Hippolytus of Rome, The Refutation of All Heresies

But a certain Hermogenes,922 See [vol. iii. p. 257, also p. 477] Tertullian, Præscript., c. xxx.; [vol. iv. p. 245, this series] Origen, Περὶ ἀρχ., i. 2; Eusebius, De Præp., vii. 8, 9; St. Augustine, Hær., lix.; Theodoret, Hær. Fab., i. 19; and Philastrius, Hær., lv. himself also imagining that he propounded some novel opinion, said that God made all things out of coeval and ungenerated matter. For that it was impossible that God could make generated things out of things that are not. And that God is always Lord, and always Creator, and matter always a subservient (substance), and that which is assuming phases of being—not, however, the whole of it. For when it was being continually moved in a rude and disorderly manner, He reduced (matter) into order by the following expedient. As He gazed (upon matter) in a seething condition, like (the contents of) a pot when a fire is burning underneath, He effected a partial separation. And taking one portion from the whole, He subdued it, but another He allowed to be whirled in a disorderly manner. And he asserts that what was (thus) subdued is the world, but that another portion remains wild, and is denominated chaotic923 Literally, “unadorned.” matter. He asserts that this constitutes the substance of all things, as if introducing a novel tenet for his disciples. He does not, however, reflect that this happens to be the Socratic discourse, which (indeed) is worked out more elaborately by Plato than by Hermogenes. He acknowledges, however, that Christ is the Son of the God who created all things; and along with (this admission), he confesses that he was born of a virgin and of (the) Spirit, according to the voice of the Gospels. And (Hermogenes maintains that Christ), after His passion, was raised up in a body, and that He appeared to His disciples, and that as He went up into heaven He left His body in the sun, but that He Himself proceeded on to the Father. Now (Hermogenes) resorts to testimony, thinking to support himself by what is spoken, (viz.) what the Psalmist David says: “In the sun he hath placed his tabernacle, and himself (is) as a bridegroom coming forth from his nuptial chamber, (and) he will rejoice as a giant to run his course.”924 Ps. xix. 4, 5. These, then, are the opinions which also Hermogenes attempted to establish.

[17] Ἑρμογένης δέ τις, καὶ αὐτὸς νομίσας τι καινὸν φρονεῖν, ἔφη τὸν θεὸν ἐξ ὕλης συγχρόνου καὶ ἀγενήτου [τὰ] πάντα πεποιηκέναι: ἀδυνάτως γὰρ ἔχειν τὸν θεὸν μὴ οὐκ ἐξ ὄντων τὰ γενόμενα ποιεῖν. εἶναι δὲ τὸν [μὲν] θεὸν ἀεὶ κύριον καὶ ἀεὶ ποιητήν, τὴν δὲ ὕλην ἀεὶ δούλην καὶ [ἀεὶ] ποιουμένην, οὐ πᾶσαν δέ: ἀεὶ γὰρ ἀγρίως καὶ ἀτάκτως φερομένην ἐκόσμησε[ν ὁ θεὸς] τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ. δίκην λ(έβητ)ος ὑποκαιομένου βράζουσαν ἰδὼν ἐχώρισε κατ(ὰ) μέρος, καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ παντὸς λαβὼν ἡμέρωσε, τὸ δὲ [λοιπὸν] εἴασεν ἀτάκτως φέρεσθαι. καὶ τὸ [μὲν] ἡμερωθὲν τοῦτο εἶναι [τὸν] κόσμον λέγει, τὸ δὲ ἄγριον μένον καὶ [ἄτακτον] ὕλην καλεῖσθαι ἄκοσμον. _ταύτην [οὖν] οὐσίαν εἶναι τῶν ἀπάντων λέγει, ὡς καινὸν φέρων [τὸ] δόγμα τοῖς αὑτοῦ μαθηταῖς: οὐκ ἐνενόει δὲ ὅτι Σωκρατικὸς ὁ μῦθος οὗτος τυγχάνει, ὑπὸ Πλάτωνος ἐξειργασμένος βέλτιον ἢ ὑπὸ Ἑρμογένους. _ Τὸν (δ)ὲ Χριστὸν υἱὸν εἶναι ὁμολογεῖ τοῦ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντος θεοῦ καὶ (τοῦ)τ(ον) ἐκ παρθένου γεγεν[ν]ῆσθαι καὶ πνεύματος [μὲν ὁμολογεῖ] κατὰ τὴν τῶν εὐαγγελίων φωνήν. ὃν μετὰ τὸ πάθος ἐγερθέντα ἐν σώματι πεφηνέναι τοῖς [αὑτοῦ] μαθηταῖς καὶ ἀνερχόμενον εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἐν τῷ ἡλίῳ τὸ σῶμα καταλελοιπέναι, αὐτὸν δὲ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα πεπορεῦσθαι. μαρτυρίᾳ δὲ χρῆται [τῇδε], νομίζων ὑπὸ τοῦ ῥητοῦ συνηγορεῖσθαι, οὗπερ ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς Δαβὶδ λέγει: «ἐν τῷ ἡλίῳ ἔθετο τὸ σκήνωμα αὐτοῦ: καὶ αὐτὸς ὡς νυμφίος ἐκπορευόμενος ἐκ παστοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀγαλλιάσεται ὡς γίγας δραμεῖν ὁδὸν [αὐτοῦ]». ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ Ἑρμογένης ἐπεχείρει.