Refutation of All Heresies 9.23.3

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, 478

Πρὶν δὲ αὐτοῖς συνεστιαθῇ, ὅρκοις φρικτοῖς ὁρκίζεται, πρῶτον μὲν εὐσεβήσειν τὸ θεῖον, ἔπειτα τὰ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους δίκαια φυλάξειν καὶ κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον ἀδικήσειν τινά, μηδένα δὲ μήτε ἀδικοῦντα μήτε ἐχθρὸν μισήσειν, προσεύχεσθαι δὲ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, συναγωνίζεσθαι ἀεὶ τοῖς δικαίοις, τὸ πιστὸν πᾶσι παρέξειν, μάλιστα τοῖς κρατοῦσιν· οὐ γὰρ δίχα θεοῦ συμβαίνειν τινὶ τὸ ἄρχειν·

English · Claude translation

Before he eats with them, he is bound by fearful oaths: first, that he will revere the divine; then, that he will keep justice toward human beings and in no way wrong anyone; that he will hate no one, whether one who does wrong or an enemy, but pray for them; that he will always fight alongside the just; that he will show faithfulness to all, especially to those in power, for no one comes to rule without God;

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 478 · 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

Matt 5:44 · echo, medium confidence
Rom 13:1 · echo, medium confidence

Extrabiblical texts

Josephus, B.J. 2.139–140 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Topics

Ethics, Prayer

Notes

Translation notes

Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.139–140, where the Essenes “hate the unjust”; Hippolytus has them hate no one and pray for enemies (compare Matt 5:44). On rulers compare Rom 13:1.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.23.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/23/3/).

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

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.23.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/23/3/).