Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.25.1

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: Essene courts of a hundred are strict and final; they honor Moses next to God and defer to elders and the majority.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 480

Περὶ δὲ τὰς κρίσεις ἀκριβέστατοι καὶ δίκαιοι· δικάζουσι δὲ συνελθόντες οὐκ ἐλάττους τῶν ἑκατόν, τὸ δὲ ὁρισθὲν ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἀκίνητον. Τιμῶσι δὲ τὸν νομοθέτην μετὰ τὸν θεόν, καὶ εἴ τις εἰς τοῦτον βλασφημήσει, κολάζεται. Τοῖς δὲ ἄρχουσι καὶ πρεσβυτέροις ὑπακούειν διδάσκονται. Εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ δέκα καθέζονται, οὐ λαλήσει εἷς, εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἐννέα δόξει.

English · Claude translation

In judgments they are most exact and just; they judge when no fewer than a hundred have come together, and what they decide is unalterable. They honor the lawgiver next after God, and if anyone blasphemes him, he is punished. They are taught to obey the rulers and elders. And if ten sit together, one will not speak unless it seems good to the nine.

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. 2.145–146 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.145–146.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.25.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/25/1/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.25.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/25/1/).

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