Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 6.30.9

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 formless substance is the “invisible and unfurnished earth” of Genesis and the promised land, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 274

Καὶ τοῦτο ἐστί, φησίν, ὃ λέγει Μωϋσῆς· ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος. Αὕτη ἐστί, φησίν, ἡ ἀγαθή, ἡ ἐπουράνιος Ἱερουσαλήμ, εἰς ἣν ἐπηγγείλατο ὁ θεὸς εἰσαγαγεῖν τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραήλ, λέγων· Εἰσάξω ὑμᾶς εἰς γῆν ἀγαθὴν ῥέουσαν μέλι καὶ γάλα.

English · Claude translation

“And this is,” he says, “what Moses says: ‘And the earth was invisible and unfurnished.’ This,” he says, “is the good land, the heavenly Jerusalem, into which God promised to bring the children of Israel, saying: ‘I will bring you into a good land flowing with honey and milk.’”

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 274 · 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 · quotation, high confidence
  • Exod 3:8 · quotation, medium confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Gen 1:2 LXX and a free form of Exod 3:8.

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text; wrong accent in the digital text): δ λέγει → ὃ λέγει; εἰς ἦν → εἰς ἣν; τοῦς υἱοὺς → τοὺς υἱοὺς.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 6.30.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/6/30/9/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 6.30.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/6/30/9/).

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