On the Witch of Endor (to Bishop Theodosius)

Ad Theodosium episcopum de Pythonissa · Gregory of Nyssa · c. 380-386 · treatise

Greek · domain: cappadocian · researched 2026-11-13

no English translation located. No published English translation of this text was located in the catalogues and series checked. Where only a non-English rendering or a translation of a daughter version exists, it is recorded below and does not close the gap. Treat this as a gap candidate, not as proof that no translation exists; the evidence names every source checked.

Why this is in the register

A short treatise on the necromantic scene of 1 Samuel 28, addressed to Bishop Theodosius. It is edited in Gregorii Nysseni Opera III.2 alongside Contra fatum (HOLLIS contents of 'Opera dogmatica minora': 'De Pythonissa', https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Gregory%20of%20Nyssa%20Ad%20Graecos&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 and is listed in the contents of the 1863 Migne reprint as 'De Pythonissa ad Theodosium episcopum' (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Gregory%20of%20Nyssa%20Ad%20Graecos&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 No English translation exists in NPNF ser. 2 vol. 5 (https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205/npnf205.toc.html), in Fathers of the Church 58 (Ascetical Works: 'On virginity; On what it means to call oneself a Christian; On perfection; On the Christian mode of life; The life of Saint Macrina; On the soul and the resurrection') or in Popular Patristics 64 (On Death and Eternal Life), and a HOLLIS search 'Gregory of Nyssa witch of Endor pythonissa' returns 0 records (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Gregory%20of%20Nyssa%20witch%20of%20Endor%20pythonissa&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0

A short dogmatic opusculum, printed among Gregory's dogmatic works in Migne and edited in GNO III.2. The archive.org item is cited at volume level: it is the Migne volume for this author (PG volume-to-author mapping: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrologia_Graeca), but the work's exact place in the volume was not verified page by page.

Existing translations recorded

None recorded in English. Non-English versions, where they exist, are named in the evidence above.

Electronic text

Source and licence
archive.org · PDF scan · public domain (Migne, 1863) patrologiae_cursus_completus_gr_vol_045

Scanned witnesses

Scan search: not checked. Not searched in the scan pass: this dossier was outside the 121-work scan target set.

Harvard Hollis

Hollis query: Gregory of Nyssa On the Witch of Endor — 2 record(s); match basis author_title_unquoted.

Record	Citation
Origenes, Eustathius von Antiochien, und Gregor von Nyssa über die Hexe von Endor Origen · 1912 · grc	Origen. "Origenes, Eustathius von Antiochien, und Gregor von Nyssa über die Hexe von Endor." Bonn : A. Marcus und E. Weber, 1912. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/990015792670203941
The "belly-myther" of Endor : interpretations of I Kingdoms 28 in the early church · 2007 · eng, gre, lat	"The "belly-myther" of Endor : interpretations of I Kingdoms 28 in the early church." Atlanta, Ga. : Society of Biblical Literature, c2007. https://hollis.harvard.edu/permalink/f/1s5nto6/990107762170203941

Sources checked

Cite: Tergwame, “On the Witch of Endor (to Bishop Theodosius)” (greek gap dossier), 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/greek-nyssa-de-pythonissa