Hippolytus of Rome, The Refutation of All Heresies

The world, then, as Moses says, was made in six days, that is, by six powers, which (are inherent) in the one tittle of the iota. (But) the seventh (day, which is) a rest and Sabbath, has been produced from the Hebdomad, which is over earth, and water, and fire, and air. And from these (elements) the world has been formed by the one tittle. For cubes, and octahedrons, and pyramids, and all figures similar to these, out of which consist fire, air, water, (and) earth, have arisen from numbers which are comprehended in that simple tittle of the iota. And this (tittle) constitutes a perfect son of a perfect man. When, therefore, he says, Moses mentions that the rod was changeably brandished for the (introduction of the) plagues throughout Egypt915 Ex. vii.; viii.—now these plagues, he says, are allegorically expressed symbols of the creation916 The plagues, being transformations, were no doubt considered symbols of creation, in accordance with the view of the ancient philosophers, that creation itself brought nothing into existence, but simply altered the disposition of already existing elements. [Gen. i. 2. See Dr. Chalmers’ Astronomical Discourses.]—he did not (as a symbol) for more plagues than ten shape the rod. Now this (rod) constitutes one tittle of the iota, and is (both) twofold (and) various. This succession of ten plagues is, he says, the mundane creation. For all things, by being stricken, bring forth and bear fruit, just like vines. Man, he says, bursts forth, and is forcibly separated from man by being severed by a certain stroke. (And this takes place) in order that (man) may be generated, and may declare the law which Moses ordained, who received (it) from God. Conformably917 It is very much after this allegorical mode that Philo Judæus interprets the Mosaic law and history. with that one tittle, the law constitutes the series of the ten commandments which expresses allegorically the divine mysteries of (those) precepts. For, he says, all knowledge of the universe is contained in what relates to the succession of the ten plagues and the series of the ten commandments. And no one is acquainted with this (knowledge) who is (of the number) of those that are deceived concerning the offspring of the woman. If, however, you say that the Pentateuch constitutes the entire law, it is from the Pentad which is comprehended in the one tittle. But the entire is for those who have not been altogether perfected in understanding a mystery, a new and not antiquated feast, legal, (and) everlasting, a passover of the Lord God kept unto our generations, by those who are able to discern (this mystery), at the commencement of the fourteenth day, which is the beginning of a decade from which, he says, they reckon. For the monad, as far as fourteen, is the summary of that one (tittle) of the perfect number. For one, two, three, four, become ten; and this is the one tittle. But from fourteen until one-and-twenty, he asserts that there is an Hebdomad which inheres in the one tittle of the world, and constitutes an unleavened creature in all these. For in what respect, he says, would the one tittle require any substance such as leaven (derived) from without for the Lord’s Passover, the eternal feast, which is given for generation upon generation?918 [Exod. xii. 17. Comp. 1 Cor. v. 7, 8.] For the entire world and all causes of creation constitute a passover, (i.e.,) a feast of the Lord. For God rejoices in the conversion of the creation, and this is accomplished by ten strokes of the one tittle. And this (tittle) is Moses’ rod, which was given by God into the hand of Moses. And with this (rod Moses) smites the Egyptians, for the purpose of altering bodies,—as, for instance, water into blood; and the rest of (material) things similarly with these,—(as, for example,) the locusts, which is a symbol of grass. And by this he means the alteration of the elements into flesh; “for all flesh,” he says, “is grass.”919 Isa. xl. 6. These men, nevertheless receive even the entire law after some such manner; adopting very probably, as I think, the opinions of those of the Greeks who affirm that there are Substance, and Quality, and Quantity, and Relation, and Place, and Time, and Position, and Action, and Possession, and Passion.

[14] Γέγονεν οὖν [ὁ] κόσμος, ὥς φησι Μωϋσῆς, ἐν ἓξ ἡμέραις, τουτέστιν ἐν ἓξ δυνάμεσι, ταῖς [κατειλημμέναις] ἐν τῇ μιᾷ κεραίᾳ τοῦ ἰῶτα: [ἡ δὲ] ἑβδόμη, [ἡ καὶ] κατάπαυσις καὶ σάββατον, ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑβδομάδος γέγονε τῆς ἐκεῖ. γῆς καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀέρος καὶ πυρός, ἐξ ὧν ὁ κόσμος ἀπὸ τῆς κεραίας γέγονε τῆς μι(ᾶς). οἵ τε γὰρ κύβοι καὶ τὰ [εἰκοσάεδρα καὶ τὰ] ὀκτάεδρα καὶ [αἱ] πυραμίδες καὶ πάντα τὰ τούτοις παραπλήσια σχήμα[τα], ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκε πῦρ, ἀή(ρ), ὕδωρ, γῆ, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀριθμῶν γεγόνασι τῶν κατειλη(μ)μέν(ων) ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἁπλῇ τοῦ ἰῶτα κεραίᾳ, ἥτις ἐστὶν υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, [ἐκ] τελείου τέλειος. Ὅταν οὖν, φησίν, ῥάβδον λέγῃ Μωϋσῆς στρεφομένην ποικίλως εἰς τὰ πάθη τὰ κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον_ἅτινα, φησίν, ἐστὶ τῆς κτίσεως ἀλ[λ]ηγορού[μενα] σύμβολα_, οὐκ εἰς πλείονα πάθη τῶν δέκα σχηματίζει τὴν ῥάβδον, ἥτις ἐστίν, [φησίν, ἡ τοῦ] ἰῶτα μία κεραία, ἁπλῆ [καὶ] ποικίλη. αὕτη [δέ], φησίν, ἐστὶν ἡ δεκάπληγος ἡ κοσμικὴ κτίσις: πάντα γὰρ πλησσόμενα γεννᾶται καὶ καρποφορεῖ, καθάπερ αἱ ἄμπελοι. «ἄνθρωπος [γὰρ] ἐξ ἀνθρώπου ἐξέσ[σ]υται», φησίν, «καὶ ἀποσπᾶται, πληγῇ τινι μεριζόμενος», ἵνα γένηται. κἂν εἴπῃ[ς] νόμον, ὃν ἔθηκε Μωϋσῆς παρὰ θεοῦ λαβών, κατὰ τὴν κεραίαν ἐκείνην τὴν μίαν ὁ νόμος ἐστί, [φησίν,] ἡ δεκάλογος ἀλληγοροῦσα τὰ θεῖα τῶν ὅλων μυστήρια. πᾶσα γάρ, φησίν, ἡ γνῶσις τῶν ὅλων δεκάπληγός ἐστι καὶ δεκάλογος: ἣν οἶδεν οὐδεὶς τῶν περὶ τὸ γέν[ν]ημα τῆς θηλείας πεπλανημένων. κἂν εἴπῃς πεντάτευχον [ἢ] ὅλον τὸν νόμον, ἔστιν, [φησίν,] ἀπὸ τῆς πεντάδος τῆς ἐν τῇ μιᾷ κεραίᾳ κατειλημμένης. Τὸ δὲ ὅλον ἐστί, φησί, τοῖς μὴ πεπηρωμένοις παντελῶς τὴν διάνοιαν μυστήριον, καινὴ καὶ μὴ παλαιουμένη «ἑορτὴ νόμιμος, αἰώνιος εἰς τὰς γενεὰς ἡμῶν», «κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ πάσχα», «διατηρούμενον» τοῖς δυναμένοις βλέπειν «[ἕως] ἐναρχομένης τῆς [τεσσαρεσκαι]δεκάτης», ἥτις ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ δεκάδος, ἀφ' ἧς, φησίν, ἀριθμοῦμεν. ἡ γὰρ μονὰς ἕως τῆς [τετράδος τῆς ἐν τῇ] τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ ἐστί, [φησί,] τὸ κεφάλαιον τῆς μιᾶς [κεραίας], τοῦ τελείου ἀριθμοῦ: τό τε γὰρ ἕν, δύο, τρία, τέσσαρα γίνεται δέκα, ὅπερ ἐστίν, [φησίν,] ἡ μία κεραία. [Τὴν] δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτης [φησὶν] «ἕως [ἡμέρας] μιᾶς καὶ εἰκάδος» ἑβδομάδα λέγει [τὴν] ὑπάρχουσαν ἐν τῇ μιᾷ κεραίᾳ τοῦ κόσμου [τὴν] κτίσιν, ἄζυμον [οὖσαν] ἐν τοῖς ἅπασιν. τί γὰρ [ἂν] δεηθείη, φησίν, ἡ μία κεραία οὐσίας τινὸς οἱονεὶ ζύμης ἔξωθεν εἰς «τὸ πάσχα τοῦ κυρίου», «τὴν αἰώ(ν)ιον ἑορτήν», ἥτις ἐστὶν «εἰς τὰς γενεὰς» δεδομένη; ὅλος γὰρ ὁ κόσμ(ο)ς (κα)ὶ πάντα [τὰ] τῆς κτίσεως στ[οιχ]εῖα πάσχα ἐστίν, [φησίν,] ἑορτὴ κυρίου. χαίρει γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τῆς κτίσεως τῇ μεταβολῇ, [φησίν,] ἥτις ὑπὸ τῶν δέκα πληγῶν τῆς κεραίας ἐνεργεῖται τῆς μιᾶς: ἥτις ἐστὶ Μωσέως ῥάβδος ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ δεδομένη. ᾗ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους πλήσσων [ὁ θεὸς] μεταβάλλει τὰ σώματα, καθάπερ τὴν χεῖρα Μωσέως [εἰς χιόνα, καὶ] τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς αἷμα, καὶ τὰ λοιπά. τούτοις [δὲ] παραπλησίως [τὰς] ἀκρίδας_ὅπερ ἐστὶ χόρτος_[τὴν] τῶν στοιχείων εἰς σάρκα μεταβολὴν λέγει: «πᾶσα» γὰρ «σὰρξ χόρτος», [ὡς,] φησίν, [γέγραπται]. Οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον καὶ τὸν ὅλον νόμον οἱ ἄνδρες οὗτοι τοιοῦτόν τινα τρόπον ἐκδέχονται, τάχα που κατακολουθήσαντες, ὡς ἐγὼ δοκῶ, Ἑλλήνων [σοφοῖς] τοῖς λέγουσιν οὐσίαν εἶναι καὶ ποιὸν καὶ ποσὸν καὶ πρός τι καὶ ποῦ καὶ πότε καὶ κεῖσθαι καὶ ἔχειν καὶ ποιεῖν καὶ πάσχειν.