Hippolytus, Refutatio V.9.1-10: The Almond, the Point, and the Attis Hymn
Refutatio omnium haeresium · the Naassene report
Ἔλεγχος κατὰ πασῶν αἱρέσεων
This edition presents the verbatim Hebrew of the passage beside a fresh English rendering and a critical apparatus. It is a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor.
The apparatus carries a running commentary, notes on the controlled vocabulary and the rendering chosen for each term, any doctrinally-live ambiguity preserved with both readings, and cross-references to the lexicon. The Hebrew is reproduced verbatim from the Hebrew Wikisource transcription; the standard modern English translation (Kaplan, 1979) is under copyright.
Ἔτι δὲ οἱ Φρύγες λέγουσι τὸν πατέρα τῶν ὅλων εἶναι ἀμύγδαλον, οὐχὶ δένδρον, φησίν, ἀλλὰ εἶναι ἀμύγδαλον ἐκεῖνον τὸν προόντα, ὂς ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν τέλειον καρπὸν οἱονεὶ διασφύζοντα καὶ κινούμενον ἐν βάθει, διήμυξε τοὺς κόλπους αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐγέννησε τὸν ἀόρατον καὶ ἀκατονόμαστον <καὶ> ἄρρητον παῖδα ἑαυτοῦ, οὗ λαλοῦμεν. ἀμύξαι γάρ ἐστιν οἱονεὶ ῥῆξαι καὶ διατεμεῖν, καθάπερ, φησίν, ἐπὶ τῶν φλεγμαινόντων σωμάτων καὶ ἐχόντων ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τινα συστροφὴν ἂς ἀμυχὰς οἱ ἰατροὶ λέγουσιν ἀνατεμόντες· οὕτως, φησί, Φρύγες τὸν <προόντα> ἀμύγδαλον καλοῦσιν, ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ ἐγεννήθη ὁ ἀόρατος, δι᾿ οὗ τὰ πάντα »ἐγένετο καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδέν«. συρικτὰν δέ φασιν εἶναι Φρύγες τὸ ἐκεῖθεν γεγεννημένον, ὅτι πνεῦμα ἐναρμόνιόν ἐστι τὸ γεγεννημένον. »πνεῦμα γάρ«, φησίν, »ἐστὶν ὁ θεός· διό«, φησίν, »οὔτε ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσκυνοῦσιν οὔτε ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ οἱ ἀληθινοὶ προσκυνηταί, ἀλλὰ ἐν πνεύματι. πνευματικὴ γάρ«, φησίν, »ἐστὶ τῶν τελείων ἡ προσκύνησις, οὐ σαρκική«. τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα, φησίν, ἐκεῖ, ὅπου καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὀνομάζεται καὶ ὁ υἱός, ἐκ τούτου τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκεῖ γεννώμενος. οὑτος, φησίν, ἐστὶν ὁ πολυώνυμος μυριόμματος ἀκατάληπτος, οὗ πᾶσα φύσις, ἄλλη δὲ ἄλλως ὀρέγεται. τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐστὶ τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅ, φησίν, ἐστὶ ῥῆμα Ἀποφάσεως τῆς μεγάλης δυνάμεως· διὸ ἔσται ἐσφραγισμένον καὶ κεκρυμμένον καὶ κεκαλυμμένον, κείμενον ἐν τῷ οἰκητηρίῳ, οὗ ἡ ῥίζα τῶν ὅλων τεθεμελίωται, ἀπό τε] αἰώνων δυνάμεων ἐπινοιῶν, θεῶν ἀγγέλων πνευμάτων ἀπεσταλμένων, ὄντων μὴ ὄντων, γεννητῶν ἀγεννήτων, ἀκαταλήπτων καταληπτῶν, ἐνιαυτῶν μηνῶν ἡμερῶν ὡρῶν στιγμῆς ἀμερίστου, ἐξ ἡς ἐξάρχεται τὸ ἐλάχιστον αὐξῆσαι κατὰ μέρος· ἡ γάρ) μηδὲν οὖσα, φησί, καὶ ἐκ μηδενὸς συνεστῶσα στιγμὴ ἀμέριστος οὖσα γενήσεται ἐαυτῆς ἐπινοίᾳ μέγεθός τι ἀκατάληπτον. αὕτη, φησίν, ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σινάπεως, ἡ ἀμέριστος ἐνυπάρχουσα τῷ σώματι στιγμή, ἣν οἷδε, φησίν, οὐδεὶς ἢ οἱ πνευματικοὶ μόνοι. τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐστὶ τὸ εἰρημένον· »οὐκ εἰσὶ λόγοι οὐδὲ λαλιαί, ὡν οὐχὶ ἀκούονται αἱ φωναὶ αὐτῶν«. Ταῦθ’ οὕτως σχεδιάζουσι, τὰ ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων λεγόμενά τε καὶ γινόμενα πρὸς ἴδιον νοῦν <ἑρμηνεύοντες>, πνευματικὰ πάντα γίνεσθαι. ὅθεν καὶ τοὺς θεάτροις ἐπιδεικνυμένους λέγουσι μηδ’ αὐτοὺς ἀπρονοήτως τι λέγειν ἢ ποιεῖν. τοιγαροῦν, φησίν, ἐπὰν συνέλθῃ ὁ δῆμος ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις, εἰσιών τις ἠμφιεσμένος στολὴν ἔξαλλον, κιθάραν φέρων καὶ ψάλλων, οὕτως λέγει ᾄδων τὰ μεγάλα μυστήρια οὐκ εἰδὼς ἃ λέγει· εἴτε Κρόνου εἴτε Διὸς Διὸς μάκαρι εἴτε Ῥέας μεγάλας, χαῖρε <ὦ> τὸ ἄκουσμα Ρέας Ἄττι· σὲ καλοῦσι μὲν Ἀσσύριοι τριπόθητον Ἄδωνιν, ὅλη δ᾿ Αἴγυπτος Ὄσιριν, ἐπουράνιον μηνὸς κέρας Ἑλληνὶς σοφία, Σαμοθρᾷκες Ἄδαμνα σεβάσμιον, f 38v Αἱμόνιοι Κορύβαντα, καὶ οἱ Φρύγες ἄλλοτε μὲν Πάπαν, ποτὲ δὲ <αὖ> νέκυν ἢ θεὸν ἢ τὸν ἄκαρπον αἰπόλον, ἢ χλοερὸν στάχυν στάχυν ἀμηθέντα, ἢ τὸν πολύκαρπος ἔτικτεν ἀμύγδαλος ἀνέρα συρικτάν. Τοῦτόν φησιν εἶναι πολύμορφον Ἄττιν, ὃν ὑμνοῦντες λέγουσιν οὔτως· Ἄττιν ὑμνήσω τὸν Ῥείης, οὐ κωδώνων σὺν βόμβοις οὐδ᾿ αὐλῶ Ἰδαίων Κουρήτων μυκητᾳ, ἀλλ’ εἰς Φοιβείαν μίξω μοῦσαν φορμίγγων· εὐοῖ, εὐάν, ὡς Πάν, ὡς Βακχεύς, ὡς ποιμὴν λευκῶν ἄστρων. Διὰ τούτους καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους λόγους παρεδρεύουσιν οὐτοι τοῖς λεγομένοις Μητρὸς μεγάλης μυστηρίοις, μάλιστα καθορᾶν νομίζοντες διὰ τῶν δρωμένων ἐκεῖ τὸ ὅλον μυστήριον. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔχουσι πλέον οὗτοι τῶν ἐκεῖ δρωμένων, πλὴν ὅτι οὔκ εἰσιν ἀποκεκομμένοι, μόνον τὸ ἔργον τῶν ἀποκεκομμένων ἐκτελοῦσιν.
Further, the Phrygians say that the father of all things is an almond — not a tree, he says, but that pre-existent one is an almond, who having in himself the perfect fruit, as it were throbbing and moving in the depth, tore open his own breast and begot his own invisible and unnameable <and> unspeakable child, of whom we speak.
For to AMYXAI is as it were to break open and to cut through — just as, he says, in the case of inflamed bodies which have within them some gathering, which the physicians, cutting them open, call AMYCHAI. Thus, he says, the Phrygians call the <pre-existent one> an almond, from whom also the invisible one was begotten, through whom all things “came to be, and apart from him not one thing came to be.”
And the Phrygians say that what is begotten from thence is a PIPER, because what is begotten is a harmonious spirit. “For God”, he says, “is spirit; therefore”, he says, “neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem do the true worshippers worship, but in spirit.
For spiritual”, he says, “is the worship of the perfect, not fleshly.” And the spirit, he says, is there, where also the Father is named and the Son, begotten there from this Father. This, he says, is the many-named, the myriad-eyed, the incomprehensible, whom every nature desires, each in a different way.
This, he says, is the utterance of God, which is, he says, the utterance of the Declaration of the Great Power; wherefore it shall be sealed and hidden and covered, lying in the dwelling where the root of all things is founded — of aeons, powers, thoughts, gods, angels, spirits sent forth, things being and not being, begotten and unbegotten, incomprehensible and comprehensible, of years, months, days, hours, of the indivisible point, from which the least begins to grow part by part. For the point which is nothing, he says, and is composed of nothing, being indivisible, shall become by its own thought a certain incomprehensible magnitude.
This, he says, is the kingdom of the heavens, the grain of mustard, the indivisible point present in the body, which none knows, he says, but the spiritual alone. This, he says, is what is said: “there are no speeches nor words, whose voices are not heard.”
These things they improvise thus, <interpreting> according to their own mind the things said and done by all men, so that everything becomes spiritual. Whence they say that even those who perform in the theatres neither say nor do anything without providence. Accordingly, he says, when the people gather in the theatres, someone comes in clothed in a strange robe, carrying a lyre and playing, and thus he says, singing the great mysteries without knowing what he says:
“Whether of Kronos, or of blessed Zeus, or of great Rhea — hail, O hearing of Rhea, Attis! You the Assyrians call thrice-longed-for Adonis, and all Egypt Osiris, and Greek wisdom the heavenly horn of the moon, the Samothracians revered Adamna, the Haemonians Korybas, and the Phrygians now Papas, and now again a corpse, or a god, or the fruitless one, or a goatherd, or a green ear of grain reaped, or the piper-man whom the many-fruited almond bore.”
This one, he says, is many-formed Attis, whom hymning they speak thus: “I will hymn Attis, son of Rhea — not with the boomings of bells, nor with the pipe of the Idaean Kouretes’ bellowing, but I will mingle Phoebean music of lyres. Euoi! Euan! — as Pan, as Bacchus, as shepherd of white stars.”
Because of these and such accounts these people attend upon the mysteries called those of the Great Mother, thinking that through the things done there they most of all behold the whole mystery. For these have nothing more than the things done there, except that they are not castrated: they only perform the work of the castrated.
For to AMYXAI is as it were to break open and to cut through — just as, he says, in the case of inflamed bodies which have within them some gathering, which the physicians, cutting them open, call AMYCHAI. Thus, he says, the Phrygians call the <pre-existent one> an almond, from whom also the invisible one was begotten, through whom all things “came to be, and apart from him not one thing came to be.”
And the Phrygians say that what is begotten from thence is a PIPER, because what is begotten is a harmonious spirit. “For God”, he says, “is spirit; therefore”, he says, “neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem do the true worshippers worship, but in spirit.
For spiritual”, he says, “is the worship of the perfect, not fleshly.” And the spirit, he says, is there, where also the Father is named and the Son, begotten there from this Father. This, he says, is the many-named, the myriad-eyed, the incomprehensible, whom every nature desires, each in a different way.
This, he says, is the utterance of God, which is, he says, the utterance of the Declaration of the Great Power; wherefore it shall be sealed and hidden and covered, lying in the dwelling where the root of all things is founded — of aeons, powers, thoughts, gods, angels, spirits sent forth, things being and not being, begotten and unbegotten, incomprehensible and comprehensible, of years, months, days, hours, of the indivisible point, from which the least begins to grow part by part. For the point which is nothing, he says, and is composed of nothing, being indivisible, shall become by its own thought a certain incomprehensible magnitude.
This, he says, is the kingdom of the heavens, the grain of mustard, the indivisible point present in the body, which none knows, he says, but the spiritual alone. This, he says, is what is said: “there are no speeches nor words, whose voices are not heard.”
These things they improvise thus, <interpreting> according to their own mind the things said and done by all men, so that everything becomes spiritual. Whence they say that even those who perform in the theatres neither say nor do anything without providence. Accordingly, he says, when the people gather in the theatres, someone comes in clothed in a strange robe, carrying a lyre and playing, and thus he says, singing the great mysteries without knowing what he says:
“Whether of Kronos, or of blessed Zeus, or of great Rhea — hail, O hearing of Rhea, Attis! You the Assyrians call thrice-longed-for Adonis, and all Egypt Osiris, and Greek wisdom the heavenly horn of the moon, the Samothracians revered Adamna, the Haemonians Korybas, and the Phrygians now Papas, and now again a corpse, or a god, or the fruitless one, or a goatherd, or a green ear of grain reaped, or the piper-man whom the many-fruited almond bore.”
This one, he says, is many-formed Attis, whom hymning they speak thus: “I will hymn Attis, son of Rhea — not with the boomings of bells, nor with the pipe of the Idaean Kouretes’ bellowing, but I will mingle Phoebean music of lyres. Euoi! Euan! — as Pan, as Bacchus, as shepherd of white stars.”
Because of these and such accounts these people attend upon the mysteries called those of the Great Mother, thinking that through the things done there they most of all behold the whole mystery. For these have nothing more than the things done there, except that they are not castrated: they only perform the work of the castrated.
Provisional draft (pending scholarly review)
An orientation
This edition sets the verbatim original-language text beside a fresh English rendering and a critical apparatus: a running commentary on the passage, notes on the controlled vocabulary and the rendering chosen for each term, and cross-references to the lexicon and to related sections. It is a provisional scholarly draft, released openly for correction and not yet reviewed by a credentialed editor.