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The Refutation of All Heresies
Authorship uncertain
Book 5 · Chapter 11 About this work A large heresiological work tracing contested Christian teachings to Greek philosophy, mystery traditions, astrology, and magic, then setting them against the author’s account of apostolic truth.
Author Authorship uncertain
Traditional attribution Hippolytus of Rome
Date Early 3rd century, probably c. AD 220s
Origin Rome (traditional)
Genre Heresiology Traditional attribution to Hippolytus remains disputed, and the author is often called the Refutator.
Chapter XI.—Why They Call Themselves Peratæ; Their Theory of Generation Supported by an Appeal to Antiquity; Their Interpretation of the Exodus of Israel; Their System of “The Serpent;” Deduced by Them from Scripture; This the Real Import of the Doctrines of the Astrologers. They denominate themselves , however , Peratæ
‹ Book 5 · Chapter 10 Book 5 · Chapter 12 ›,
imagining
that
none
of
those
things
existing
by
generation
can
escape
the
determined
lot
for
those
things
that
derive
their
existence
from
generation
.
For
if
,
says
(
the
Peratic
)
,
anything
be
altogether
begotten
,
it
also
perishes
,
as
also
is
the
opinion
of
the
Sibyl
.
But
we
alone
,
he
says
,
who
are
conversant
with
the
necessity
of
generation
,
and
the
paths
through
which
man
has
entered
into
the
world
,
and
who
have
been
accurately
instructed
(
in
these
matters
)
,
we
alone
are
competent
to
proceed
through
and
pass
beyond
destruction
.
But
water
,
he
says
,
is
destruction
;
nor
did
the
world
,
he
says
,
perish
by
any
other
thing
quicker
than
by
water
.
Water
,
however
,
is
that
which
rolls
around
among
the
Proastioi
,
(
and
)
they
assert
(
it
to
be
)
Cronus
.
For
such
a
power
,
he
says
,
is
of
the
colour
of
water
;
and
this
power
,
he
says
—
that
is
,
Cronus
—
none
of
those
things
existent
by
generation
can
escape
.
For
Cronus
is
a
cause
to
every
generation
,
in
regard
of
succumbing
under
destruction
,
and
there
could
not
exist
(
an
instance
of
)
generation
in
which
Cronus
does
not
interfere
.
This
,
he
says
,
is
what
the
poets
also
affirm
,
and
what
even
appals
the
gods
:
—
“ For know , he says , this earth and spacious heaven above ,
And Styx ’ flooded water , which is the oath
That greatest is , and dreaded most by gods of happy life . ”
And not only , he says , do the poets make this statement , but already also the very wisest men among the Greeks . And Heraclitus is even one of these , employing the following words : “ For to souls water becomes death . ” This death , ( the Peratic ) says , seizes the Egyptians in the Red Sea , along with their chariots . All , however , who are ignorant ( of this fact ) , he says , are Egyptians . And this , they assert , is the departure from Egypt , ( that is , ) from the body . For they suppose little Egypt to be body , and that it crosses the Red Sea — that is , the water of corruption , which is Cronus — and that it reaches a place beyond the Red Sea , that is , generation ; and that it comes into the wilderness , that is , that it attains a condition independent of generation , where there exist promiscuously all the gods of destruction and the God of salvation .
Now , he says , the stars are the gods of destruction , which impose upon existent things the necessity of alterable generation . These , he says , Moses denominated serpents of the wilderness , which gnaw and utterly ruin those who imagined that they had crossed the Red Sea . To those , then , he says , who of the children of Israel were bitten in the wilderness , Moses exhibited the real and perfect serpent ; and they who believed on this serpent were not bitten in the wilderness , that is , ( were not assailed ) by ( evil ) powers . No one therefore , he says , is there who is able to save and deliver those that come forth from Egypt , that is , from the body and from this world , unless alone the serpent that is perfect and replete with fulness . Upon this ( serpent ) , he says , he who fixes his hope is not destroyed by the snakes of the wilderness , that is , by the gods of generation . ( This statement ) is written , he says , in a book of Moses . This serpent , he says , is the power that attended Moses , the rod that was turned into a serpent . The serpents , however , of the magicians — ( that is , ) the gods of destruction — withstood the power of Moses in Egypt , but the rod of Moses reduced them all to subjection and slew them . This universal serpent is , he says , the wise discourse of Eve . This , he says , is the mystery of Edem , this the river of Edem ; this the mark that was set upon Cain , that any one who findeth him might not kill him . This , he says , is Cain , whose sacrifice the god of this world did not accept . The gory sacrifice , however , of Abel he approved of ; for the ruler of this world rejoices in ( offerings of ) blood . This , he says , is he who appeared in the last days , in form of a man , in the times of Herod , being born after the likeness of Joseph , who was sold by the hand of his brethren , to whom alone belonged the coat of many colours . This , he says , is he who is according to the likeness of Esau , whose garment — he not being himself present — was blessed ; who did not receive , he says , the benediction uttered by him of enfeebled vision . He acquired , however , wealth from a source independent of this , receiving nothing from him whose eyes were dim ; and Jacob saw his countenance , as a man beholds the face of God . In regard of this , he says , it has been written that “ Nebrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord . ” And there are , he says , many who closely imitate this ( Nimrod ) : as numerous are they as the gnawing ( serpents ) which were seen in the wilderness by the children of Israel , from which that perfect serpent which Moses set up delivered those that were bitten . This , he says , is that which has been declared : “ In the same manner as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness , so also must the Son of man be lifted up . ” According to the likeness of this was made in the desert the brazen serpent which Moses set up . Of this alone , he says , the image is in heaven , always conspicuous in light .
This , he says , is the great beginning respecting which Scripture has spoken . Concerning this , he says it has been declared : “ In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with God , and the Word was God . This was in the beginning with God , all things were made by Him , and without Him was not one thing that was made . And what was formed in Him is life . ” And in Him , he says , has been formed Eve ; ( now ) Eve is life . This , however , he says , is Eve , mother of all living , — a common nature , that is , of gods , angels , immortals , mortals , irrational creatures , ( and ) rational ones . For , he says , the expression “ all ” he uttered of all ( existences ) . And if the eyes of any , he says , are blessed , this one , looking upward on the firmament , will behold at the mighty summit of heaven the beauteous image of the serpent , turning itself , and becoming an originating principle of every ( species of ) motion to all things that are being produced . He will ( thereby ) know that without him nothing consists , either of things in heaven , or things on earth . or things under the earth . Not night , not moon , not fruits , not generation , not wealth , not sustenance , not anything at all of existent things , is without his guidance . In regard of this , he says , is the great wonder which is beheld in the firmament by those who are able to observe it . For , he says , at this top of his head , a fact which is more incredible than all things to those who are ignorant , “ are setting and rising mingled one with other . ” This it is in regard of which ignorance is in the habit of affirming : in heaven
“ Draco revolves , marvel mighty of monster dread . ”
And on both sides of him have been placed Corona and Lyra ; and above , near the top itself of the head , is visible the piteous man “ Engonasis , ”
“ Holding the right foot’s end of Draco fierce . ”
And at the back of Engonasis is an imperfect serpent , with both hands tightly secured by Anguitenens , and being hindered from touching Corona that lies beside the perfect serpent .
Notes 1 See Oracula Sibyllina Fragm., ii. ver. 1.
2 περασαι; hence their name Peratics, i.e., Transcendentalists. Bunsen considers, however, that such a derivation as this was not the true one (see note 1, p. 60), but merely an after-thought. The title of one of the Peratic treatises, as altered by Bunsen from Οἱ προάστειοι ἕως αιθέρος into Οἱ Περάται ἕως αἰθέρος, i.e., “the Transcendental Etherians,” would agree with their subsequent assumption of this title. [Bunsen, i. p. 37.]
3 Ex. iv. 2–4 , 17 ; vii. 9–13.
4 Or, “they say.”
5 Gen. iv. 15.
6 Gen. iv. 5.
7 Gen. xxvii. 1.
8 Gen. xxxiii. 10.
9 Gen. x. 9.
10 John iii. 14, 15.
11 John i. 1–4.
12 The Abbe Cruise thinks that Hippolytus is here quoting from the Gospel of Eve (see Epiph., Hær., xxvi. 2).
13 ἄκρᾳ: this is a conjectural reading instead of ἀρχῇ.
14 Aratus, Phænom., v. 62.
15 Ibid., v. 46.
