Refutation of All Heresies 5.8.43

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 lesser mysteries of Persephone lie at the end of the broad road of the perishing.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 164

Μικρὰ δέ, φησίν, ἐστὶ τὰ μυστήρια τὰ τῆς Περσεφόνης κάτω, περὶ ὧν μυστηρίων καὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς ἀγούσης ἐκεῖ, οὔσης πλατείας καὶ εὐρυχώρου καὶ φερούσης τοὺς ἀπολλυμένους ἐπὶ τὴν Περσεφόνην,... καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς δέ φησιν· Αὐτὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτήν ἐστιν ἀταρπιτὸς ὀκριόεσσα, κοίλη, πηλώδης· ἣ δʼ ἡγήσασθαι ἀρίστη ἄλσος ἐς ἱμερόεν πολυτιμήτου Ἀφροδίτης.

English · Claude translation

The lesser mysteries, he says, are those of Persephone below; about these mysteries and the road that leads there, which is broad and spacious and carries those who are perishing to Persephone, … and the poet too says: "But beneath it is a rugged path, hollow, muddy; yet it is the best to lead to the lovely grove of much-honored Aphrodite."

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 164 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.

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

Matt 7:13 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Heresy

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.8.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/8/43/).

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

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.8.43 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/8/43/).

Refutation of All Heresies 5.8.43

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 164

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage