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Against Beron and Helix

Hippolytus

Fragment 5

About this work

Author: Hippolytus

Fragment V.

For lately a certain person, Beron, along

‹ Fragment 4 Fragment 6 ›

with

some

others

,

forsook

the

delusion

of

Valentinus

,

only

to

involve

themselves

in

deeper

error

,

affirming

that

the

flesh

assumed

to

Himself

by

the

Word

became

capable

of

working

like

works

with

the

deity

by

virtue

of

its

assumption

,

and

that

the

deity

became

susceptible

of

suffering

in

the

same

way

with

the

flesh

by

virtue

of

the

exinanition

;

and

thus

they

assert

the

doctrine

that

there

was

at

the

same

time

a

conversion

and

a

mixing

and

a

fusing

of

the

two

aspects

one

with

the

other

.

For

if

the

flesh

that

was

assumed

became

capable

of

working

like

works

with

the

deity

,

it

is

evident

that

it

also

became

God

in

essence

in

all

wherein

God

is

essentially

known

.

And

if

the

deity

by

the

exinanition

became

susceptible

of

the

same

sufferings

with

the

flesh

,

it

is

evident

that

it

also

became

in

essence

flesh

in

all

wherein

flesh

essentially

can

be

known

.

For

objects

that

act

in

like

manner

,

and

work

like

works

,

and

are

altogether

of

like

kind

,

and

are

susceptible

of

like

suffering

with

each

other

,

admit

of

no

difference

of

nature

;

and

if

the

natures

are

fused

together

,

Christ

will

be

a

duality

;

and

if

the

persons

are

separated

,

there

will

be

a

quaternity

,

—

a

thing

which

is

altogether

to

be

avoided

.

And

how

will

they

conceive

of

the

one

and

the

same

Christ

,

who

is

at

once

God

and

man

by

nature

?

And

what

manner

of

existence

will

He

have

according

to

them

,

if

He

has

become

man

by

a

conversion

of

the

deity

,

and

if

he

has

become

God

by

a

change

of

the

flesh

?

For

the

mutation

of

these

,

the

one

into

the

other

,

is

a

complete

subversion

of

both

.

Let

the

discussion

,

then

,

be

considered

by

us

again

in

a

different

way

.

Notes

1
γενέσθαι ταυτουργὸν τῇ θεότητι.
2
ταυτοπαθῆ τῇ σαρκί.
3
κένωσιν.
4
σύγχυσιν.
5
ὁμοεργῆ.
6
συγκεχυμένων. [Vol. iii. p. 623].
7
δυάς.
8
προσώπων.
9
τετράς, i.e., instead of Trinity [the Τριὰς].
10
μετάπτωσις. [Compare the Athanasian Confession].