Refutation of All Heresies 9.20.2

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: Each town has an Essene steward; they own no spare clothing and exchange goods freely without buying or selling.

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Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 474

Ἔχουσι δὲ καὶ κατὰ πόλεις προεστῶτα, ὃς τὰ συναγόμενα εἰς τοῦτο ἀναλίσκει, ἐσθῆτα καὶ τροφὰς αὐτοῖς παρασκευάζων. Καταστολὴ δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ σχῆμα κόσμιον· χιτῶνας δὲ δύο ἢ διπλᾶς ὑποδέσεις οὐ κτῶνται· ἐπὰν δὲ τὰ παρόντα παλαιωθῇ, τότε ἕτερα προσίενται. Οὐδὲν δὲ ὅλως οὔτε ἀγοράζουσιν οὔτε πωλοῦσιν, ὃ δʼ ἂν ἔχῃ τις τῷ μὴ ἔχοντι δούς, ὃ οὐκ ἔχει λαμβάνει.

English · Claude translation

In each city they also have a superintendent, who spends what is collected for this purpose, providing clothing and food for them. Their dress and bearing are decent. They do not own two tunics or two pairs of sandals; only when what they have is worn out do they take others. They neither buy nor sell anything at all, but whatever one has he gives to one who has not, and receives what he does not have.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 474 · 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
Extrabiblical texts
  • Josephus, B.J. 2.125–127 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.125–127; the two tunics echo Matt 10:10.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.20.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/20/2/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.20.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/20/2/).

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