Book V

Refutation of All Heresies (Philosophumena) · Saint Hippolytus of Rome

1. Contents.
2. Recapitulation; Characteristics of Heresy; Origin of the Name Naasseni; The System of the Naasseni.
3. Naasseni Ascribe Their System, Through Mariamne, to James the Lord's Brother; Really Traceable to the Ancient Mysteries; Their Psychology as Given in the “Gospel According to Thomas;” Assyrian Theory of the Soul; The Systems of the Naasseni and the Assyrians Compared; Support Drawn by the Naasseni from the Phrygian and Egyptian Mysteries; The Mysteries of Isis; These Mysteries Allegorized by the Naasseni.
4. Further Exposition of the Heresy of the Naasseni; Profess to Follow Homer; Acknowledge a Triad of Principles; Their Technical Names of the Triad; Support These on the Authority of Greek Poets; Allegorize Our Saviour's Miracles; The Mystery of the Samothracians; Why the Lord Chose Twelve Disciples; The Name Corybas, Used by Thracians and Phrygians, Explained; Naasseni Profess to Find Their System in Scripture; Their Interpretation of Jacob's Vision; Their Idea of the “Perfect Man;” The “Perfect Man” Called “Papa” By the Phrygians; The Naasseni and Phrygians on the Resurrection; The Ecstasis of St. Paul; The Mysteries of Religion as Alluded to by Christ; Interpretation of the Parable of the Sower; Allegory of the Promised Land; Comparison of the System of the Phrygians with the Statements of Scripture; Exposition of the Meaning of the Higher and Lower Eleusinian Mysteries; The Incarnation Discoverable Here According to the Naasseni.
5. Further Use Made of the System of the Phrygians; Mode of Celebrating the Mysteries; The Mystery of the “Great Mother;” These Mysteries Have a Joint Object of Worship with the Naasseni; The Naasseni Allegorize the Scriptural Account of the Garden of Eden; The Allegory Applied to the Life of Jesus.
6. Explanation of the System of the Naasseni Taken from One of Their Hymns.
7. The Ophites the Grand Source of Heresy.
8. The System of the Peratæ; Their Tritheism; Explanation of the Incarnation.
9. The Peratæ Derive Their System from the Astrologers; This Proved by a Statement of the Astrological Theories of the Zodiac; Hence the Terminology of the Peratic Heretics.
10. System of the Peratæ Explained Out of One of Their Own Books.
11. The Peratic Heresy Nominally Different from Astrology, But Really the Same System Allegorized.
12. 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.
13. Compendious Statement of the Doctrines of the Peratæ.
14. The Peratic Heresy Not Generally Known.
15. The System of the Sethians; Their Triad of Infinite Principles; Their Heresy Explained; Their Interpretation of the Incarnation.
16. The Sethians Support Their Doctrines by an Allegorical Interpretation of Scripture; Their System Really Derived from Natural Philosophers and from the Orphic Rites; Adopt the Homeric Cosmogony.
17. The Sethian Theory Concerning “Mixture” And “Composition;” Application of It to Christ; Illustration from the Well of Ampa.
18. The Sethian Doctrines to Be Learned from the “Paraphrase of Seth.”
19. The System of Justinus Antiscriptural and Essentially Pagan.
20. The Justinian Heresy Unfolded in the “Book of Baruch.”
21. The Cosmogony of Justinus an Allegorical Explanation of Herodotus' Legend of Hercules.
22. Justinus' Triad of Principles; His Angelography Founded on This Triad; His Explanation of the Birth, Life, and Death of Our Lord.
23. Oath Used by the Justinian Heretics; The Book of Baruch; The Repertory of Their System.
24. Subsequent Heresies Deducible from the System of Justinus.