖς πνευματικὰ συγκρίνοντες, ψυχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ θεοῦ, μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐστί, καὶ ταῦτά φησιν ἐστὶ τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ἄρρητα μυστήρια, ἃ ἡμεῖς ἴσμεν μόνοι.

English · Claude translation

These, he says, are the mysteries called unspeakable by all, "which we [also speak] not in words taught by human wisdom but in those taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual; but the psychic man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him." And these, he says, are the unspeakable mysteries of the Spirit, which we alone know.

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 158 · 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

1 Cor 2:13–14 · quotation, high confidence

Topics

Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

The quotation is 1 Cor 2:13–14. "Psychic" (ψυχικός) is usually rendered "natural" in Paul; it is kept here because the Naassenes use it as a technical class. The square brackets are the editor's.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.8.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/8/26/).

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

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.8.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/8/26/).