Hippolytus, Refutatio V.8.33-45: The Ever-Turning, and the Mysteries at Eleusis
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.
τοῦτ’ ἔστιν ὃ λέγει, φησί· »μὴ βάλητε τὸ ἅγιον τοῖς κυσὶ μηδὲ τοὺς μαργαρίτας τοῖς χοίροις«, χοίρων καὶ κυνῶν ἔργον λέγοντες εἶναι τὴν γυναικὸς πρὸς ἄνδρα ὁμιλίαν. τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τοῦτον, φησίν, οἱ Φρύγες καλοῦσιν αἰπόλον, οὐχ ὅτι, φησίν, ἔβοσκεν αἶγας καὶ τράγους, ὡς οἱ ψυχικοὶ ὀνομάζουσιν, ἀλλ’ ὅτι, φησίν, ἐστὶν ἀειπόλος, τουτέστιν ὁ ἀεὶ πολῶν καὶ στρέφων καὶ περιελαύνων τὸν κόσμον ὅλον στροφῇ. πολεῖν γάρ ἐστι τὸ στρέφειν καὶ μεταβάλλειν τὰ πράγματα· ἔνθεν, φησί, καὶ τὰ δυο κέντρα του ουρανου απαντες προσαγορευουσι πόλους. καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς δέ φησι· πωλεῖταί τις δεῦρο γέρων ἅλιος νημερτής, ἀθάνατος Πρωτεὺς Αἰγύπτιος. οὐ πιπράσκεται, φησίν, ἀλλὰ στρέφεται αὐτοῦ οἱονεὶ καὶ περιέρχεται λέγει. καὶ πόλεις, έν αἷς οἰκοῦμεν, ὅτι στρεφόμεθα καὶ πολοῦμεν έν αὐταῖς, καὶ καλοῦνται πόλεις. οὕτως, φησίν, οἱ Φρύγες αἰπόλον τοῦτον καλοῦσι τὸν πάντοτε <πάντα> πανταχῇ στρέφοντα καὶ πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα. καλοῦσι δὲ αὐτόν, φησί, καὶ πολύκαρπον οἱ Φρύγες, ὅτι »πλείονα«, φησί, »τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα«, τουτέστι τὰ ἀναγεννώμενα ἀθάνατα καὶ ἀεὶ διαμένοντα ἐστὶ πολλά, κἂν ὀλίγα ᾖ τὰ γεννώμενα· τὰ δὲ σαρκικά, φησίν, φθαρτὰ πάντα, κἂν ᾖ πολλὰ πάνυ <τὰ> γεννώμενα. διὰ τοῦτο, φησίν, »ἔκλαιε Ῥαχὴλ τὰ τέκνα καὶ οὐκ ἤθελε« φησί, »παρα- καλεῖσθαι κλαίουσα ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς· ᾔδει γάρ, φησίν, ὄτι οὔκ εἰσι«. θρηνεῖ δὲ καὶ Ἱερεμίας τὴν κάτω Ἵερουσαλήμ, οὐ τὴν ἐν Φοινίκῃ πόλιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν κάτω γένεσιν τὴν φθαρτήν· ἔγω γάρ, φησί, καὶ Ἱερεμίας τὸν τέλειον ἄνθρωπον, τὸν ἀναγεννώμενον »ἐξὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος«, οὐ σαρκικόν. αὐτὸς γοῦν ὁ Ἰερεμίας ἔλεγε· »ἄνθρωπός ἐστι καὶ τίς γνώσεται αὐτόν;« οὕτως, φησίν. ἐστὶ πάνυ βαθεῖα καὶ δυσκατάληπτος ἡ τοῦ τελείου ἀνθρώπου γνῶσις. ἀρχὴ γάρ«, φησί, τελειώσεως γνῶσις ἀνθρώπου, θεοῦ δὲ γνῶσις ἀπηρτισμένη τελείωσις‘. Δέγουσι δὲ αὐτόν, φησί, Φρύγες καὶ χλοερὸν στάχυν τεθερισμένον, καὶ μετὰ τοὺς Φρύγας Ἀθηναῖοι μυοῦντες Ἐλευσίνια καὶ ἐπιδεικνύντες τοῖς ἐποπτεύουσι τὸ μέγα καὶ θαυμαστὸν καὶ τελειότατον ἐποπτικὸν ἐκεῖ μυστήριον ἐν σιωπῇ, τεθερισμένον στάχυν. ὁ δὲ στάχυς οὗτός ἐστι καὶ παρὰ Ἀθηναίοις ὁ παρὰ τοῦ ἀχαρακτηρίστου φωστὴρ τέλειος μέγας, καθάπερ αὐτὸς ὁ ἱεροφάντης, οὐκ ἀποκεκομμένος μέν, ὡς ὁ Ἄττις, εὐνουχισμένος δὲ διὰ κωνείου καὶ πᾶσαν ἀπηρτημένος τὴν σαρκικὴν γένεσιν, νυκτὸς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι ὑπὸ πολλῷ πυρὶ τελῶν τὰ μεγάλα καὶ ἄρρητα μυστήρια βοᾷ καὶ κέκραγε λέγων· ἱερὸν ἔτεκε πότνια κοῦρον Βριμὼ Βριμόν«, τουτέστιν ἰσχυρὰ ἰσχυρόν. πότνια δέ ἐστι, φησίν, ἡ γένεσις ἡ πνευματική, ἡ ἐπουράνιος, ἡ ἄνω· ἰσχυρὸς δέ ἐστιν ὁ οὕτω γεννώμενος. ἔστι γὰρ τὸ λεγόμενον μυστήριον Ἐλευσὶν καὶ ἀνακτόρειον Ἐλευσίν, ὅτι ἤλθομεν, φησίν, οἱ πνευματικοὶ ἄνωθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀδάμαντος ῥυέντες κάτω — ἐλεύσεσθαι γάρ, φησίν, ἐστὶν ἐλθεῖν —, τὸ δὲ ἀνακτόρειον <διὰ> τὸ ἄνω. τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐστίν, ὃ λέγουσιν οἱ κατωργιασμένοι τῶν Ἐλευσινίων τὰ #x003E; μυστήρια· θέσμιον δέ ἐστι τὰ μικρὰ μεμυημένους αὖθις τὰ μεγάλα μυεῖσθαι. μόροι γὰρ μείζονες μείζονας μοίρας λαγχάνουσι.« μικρά, φησίν, ἐστὶ τὰ μυστήρια τὰ τῆς Περσεφόνης κάτω, περὶ ὧν μυστηρίων καὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς ἀγούσης ἐκεῖ, οὔσης πλατείας καὶ εὐρυχώρου« καὶ φερούσης τοὺς ἀπολλυμένους ἐπὶ τὴν Περσεφόνην, * * * καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς δέ φησιν· αὐτὰρ ὑπ᾿ αὐτήν ἐστιν ἀταρπιτὸς ὀκρυόεσσα, κοίλη, πηλώδης· ἡ δ’ ἡγήσασθαι ἀρίστη ἄλσος ἐς ἱμερόεν πολυτιμήτου Ἀφροδίτης. ταῦτ’ ἐστί, φησί, τὰ μικρὰ μυστήρια τὰ τῆς σαρκικῆς γενέσεως, α μυηθέντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι μικρὰ παύσασθαι ὀφείλουσι, <πρὶν> καὶ τὰ μεγάλα τὰ ἐπουράνια. οἱ γὰρ τοὺς ἐκεῖ, φησί, λαχόντες μόρους μείζονας μοίρας λαβάνουσιν«. αὕτη γάρ, φησίν, ἐστὶν »ἡ πύλη τοῦ οὐρανοῦ« καὶ οὑτος <ὁ> »οἷκος θεοῦ«, ὅπου ὁ ἀγαθὸς κατοικεῖ μόνος, εἰς ὃν οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται, φησίν, ἀκάθαρτος οὐδείς, οὐ ψυχικός, οὐ σαρκικός, ἀλλὰ τηρεῖται πνευματικοῖς μόνοις, ὅπου δεῖ γενομένους βαλεῖν τὰ ἐνδύματα καὶ πάντας γενέσθαι νυμφίους ἀπηρσενωμένους διὰ τοῦ παρθενικοῦ πνεύματος. αὕτη γάρ έστιν ἡ παρθένος ἡ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα καὶ συλλαμβάνουσα καὶ τίκτουσα υἱόν, οὐ ψυχικόν, οὐ σωματικόν, ἀλλὰ μακάριον αἰῶνα αἰώνων. περὶ τούτων, φησί, διαρρήδην εἴρηκεν ὁ σωτὴρ ὅτι »στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἐστὶν ἡ ὁδὸς ἡ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τὴν ζωήν, καὶ ὀλίγοι εἰσὶν οἱ εἰσερχόμενοι εἰς αὐτήν, πλατεῖα δὲ καὶ εὐρύχωρος ἡ ὁδὸς ἡ ἀπάγουσα εἰς τὴν ἀπώλειαν, καὶ πολλοί εἰσιν οἱ διερχόμενοι δι᾿ αὐτῆς‘.
This is what he means, he says: “do not cast the holy thing to the dogs, nor the pearls to the swine” — saying that the intercourse of woman with man is the work of swine and dogs.
And this same one, he says, the Phrygians call goatherd — not because, he says, he pastured she-goats and he-goats, as the ensouled name him, but because, he says, he is AEIPOLOS, that is, the one who is always turning and revolving and driving round the whole world with a turning.
For POLEIN is to turn and to change things about. Hence, he says, all men call the two centres of heaven poles. And the poet too says: “there is trafficked hither a certain old man of the sea, unerring, the immortal Egyptian Proteus.” He is not sold, he says, but he turns about, as it were, and goes around, he means. And cities, in which we dwell, because we turn and revolve in them — and they are called poleis.
Thus, he says, the Phrygians call goatherd this one who is always turning <all things> everywhere and toward their own places. And the Phrygians call him also many-fruited, he says, because “more”, he says, “are the children of the desolate than of her that has a husband” — that is, the things born again are immortal and remain always, and are many, even if the things begotten are few; but the fleshly things, he says, are all perishable, even if the things begotten are exceedingly many.
For this reason, he says, “Rachel wept for her children and would not”, he says, “be comforted, weeping over them; for she knew”, he says, “that they are not.” And Jeremiah too laments the Jerusalem below — not the city in Phoenicia, but the perishable coming-to-be below. For Jeremiah too, he says, knew the perfect Man, the one born again “of water and spirit”, not fleshly.
Jeremiah himself, at any rate, said: “he is a man, and who shall know him?” Thus, he says, the knowledge of the perfect Man is exceedingly deep and hard to grasp. For “the beginning of perfection”, he says, “is knowledge of man, but knowledge of God is perfection completed.”
And the Phrygians call him, he says, also a green ear of grain reaped; and after the Phrygians the Athenians, initiating into the Eleusinian rites and displaying to those who behold the great and wonderful and most perfect mystery there beheld, in silence — a reaped ear of grain.
And this ear of grain is also among the Athenians the great and perfect light-bringer from the unstamped, just as the hierophant himself — not cut off, indeed, as Attis was, but made a eunuch by hemlock and set apart from all fleshly coming-to-be — who by night at Eleusis, under a great fire, performing the great and unspeakable mysteries, shouts and cries out saying: “the lady has borne a holy child, Brimo has borne Brimos” — that is, the strong one has borne the strong.
And the lady, he says, is the spiritual coming-to-be, the heavenly, the one above; and the strong one is he who is thus begotten. For the mystery is called Eleusis and Anaktoreion — Eleusis, because we came, he says, we the spiritual, flowing down from above from Adamas (for ELEUSESTHAI, he says, is to come), and Anaktoreion because of what is above.
This, he says, is what those who have been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries say. And it is the rule that those initiated into the lesser be initiated again into the greater. “For greater deaths obtain greater portions.” The lesser, he says,
are the mysteries of Persephone below, concerning which mysteries and the road that leads there — being “broad and spacious” and carrying those who are perishing to Persephone * * * And the poet too says: “but beneath it is a path, chill, hollow, miry; and this is best to lead to the lovely grove of much-honoured Aphrodite.” These, he says, are the lesser mysteries, those of fleshly coming-to-be;
into which men, having been initiated, ought to cease for a little, <before> also the great, the heavenly. For those who have obtained the deaths there, he says, “receive greater portions.” For this, he says, is “the gate of heaven” and this is “the house of God”, where the good one alone dwells — into which, he says, no unclean person shall enter, not the ensouled, not the fleshly, but it is kept for the spiritual alone, where those who come must throw off their garments and all become bridegrooms, made male by the virginal spirit.
For this is the virgin who conceives and bears a son, not ensouled, not bodily, but a blessed aeon of aeons. Concerning these things, he says, the Saviour has said expressly: “narrow and hard is the road that leads away to life, and few are those who enter into it; but broad and spacious is the road that leads away to destruction, and many are those who pass through it.”
And this same one, he says, the Phrygians call goatherd — not because, he says, he pastured she-goats and he-goats, as the ensouled name him, but because, he says, he is AEIPOLOS, that is, the one who is always turning and revolving and driving round the whole world with a turning.
For POLEIN is to turn and to change things about. Hence, he says, all men call the two centres of heaven poles. And the poet too says: “there is trafficked hither a certain old man of the sea, unerring, the immortal Egyptian Proteus.” He is not sold, he says, but he turns about, as it were, and goes around, he means. And cities, in which we dwell, because we turn and revolve in them — and they are called poleis.
Thus, he says, the Phrygians call goatherd this one who is always turning <all things> everywhere and toward their own places. And the Phrygians call him also many-fruited, he says, because “more”, he says, “are the children of the desolate than of her that has a husband” — that is, the things born again are immortal and remain always, and are many, even if the things begotten are few; but the fleshly things, he says, are all perishable, even if the things begotten are exceedingly many.
For this reason, he says, “Rachel wept for her children and would not”, he says, “be comforted, weeping over them; for she knew”, he says, “that they are not.” And Jeremiah too laments the Jerusalem below — not the city in Phoenicia, but the perishable coming-to-be below. For Jeremiah too, he says, knew the perfect Man, the one born again “of water and spirit”, not fleshly.
Jeremiah himself, at any rate, said: “he is a man, and who shall know him?” Thus, he says, the knowledge of the perfect Man is exceedingly deep and hard to grasp. For “the beginning of perfection”, he says, “is knowledge of man, but knowledge of God is perfection completed.”
And the Phrygians call him, he says, also a green ear of grain reaped; and after the Phrygians the Athenians, initiating into the Eleusinian rites and displaying to those who behold the great and wonderful and most perfect mystery there beheld, in silence — a reaped ear of grain.
And this ear of grain is also among the Athenians the great and perfect light-bringer from the unstamped, just as the hierophant himself — not cut off, indeed, as Attis was, but made a eunuch by hemlock and set apart from all fleshly coming-to-be — who by night at Eleusis, under a great fire, performing the great and unspeakable mysteries, shouts and cries out saying: “the lady has borne a holy child, Brimo has borne Brimos” — that is, the strong one has borne the strong.
And the lady, he says, is the spiritual coming-to-be, the heavenly, the one above; and the strong one is he who is thus begotten. For the mystery is called Eleusis and Anaktoreion — Eleusis, because we came, he says, we the spiritual, flowing down from above from Adamas (for ELEUSESTHAI, he says, is to come), and Anaktoreion because of what is above.
This, he says, is what those who have been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries say. And it is the rule that those initiated into the lesser be initiated again into the greater. “For greater deaths obtain greater portions.” The lesser, he says,
are the mysteries of Persephone below, concerning which mysteries and the road that leads there — being “broad and spacious” and carrying those who are perishing to Persephone * * * And the poet too says: “but beneath it is a path, chill, hollow, miry; and this is best to lead to the lovely grove of much-honoured Aphrodite.” These, he says, are the lesser mysteries, those of fleshly coming-to-be;
into which men, having been initiated, ought to cease for a little, <before> also the great, the heavenly. For those who have obtained the deaths there, he says, “receive greater portions.” For this, he says, is “the gate of heaven” and this is “the house of God”, where the good one alone dwells — into which, he says, no unclean person shall enter, not the ensouled, not the fleshly, but it is kept for the spiritual alone, where those who come must throw off their garments and all become bridegrooms, made male by the virginal spirit.
For this is the virgin who conceives and bears a son, not ensouled, not bodily, but a blessed aeon of aeons. Concerning these things, he says, the Saviour has said expressly: “narrow and hard is the road that leads away to life, and few are those who enter into it; but broad and spacious is the road that leads away to destruction, and many are those who pass through it.”
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.