Hippolytus — Refutation of All Heresies 1

I think that in the four preceding books I have very elaborately explained the opinions propounded by all the speculators among both Greeks and Barbarians, respecting the Divine Nature and the creation of the world; and not even have I omitted the consideration of their systems of magic. So that I have for my readers undergone no ordinary amount of toil, in my anxiety to urge many forward into a desire of learning, and into steadfastness of knowledge in regard of the truth . It remains, therefore, to hasten on to the refutation of the heresies ; but it is for the purpose of furnishing this (refutation) that we have put forward the statements already made by us. For from philosophers the heresiarchs deriving starting-points, (and) like cobblers patching together, according to their own particular interpretation, the blunders of the ancients, have advanced them as novelties to those that are capable of being deceived, as we shall prove in the following books. In the remainder (of our work), the opportunity invites us to approach the treatment of our proposed subjects, and to begin from those who have presumed to celebrate a serpent, the originator of the error (in question), through certain expressions devised by the energy of his own (ingenuity). The priests , then, and champions of the system, have been first those who have been called Naasseni, being so denominated from the Hebrew language, for the serpent is called naas (in Hebrew). Subsequently, however, they have styled…

2. Naasseni Ascribe Their System, Through Mariamne, to James the Lord's Brother; Really Traceable to the Ancient Mysteries; Their Psychology as Given in the Gospel According to Thomas; Assyrian Theory of the Soul; The Systems of the Naasseni and the Assyrians Compared; Support Drawn by the Naasseni from the Phrygian and Egyptian Mysteries; The Mysteries of Isis; These Mysteries Allegorized by the Naasseni. These are the heads of very numerous discourses which (the Naassene) asserts James the brother of the Lord handed down to Mariamne. In order, then, that these impious ( heretics ) may no longer belie Mariamne or James, or the Saviour Himself, let us come to the mystic rites (whence these have derived their figment) — to a consideration, if it seems right, of both the Barbarian and Grecian ( mysteries ) — and let us see how these ( heretics ), collecting together the secret and ineffable mysteries of all the Gentiles , are uttering falsehoods against Christ , and are making dupes of those who are not acquainted with these orgies of the Gentiles . For since the foundation of the doctrine with them is the man Adam, and they say that concerning him it has been written, Who shall declare his generation? Isaiah 53:8 learn how, partly deriving from the Gentiles the undiscoverable and diversified generation of the man, they fictitiously apply it to Christ . Now earth, say the Greeks, gave forth a man , (earth) first bearing a goodly gift, wishing to become mother not of plants…

3. Further Exposition of the Heresy of the Naasseni; Profess to Follow Homer; Acknowledge a Triad of Principles; Their Technical Names of the Triad; Support These on the Authority of Greek Poets; Allegorize Our Saviour's Miracles; The Mystery of the Samothracians; Why the Lord Chose Twelve Disciples; The Name Corybas, Used by Thracians and Phrygians, Explained; Naasseni Profess to Find Their System in Scripture; Their Interpretation of Jacob's Vision; Their Idea of the Perfect Man; The Perfect Man Called Papa By the Phrygians; The Naasseni and Phrygians on the Resurrection; The Ecstasis of St. Paul; The Mysteries of Religion as Alluded to by Christ; Interpretation of the Parable of the Sower; Allegory of the Promised Land; Comparison of the System of the Phrygians with the Statements of Scripture; Exposition of the Meaning of the Higher and Lower Eleusinian Mysteries; The Incarnation Discoverable Here According to the Naasseni. Adopting these and such like (opinions), these most marvellous Gnostics , inventors of a novel grammatical art, magnify Homer as their prophet — as one, (according to them,) who, after the mode adopted in the mysteries , announces these truths; and they mock those who are not indoctrinated into the holy Scriptures , by betraying them into such notions. They make, however, the following assertion: he who says that all things derive consistence from one, is in error ; but he who says that they are of three, is in possession of the truth , and will…

4. Further Use Made of the System of the Phrygians; Mode of Celebrating the Mysteries; The Mystery of the Great Mother; These Mysteries Have a Joint Object of Worship with the Naasseni; The Naasseni Allegorize the Scriptural Account of the Garden of Eden; The Allegory Applied to the Life of Jesus. The Phrygians, however, further assert that the father of the universe is Amygdalus, not a tree, he says, but that he is Amygdalus who previously existed ; and he having in himself the perfect fruit, as it were, throbbing and moving in the depth, rent his breasts, and produced his now invisible, and nameless, and ineffable child. respecting whom we shall speak. For the word Amyxai signifies, as it were, to burst and sever through, as he says (happens) in the case of inflamed bodies, and which have in themselves any tumour; and when doctors have cut this, they call it Amychai. In this way, he says, the Phrygians call him Amygdalus, from which proceeded and was born the Invisible (One), by whom all things were made, and nothing was made without Him. And the Phrygians say that what has been thence produced is Syrictas (piper), because the Spirit that is born is harmonious. For God , he says, is Spirit; wherefore, he affirms, neither in this mountain do the true worshippers worship, nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit. For the adoration of the perfect ones, he says, is spiritual, not carnal. The Spirit, however, he says, is there where likewise the Father is named, and the Son is there…