Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.24.1

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: A member convicted of sin is expelled and, bound by his oaths, may starve, though they sometimes take pity at the last.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 480

Τοιούτοις οὖν ὅρκοις δεσμεύουσι τοὺς προσερχομένους. Εἰ δέ τις ἐν ἁμαρτήματί τιν[ι καταγνωσθ]ῇ, ἀποβάλλεται τοῦ τάγματος, ὁ δὲ ἀποβληθεὶς δεινῷ μόρῳ ἔσθʼ ὅτε διαφθείρεται. Τοῖς γὰρ ὅρκοις καὶ τοῖς ἔθεσιν ἐνδεδεμένος οὐδὲ τῆς παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις τροφῆς δύναται μεταλαμβάνειν. Ἔσθʼ ὅτε οὖν τὸ σῶμα λιμῷ διαφθείρουσιν, [ὅθ]εν ἐν ἐσχάτοις ποτὲ ἐλεοῦσι πολλοὺς ἤδη ἐκλείποντας, αὐτῶν ἱκανὴν μέχρι θανάτου ἐπιτιμίαν ἡγούμενοι.

English · Claude translation

With such oaths, then, they bind those who come to them. And if anyone is [convicted] of some sin, he is expelled from the order; and the one expelled sometimes perishes by a dreadful fate. For, bound by the oaths and customs, he cannot even share in the food of others. Sometimes, then, they waste the body with hunger, [whence] at the very last they sometimes take pity on many who are already failing, considering the punishment up to the point of death sufficient for them.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 480 · 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.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Josephus, B.J. 2.143–144 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.143–144. Bracketed letters are editorial restorations of a damaged text.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.24.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/24/1/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.24.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/24/1/).

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