Hippolytus, Refutatio V.9.11-V.11: Every Temple Named from the Serpent, and the Naassene Psalm
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.
πάνυ γὰρ πικρῶς καὶ πεφυλαγμένως παραγγέλλουσιν ἀπέχεσθαι ὡς ἀποκεκομμένοι τῆς πρὸς γυναῖκα ὁμιλίας. τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν ἔργον, ὡς εἰρήκαμεν διὰ πολλῶν, ὥσπερ οἱ ἀπόκοποι δρῶσι· τιμῶσι δὲ οὐκ ἄλλο τι ἢ τὸν νάας οὑτοι, Ναασσηνοὶ καλούμενοι. νάας δὲ ἐστὶν ὁ ὄφις, ἀφ’ οὗ φησι πάντας εἶναι τοὺς ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν προσαγορευομένους μένους ναοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ νάασ· κἀκείνῳ μόνῳ τῷ νάας ἀνακεῖσθαι πᾶν ἱερὸν καὶ πᾶσαν τελετὴν καὶ πάν μυστήριον, καὶ καθόλου μὴ δύνασθαι τελετὴν εὑρεθῆναι ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν, ἐν ᾗ ναὸς οὐκ ἔστι καὶ ὁ νάας ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀφ᾿ οὑ ἔλαχε ναὸς καλεῖσθαι. εἶναι δὲ τὸν ὄφιν λέγουσιν οὗτοι τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν, καθάπερ καὶ Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, καὶ μηδὲν δύνασθαι τῶν ὄντων ὅλως, ἀθανάτων ἢ θνητῶν, τῶν] ἐμψύχων ἢ ἀψύχων συνεστηκέναι χωρὶς αὐτοῦ. ὑποκεῖσθαι δὲ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, καὶ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἀγαθόν, καὶ ἔχειν πάντων ἐν αὑτῷ ὥσπερ ἐκ κέρατι ταύρου μονοκέρωτος τὸ κάλλος τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τὴν ὡραιότητα ἐπιδιδόναι πᾶσι τοῖς οὐσι κατὰ φύσιν τὴν ἑαυτῶν καὶ οἰκειότητα, οἱονεὶ διὰ πάντων ὁδεύοντα, »ὥσπερ ἐκπορευόμενον ἐξ Ἐδὲμ καὶ σχιζόμενον εἰς ἀρχὰς τέσσαρας«. Ἐδὲμ δὲ εἶναι λέγουσι τὸν ἐγκέφαλον, οἱονεὶ δεδεμένον καὶ κατεσφιγμένον ἐν τοῖς περικειμένοις χιτῶσιν ὥσπερ οὐρανοῖς· παράδεισον <δ’> νομίζουσι τὸν μέχρι μόνης τῆς κεφαλῆς ἄνθρωπον. ἐξερχόμενον οὖν τοῦτον τὸν ποταμὸν ἐξ Ἐδέμ, τουτέστιν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου, »ἀφορίζεσθαι εἰς ἀρχὰς τέσσαρας, καλεῖσθαι δὲ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πρώτου ποταμοῦ Φεισών, οὗτος ὁ κυκλῶν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Εὐϊλάτ, ἐκεῖ οὐν ἐστι τὸ χρυσίον· τὸ δὲ χρυσίον τῆς γῆς ἐκείνης καλόν· καὶ ἐκεῖ ἐστιν ὁ ἄνθραξ καὶ λίθος ὁ πράσινος«. οὗτος, φησίν, <ἐστὶν> ὀφθαλμός, τῇ τιμῇ καὶ τοῖς χρώμασι μαρτυρῶν τῷ λεγομένῳ. »τὸ δὲ ὄνομα τοῦ δευτέρου ποταμοῦ Γεών· οὐτος ὁ κυκλῶν πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Αἰθιοπίας«. οὗτος, φησίν, ἐστὶν ἀκοή, λαβυρινθώδης τις ὤν. »καὶ ὄνομα τῷ τρίτῳ Τίγρις· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ πορευόμενος κατέναντι Ἀσσυρίων«. οὗτος φησίν, ἐστὶν ὄσφρησις, ὀξυτάτῃ χρώμενος τῇ φορᾷ τοῦ ῥεύματος· πορεύεται δὲ κατέναντι Ἀσσυρίων, ὅτι ἐκπνέοντι τῷ πνεύματι κατὰ τὴν ἀναπνοὴν τὸ ἔξωθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀέρος συρόμενον ὀξύτερον καὶ βιαιότερον ἐπεισέρχεται πνεῦμα. ἀναπνοῆς γάρ, φησίν, αὕτη φύσις. ὁ δὲ ποταμὸς ὁ τέταρτος Εὐφράτης«. τοῦτον λέγουσι στόμα, δι᾿ οὑ ἡ τῆς προσευχῆς ἔξοδος καὶ ἡ τῆς τροφῆς εἴσοδος, <ὃς> καὶ τρέφει καὶ χαρακτηρίζει τὸν πνευματικὸν τέλειον ἄνθρωπον. τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐστὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑπεράνω τοῦ στερεώματος, περὶ οὑ, φησίν, εἴρηκεν ὁ σωτήρ· »εἰ ᾔδεις τίς ἐστιν ὁ αἰτῶν, σὺ ἂν ᾔτησας παρ’ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι πιεῖν ζῶν ὕδωρ ἁλλόμενον«. ἐπὶ τοῦτο, φησί, τὸ ὕδωρ πᾶσα φύσις εἰσέρχεται τὰς ἑαυτῆς οὐσίας ἐκλέγουσα, καὶ προσέρχεται ἑκάστῃ φύσει ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου τὸ οἰκεῖον, φησί, μᾶλλον ἢ σίδηρος τῇ Ἡρακλείᾳ λίθῳ καὶ ὁ χρυσὸς τῇ τοῦ θαλασσίου ἱέρακος κερκίδι καὶ τὸ ἄχυρον τῷ ἠλέκτρῳ. εἰ δέ τις, φησίν, ἐστὶ τυφλὸς ἐκ γενετῆς καὶ μὴ τεθεαμένος »φῶς τὸ ἀληθινόν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον‘, δι᾿ ἡμῶν ἀναβλεψάτω καὶ ἰδέτω οἱονεὶ διά τινος παραδείσου παμφύτου καὶ πολυσπερμάτου ὗδωρ διερχόμενον διὰ πάντων τῶν φυτῶν καὶ τῶν σπερμάτων καὶ ὄψεται, ὄτι ἐξ ἑνὸς καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὕδατος ἐκλέγεται καὶ ἐπισπᾶται ἡ ἐλαία τὸ ἔλαιον καὶ ἡ ἄμπελος τὸν οὖνον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ γένος ἕκαστον φυτῶν. ἔστι δέ, φησίν, ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος ἄτιμος ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ πολύτιμος * * * ὑπὸ τῶν οὐκ εἰδότων τοῖς οὐκ εἰδόσιν αὐτόν, λελογισμένος ὡς γὰρ] σταγὼν ἀπὸ κάδου· ἡμεῖς δ’ ἐσμέν, φησιν, οἱ πνευματικοί, οἱ ἐκλεγόμενοι ἀπὸ τοῦ ζῶντος ὕδατος τοῦ ῥέοντος Εὐφράτου διὰ τῆς Βαβυλῶνος μέσης τὸ οἰκεῖον, διὰ τῆς πύλης ὁδεύοντες ἀληθινῆς, ἥτις ἐστὶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ μακάριος. καὶ ἐσμὲν ἐξ ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων ἡμεῖς Χριστιανοὶ μόνοι, ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ πύλῃ ἀπαρτίζοντες τὸ μυστήριον καὶ χριόμενοι ἐκεῖ ἀλάλῳ χρίσματι ἐκ κέρατος, ὡς Δαβίδ, οὐκ ὀστρακίνου φακοῦ, φησίν, ὡς ὁ Σαούλ ὁ συμπολιτευόμενος τῷ πονηρῷ δαίμονι τῆς σαρκικῆς ἐπιθυμίας. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐκ πολλῶν ὡς ὀλίγα παρεθέμεθα· ἔστι γὰρ ἀναρίθμητα <τὰ> τῆς μωρίας ἐπιχειρήματα ὄντα φλύαρα καὶ ἀλλ’ ἐπειδὴ δυνάμει τὴν ἄγνωστον αὐτῶν γνῶσιν ἐξεθέμεθα, καὶ τοῦτο ἔδοξε παραθεῖναι· ψαλμὸς αὐτοῖς ἐσχεδίασται οὑτος, δι᾿ οὗ πάντα αὑτοῖς τὰ τῆς πλάνης μυστήρια δοκοῦσιν ὑμνῳδεῖν οὕτως· νόμος ἦν γενικός τοῦ παντὸς ὁ πρωτότοκος νόος· ὁ δὲ δεύτερος ἦν τοῦ πρωτοτόκου τὸ χυθὲν χάος. τριτάτη ψυχὴ δ᾿ † ἔλαβεν ἐργαζομένην νόμον, διὰ τοῦτο ἔλαφον μορφὴν περικειμένη κοπιᾷ θανάτῳ μελέτημα κρατουμένη· ποτὲ <μὲν> βασίλειον ἔχουσα βλέπει τὸ ποτὲ δ’ εἰς ἐλεείν᾿ ἐκριπτομένη κλάει, † ποτὲ δὲ κλαίεται χαίρει, † ποτὲ δὲ κλαίει κρίνεται, † ποτὲ δὲ κρίνεται θνῄσκει, ποτὲ δὲ γίνεται κἀνέξοδος ἡ μελέα κακῶν λαβύρινθον ἐσῆλθε πλανωμένη. εἶπεν δ’ Ἰησοῦς· ἐσόρα πάτερ· ζήτημα κακῶν <τόδ’> ἐπὶ ἀπὸ σῆς πνοϊῆς ἐπιπλάζεται. ζητεῖ δὲ φυγεῖν τὸ πικρὸν χάος, καὶ οὐκ οἶδεν <ὅ>πως τούτου με χάριν πέμψον, πάτερ· σφραγῖδας ἔχων καταβήσομαι, αἰῶνας ὅλους διοδεύσω, μυστήρια πάντα δ᾿ ἀνοίξω, μορφὰς δὲ θεῶν ἐπιδείξω· κω·] τὰ κεκρυμμένα τῆς ἁγίας ὁδοῦ, γνῶσιν καλέσας, παραδώσω. Ταύτα μὲν οὐν οἱ Ναασσηνοὶ ἐπιχειροῦσιν, ἑαυτοὺς γνωστικοὺς ὀνομάζοντες. ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεὶ πολυκέφαλός ἐστιν ἡ πλάνη καὶ πολυσχιδὴς ὡς ἀληθῶς ἱστορουμένη ὕδρα, κατὰ μίαν ταύτης κεφαλὴν πατάξαντες διὰ τοῦ ἐλέγξαι, τῇ τῆς ἀληθείας ῥάβδῳ χρησάμενοι ἅπαν τὸ θηρίον ἀναιρήσομεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ αἱ λοιπαὶ αἱρέσεις πολὺ ταύτης ἀπεμφαίνουσι, συνεχόμεναι ἑνὶ πλάνης πνεύματι. ἀλλ’ ἐπειδὴ τὰ ῥήματα καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα τοῦ ὄφεως ἐνδιαλλάξαντες πολλὰς εἶναι κεφαλὰς τοῦ ὄφεως ἠθέλησαν, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐνδεήσομεν διελέγξαι ὡς βούλονται.
For very bitterly and guardedly they give the command to abstain, as men castrated, from intercourse with a woman. And the rest of the work, as we have said at length, they perform just as the castrated do. And they honour nothing other than the naas, being called Naassenes.
And naas is the serpent, from whom, he says, all the things under heaven that are called TEMPLES are named, from NAAS; and to that naas alone is dedicated every shrine and every rite and every mystery, and in general no rite can be found under heaven in which there is not a temple and the naas in it, from whom it has obtained to be called a temple.
And these say the serpent is the wet substance, just as Thales of Miletus also did, and that nothing at all of the things that are — immortal or mortal, ensouled or soulless — can hold together without him.
And all things are subject to him, and he is good, and has in himself, as in the horn of a one-horned bull, the beauty of all other things, and gives their comeliness to all that are, according to their own nature and kinship, as though travelling through all things, “like one going out from Eden and dividing into four BEGINNINGS.”
And they say Eden is the brain, as it were bound and constricted in the surrounding coats as in heavens; and they hold that paradise is the man as far as the head alone. This river, then, going out from Eden — that is, from the brain — “is divided into four BEGINNINGS, and the name of the first river is called Pheison; this is the one that encircles all the land of Euilat, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good, and there is the carbuncle and the green stone.”
This, he says, is the eye, bearing witness by its honour and its colours to what is said. “And the name of the second river is Geon; this is the one that encircles all the land of Ethiopia.” This, he says, is hearing, being a kind of labyrinth. “And the name of the third is Tigris; this is the one that goes over against the Assyrians.”
This, he says, is smell, employing the swiftest movement of its stream; and it goes over against the Assyrians because, when the breath is breathed out in respiration, the breath drawn in from the air outside enters more swiftly and more forcibly. For this, he says, is the nature of breathing.
”And the fourth river is Euphrates.” This they call the mouth, through which is the going out of prayer and the coming in of food, <which> both nourishes and stamps the spiritual perfect Man. This, he says, is the water above the firmament, concerning which, he says, the Saviour has said: “if you knew who it is that asks, you would have asked of him, and he would have given you to drink living water, leaping up.”
Into this water, he says, every nature enters, choosing out its own substances, and there comes to each nature from this water what belongs to it, he says, more than iron to the Heraclean stone, and gold to the sea-hawk’s spine, and chaff to amber.
And if anyone, he says, is blind from birth and has not beheld “the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world”, let him receive sight through us and see, as it were through a garden full of every plant and many seeds, water passing through all the plants and the seeds; and he will see that out of one and the same water the olive chooses and draws to itself the oil, and the vine the wine, and each other kind of plant likewise.
And that Man, he says, is without honour in the world and greatly honoured * * * by those who do not know him, to those who do not know him — reckoned as “a drop from a bucket”. But we, he says, are the spiritual, who choose out what belongs to us from the living water of the Euphrates that flows through the middle of Babylon, journeying through the true gate, which is Jesus the blessed.
And of all men we alone are Christians, completing the mystery at the third gate and being anointed there with the speechless anointing from a horn, as David was — not from an earthen flask, he says, as Saul was, who shared a commonwealth with the evil demon of fleshly desire.
These things, then, we have set out as few out of many; for their attempts at folly are innumerable, being idle and […]. But since we have set forth, as far as we could, their unknown knowledge, it seemed good to set down this also. This psalm has been improvised by them, through which they think they hymn all the mysteries of their error, thus:
“The generative law of the whole was the first-born Mind; and the second was the poured-out chaos of the first-born. And third, the soul † received a labouring law; wherefore, clothed in the form of a deer, she toils, held down as a task for death. Now, having the kingly power, she looks upon the light; and now, cast out into pitiable things, she weeps; † now she is wept for and rejoices; † now she weeps and is judged; † now she is judged and dies; and now she comes to be without a way out — the wretched one, wandering, has entered a labyrinth of evils.
And Jesus said: Behold, Father — this quest of evils drifts upon the earth from your breath. But she seeks to flee the bitter chaos, and does not know how to pass through. For this cause send me, Father: holding the seals I will go down, I will journey through whole aeons, I will open all mysteries, and I will show the forms of the gods; and the hidden things of the holy way, calling them knowledge, I will hand on.”
These things, then, are what the Naassenes attempt, calling themselves knowers. But since the error is many-headed and truly many-branched, like the hydra of the story, if we strike one of its heads by refuting it, using the rod of truth, we shall destroy the whole beast. For the remaining heresies do not differ much from this one, being held together by one spirit of error. But since, by exchanging the words and the names of the serpent, they wanted the serpent to have many heads, we shall not fail even so to refute them as they wish.
And naas is the serpent, from whom, he says, all the things under heaven that are called TEMPLES are named, from NAAS; and to that naas alone is dedicated every shrine and every rite and every mystery, and in general no rite can be found under heaven in which there is not a temple and the naas in it, from whom it has obtained to be called a temple.
And these say the serpent is the wet substance, just as Thales of Miletus also did, and that nothing at all of the things that are — immortal or mortal, ensouled or soulless — can hold together without him.
And all things are subject to him, and he is good, and has in himself, as in the horn of a one-horned bull, the beauty of all other things, and gives their comeliness to all that are, according to their own nature and kinship, as though travelling through all things, “like one going out from Eden and dividing into four BEGINNINGS.”
And they say Eden is the brain, as it were bound and constricted in the surrounding coats as in heavens; and they hold that paradise is the man as far as the head alone. This river, then, going out from Eden — that is, from the brain — “is divided into four BEGINNINGS, and the name of the first river is called Pheison; this is the one that encircles all the land of Euilat, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good, and there is the carbuncle and the green stone.”
This, he says, is the eye, bearing witness by its honour and its colours to what is said. “And the name of the second river is Geon; this is the one that encircles all the land of Ethiopia.” This, he says, is hearing, being a kind of labyrinth. “And the name of the third is Tigris; this is the one that goes over against the Assyrians.”
This, he says, is smell, employing the swiftest movement of its stream; and it goes over against the Assyrians because, when the breath is breathed out in respiration, the breath drawn in from the air outside enters more swiftly and more forcibly. For this, he says, is the nature of breathing.
”And the fourth river is Euphrates.” This they call the mouth, through which is the going out of prayer and the coming in of food, <which> both nourishes and stamps the spiritual perfect Man. This, he says, is the water above the firmament, concerning which, he says, the Saviour has said: “if you knew who it is that asks, you would have asked of him, and he would have given you to drink living water, leaping up.”
Into this water, he says, every nature enters, choosing out its own substances, and there comes to each nature from this water what belongs to it, he says, more than iron to the Heraclean stone, and gold to the sea-hawk’s spine, and chaff to amber.
And if anyone, he says, is blind from birth and has not beheld “the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world”, let him receive sight through us and see, as it were through a garden full of every plant and many seeds, water passing through all the plants and the seeds; and he will see that out of one and the same water the olive chooses and draws to itself the oil, and the vine the wine, and each other kind of plant likewise.
And that Man, he says, is without honour in the world and greatly honoured * * * by those who do not know him, to those who do not know him — reckoned as “a drop from a bucket”. But we, he says, are the spiritual, who choose out what belongs to us from the living water of the Euphrates that flows through the middle of Babylon, journeying through the true gate, which is Jesus the blessed.
And of all men we alone are Christians, completing the mystery at the third gate and being anointed there with the speechless anointing from a horn, as David was — not from an earthen flask, he says, as Saul was, who shared a commonwealth with the evil demon of fleshly desire.
These things, then, we have set out as few out of many; for their attempts at folly are innumerable, being idle and […]. But since we have set forth, as far as we could, their unknown knowledge, it seemed good to set down this also. This psalm has been improvised by them, through which they think they hymn all the mysteries of their error, thus:
“The generative law of the whole was the first-born Mind; and the second was the poured-out chaos of the first-born. And third, the soul † received a labouring law; wherefore, clothed in the form of a deer, she toils, held down as a task for death. Now, having the kingly power, she looks upon the light; and now, cast out into pitiable things, she weeps; † now she is wept for and rejoices; † now she weeps and is judged; † now she is judged and dies; and now she comes to be without a way out — the wretched one, wandering, has entered a labyrinth of evils.
And Jesus said: Behold, Father — this quest of evils drifts upon the earth from your breath. But she seeks to flee the bitter chaos, and does not know how to pass through. For this cause send me, Father: holding the seals I will go down, I will journey through whole aeons, I will open all mysteries, and I will show the forms of the gods; and the hidden things of the holy way, calling them knowledge, I will hand on.”
These things, then, are what the Naassenes attempt, calling themselves knowers. But since the error is many-headed and truly many-branched, like the hydra of the story, if we strike one of its heads by refuting it, using the rod of truth, we shall destroy the whole beast. For the remaining heresies do not differ much from this one, being held together by one spirit of error. But since, by exchanging the words and the names of the serpent, they wanted the serpent to have many heads, we shall not fail even so to refute them as they wish.
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.