The Shepherd of Hermas

Introduction

There are books that survive the centuries by sheer institutional force — preserved in libraries, copied by scribes under orders, protected by the weight of official sanction. And then there are books that survive because people could not stop reading them, could not stop copying them, could not stop pressing them into the hands of friends and strangers alike, whispering that something in these pages had changed them. The ancient text you are about to encounter belongs unmistakably to the second category. For nearly two thousand years, this extraordinary document has traveled through history like a secret passed between generations — sometimes celebrated, sometimes suppressed, always fascinating, and never entirely forgotten.

To understand why this text matters, you have to understand the world that produced it. The first and second centuries of the Common Era were not a time of settled, codified Christianity. They were a time of extraordinary spiritual ferment, of competing visions and urgent questions, of communities trying to work out what it meant to follow a radical new way of life in the shadow of empire, persecution, and apocalyptic expectation. The canon of scripture that most modern readers take for granted did not yet exist in fixed form. Communities across the Mediterranean world read and treasured a wide variety of texts — letters, gospels, apocalypses, wisdom writings — and the boundaries between what was 'in' and what was 'out' were far more porous than later centuries would suggest. In this context, the work you hold was not a marginal curiosity. It was, for many communities, a beloved and authoritative guide to the spiritual life.

The text was so widely read, so deeply respected, that it was bound together with what would become the New Testament in some of the earliest surviving Christian codices. The great Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest and most complete manuscripts of the Christian Bible, includes this work alongside the canonical scriptures. The Codex Claromontanus lists it among the books of the New Testament. Early Christian writers of enormous influence — Origen, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Athanasius — all knew it, cited it, wrestled with it. Some argued it deserved a permanent place in the Christian Bible. Others disagreed, but the very fact that the argument was worth having tells you everything about the stature this text once commanded.

What happened to it? The story of how a text moves from the center to the margins is rarely a story of dramatic condemnation. More often it is a story of slow institutional drift, of councils making decisions, of boundaries hardening, of what was once fluid becoming fixed. As the Christian canon was gradually formalized in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, certain texts were gathered in and others were set aside. The work you are about to read fell into the latter category — not because it was deemed heretical, not because it was considered dangerous, but largely because questions arose about its date and authorship that made its inclusion in a canon of apostolic writings difficult to justify. It was acknowledged as valuable, even edifying, but it was gently moved from the center of the table to a respected but peripheral position. Over the following centuries, as the canon became increasingly authoritative and the texts outside it increasingly obscure, this remarkable document faded from common knowledge.

The loss was significant. Because what this text offers — what it has always offered to those willing to sit with it — is something that the more familiar canonical writings approach but rarely deliver with such sustained, imaginative intensity: a prolonged, deeply personal encounter with the experience of spiritual transformation. This is not a theological treatise. It is not a set of doctrinal propositions or a collection of moral rules. It is something far stranger and far more compelling — a visionary narrative, a series of encounters with angelic figures and symbolic landscapes, a sustained meditation on repentance, community, moral failure, and the possibility of renewal. It reads, at times, like a dream that refuses to end, a dream that keeps revealing new layers of meaning the longer you stay inside it.

The narrator at the center of the text is a man of no particular distinction. He is not an apostle, not a prophet in any traditional sense, not a figure of authority or learning. He is a freedman — a former slave — living in Rome, struggling with the ordinary difficulties of family life, financial hardship, and moral ambiguity. He has done things he is not proud of. His household is in disorder. His children have made choices that shame him. He himself has harbored thoughts and desires that he knows are unworthy. He is, in other words, recognizably human — and it is precisely this ordinariness that makes what happens to him so arresting. Because this thoroughly ordinary man begins to receive visions. And the visions do not let him go.

What unfolds across the three major sections of the text — the Visions, the Commandments, and the Parables — is a journey of astonishing imaginative richness. The narrator encounters a series of figures who instruct him: an elderly woman who is gradually revealed to be younger than she first appears, a radiant shepherd who gives the work its enduring name, and a host of other symbolic presences. He is shown towers being built from living stones, mountains populated by different kinds of people, trees that reveal the spiritual condition of those who shelter beneath them, willow branches that tell stories of growth and withering. He is given commandments to follow and parables to interpret, and the interpretation is never simple, never finished, always opening onto further depths.

The symbolic world of this text is dense and rewarding in ways that repay slow, attentive reading. The tower under construction, for instance, is one of the most sustained and carefully developed images in all of early Christian literature — a structure built from stones of different qualities, some fit for the building and some rejected, some retrieved and reworked, some discarded entirely. The meaning of this image is not delivered all at once but unfolds gradually, revised and elaborated across multiple visions, so that by the time the narrator finally understands what he has been shown, the reader has traveled a considerable imaginative distance alongside him. This is not allegory in the simple, one-to-one sense. It is something more like the symbolic logic of dreams, where images carry multiple meanings simultaneously and the act of interpretation is itself part of the spiritual work.

The central preoccupation of the text — the question that drives everything else — is the question of repentance. Specifically: is repentance possible after baptism? This may sound like an abstract theological question, but in the context of early Christian communities it was anything but abstract. It was urgent, pastoral, and deeply personal. The communities for which this text was written were made up of real people who had been baptized, who had committed themselves to a new way of life, and who had then — as real people inevitably do — fallen short of that commitment. Some had lapsed under persecution. Some had accumulated wealth in ways that compromised their integrity. Some had allowed family relationships to deteriorate, had harbored resentments, had given way to anger or lust or despair. And they wanted to know: is there a way back? Is there a second chance?

The answer this text gives is nuanced and carefully hedged, but it is ultimately an answer of extraordinary mercy. Yes, there is a way back. The door is not closed. But the opportunity is not unlimited, and the work of repentance is real work — not a formality, not a ritual gesture, but a genuine turning of the whole self toward a different way of being. The text is simultaneously tender and demanding, compassionate and serious, and this combination is part of what has made it speak to readers across so many different centuries and contexts. It does not offer cheap grace. But it does insist, with remarkable persistence, that grace is available.

This is also, it is worth noting, a text deeply concerned with community. The spiritual journey it describes is not an individual's private adventure but is embedded at every point in the life of a community — a community with leaders who sometimes fail their responsibilities, with wealthy members who need to learn what their wealth is actually for, with the poor who need to be seen and cared for, with the young who need guidance and the old who need to be honored. The visions and parables are not addressed to a lone seeker on a mountaintop but to a man who is embedded in relationships, obligations, and communal bonds. The spiritual life, this text insists, is lived in the middle of all that — not apart from it.

The Shepherd of Hermas

After many years I met her again, and began to love her as a sister.

After some time I saw her bathing in the river Tiber. I gave her my hand and helped her out of the water. Seeing her beauty, I thought to myself, "How happy I would be if I had a wife like her, so lovely in both appearance and character." I merely reflected on this and nothing more.

Some time later, as I was traveling to Cumae and praising God's creation for its greatness and splendor and power, I fell asleep as I walked. A Spirit took hold of me and carried me through a pathless wilderness that no man could cross, for the ground was steep and broken into ravines by rushing water. When I had crossed the river, I came into open country, knelt down, and began to pray to the Lord and confess my sins.

While I prayed, the heavens opened, and I saw the woman I had desired greeting me from heaven, saying, "Good morning, Hermas."

Looking up at her, I said, "Lady, what are you doing here?" She answered me, "I have been taken up so that I might bring your sins before the Lord."

I said to her, "Are you accusing me now?" "No, not at all," she said, "but listen to what I am about to tell you. God, who dwells in the heavens and created all things out of nothing, and increased and multiplied them for the sake of his holy Church, is angry with you because you sinned against me."

I answered her, "Sinned against you? In what way? Did I ever speak an improper word to you? Did I not always regard you with reverence? Did I not always respect you as a sister? How can you bring such a false charge against me, lady, accusing me of something so wicked and shameful?"

Laughing, she said to me, "The desire for something wrong entered your heart. Do you not think it is an evil thing for a righteous man when an evil desire enters his heart? It is indeed a sin, and a serious one," she said, "for the righteous man holds to righteous intentions. When his intentions are righteous, his reputation stands firm in the heavens, and he finds the Lord ready to show him mercy in everything he does. But those who harbor evil intentions in their hearts bring upon themselves death and captivity — especially those who claim this present world as their own, boast in its riches, and do not hold fast to the good things that are to come.

Their souls will regret it, for they have no hope, having abandoned themselves and their life. But pray to God, and he will heal your own sins, and those of your whole household, and of all the saints."

The moment she finished speaking, the heavens closed, and I was overcome with horror and grief. I said to myself, "If this sin is recorded against me, how can I be saved? How can I make my peace with God for sins that have grown so great? With what words shall I appeal to the Lord so that he will be merciful to me?"

While I was turning these questions over in my heart, I saw before me a great white chair made of snow-white wool. An elderly woman came forward in gleaming robes, with a book in her hands. She sat down alone and greeted me: "Good morning, Hermas." I was grieved, and said through my tears, "Good morning, lady."

She said to me, "Why so gloomy, Hermas — you who are patient and good-natured and always smiling? Why do you look so downcast and cheerless?" I said to her, "Because a wonderful woman told me I had sinned against her."

She replied, "Far be such a thing from the servant of God! All the same, the thought did enter your heart concerning her. Such a thought brings sin upon the servants of God. It is an evil and reckless intention that would overtake a devout and already proven spirit — that it should desire a sinful act — and especially in the case of Hermas the self-controlled, who holds back from every evil desire and is full of simplicity and great guilelessness.

Yet it is not for this that God is angry with you, but so that you may bring your family back, for they have done wrong against the Lord and against you, their parents. Out of fondness for your children you failed to correct your household, and you allowed it to become deeply corrupt. That is why the Lord is angry with you. But he will heal all the past sins that have been committed within your family, for their sins and wrongdoings have drawn you into the corruption of worldly affairs.

Yet the great mercy of the Lord has taken pity on you and your family. He will strengthen you and establish you in his glory. Only do not be careless — take courage, and strengthen your family. Just as a smith hammering his work conquers the task he has set himself, so righteous words spoken daily will conquer all evil. Do not stop correcting your children, for I know that if they repent with all their heart, they will be written in the books of life together with the saints."

When she had finished speaking, she said to me, "Will you listen while I read?" I said, "Yes, lady." She said, "Pay close attention and hear the glories of God." I listened with care and wonder to words I had no power to retain, for they were all so awe-inspiring that no human being could bear them. The final words, however, I did remember, for they were suited to us and gentle in tone.

"Behold, the God of Hosts, who by his invisible and mighty power and by his great wisdom created the world, and by his glorious purpose clothed his creation with beauty, and by his strong word fixed the heavens and founded the earth upon the waters, and by his own wisdom and providence formed his holy Church, which he also blessed — behold, he removes the heavens and the mountains and the hills and the seas, and all things are made level for his chosen ones, so that he may fulfill to them the promise he made with great glory and rejoicing, provided they keep the commandments of God, which they received, with great faith."

When she had finished reading, she rose from her chair, and four young men came, took the chair, and carried it away toward the East.

Then she called me to her, touched my breast, and said, "Did my reading please you?" I said to her, "Lady, these last words pleased me, but the earlier ones were difficult and hard." She said to me, "These last words are for the righteous, but the earlier ones are for the heathen and the rebellious."

While she was still speaking with me, two men appeared and took her by the arms, and they departed in the same direction the chair had gone, toward the East. She smiled as she left, and as she was going she said to me, "Be strong, Hermas."

I was on my way to Cumae, at the same season as the year before, and as I walked I called to mind the vision I had received the previous year. Again a Spirit took hold of me and carried me away to the same place as before.

When I arrived at the place, I fell on my knees and began to pray to the Lord and to glorify his name, because he had counted me worthy and revealed my former sins to me.

After I had risen from prayer, I looked up and saw before me the aged woman I had seen the year before, walking and reading from a small book. She said to me, "Can you report these things to the elect of God?" I said to her, "Lady, I cannot remember so much — but give me the little book so that I may copy it." "Take it," she said, "and be sure to return it to me."

I took it and withdrew to a quiet spot in the country, where I copied it out letter by letter, for I could not make out the syllables. When I had finished copying all the letters of the book, it was suddenly snatched out of my hand — though by whom I could not see.

After fifteen days, during which I had fasted and prayed earnestly to the Lord, the meaning of the writing was revealed to me. And this is what was written:

"Your children, Hermas, have sinned against God. They have blasphemed the Lord and betrayed their parents through great wickedness — they have even earned the name of betrayers of parents — yet they gained nothing from their betrayal. They went on to heap further sins upon themselves: wanton deeds and reckless wickedness, until the full measure of their transgressions was filled up.

"But make these words known to all your children, and to your wife, who is to be as a sister to you. She too does not restrain her tongue, with which she does harm. But when she hears these words, she will restrain herself and will find mercy.

"After you have made all these words known to them — the words the Master commanded me to reveal to you — all the sins they committed in the past are forgiven them. Yes, and all the saints who have sinned up to this day are forgiven as well, if they repent with their whole heart and remove double-mindedness from within them.

"For the Master has sworn by his own glory concerning his elect: that if, now that this day has been set as a limit, sin is committed hereafter, they shall not find salvation. For repentance for the righteous has an end; the days of repentance are accomplished for all the saints. For the Gentiles, however, repentance remains open until the last day.

"You shall therefore say to the elders of the Church that they must direct their paths in righteousness, so that they may receive in full the promises with abundant glory.

"You who work righteousness, be steadfast and do not be double-minded, so that you may have fellowship with the holy angels. Blessed are all who endure patiently the great tribulation that is coming, and all who will not deny their life.

"For the Lord swore concerning his Son that those who denied their Lord would be rejected from life — those, that is, who are now about to deny him in the days to come. But to those who denied him in former times, mercy was given through his great loving-kindness.

"But you, Hermas, must no longer hold a grudge against your children, and you must not let your sister have her own way, so that they may be purified from their former sins. For they will be disciplined with a righteous discipline, unless you yourself hold a grudge against them. Holding a grudge brings death. But you, Hermas, have suffered great tribulations of your own because of the transgressions of your family, since you took no care for them. You were neglectful of them and became entangled in your own evil dealings.

"But here is your salvation: that you did not depart from the living God, and that you have lived in simplicity and great self-restraint. These things have saved you, if you continue in them, and they save all who live this way and walk in guilelessness and simplicity. Such people overcome all wickedness and continue on to eternal life.

"Blessed are all who work righteousness. They shall never be destroyed.

"And you shall say to Maximus: Behold, tribulation is coming if you think it right to deny a second time. The Lord is near to those who turn to him, as it is written in Eldad and Modat, who prophesied to the people in the wilderness."

Now, brothers, a revelation was given to me in my sleep by a young man of surpassing beauty, who said to me, "Who do you think the aged woman is, from whom you received the book?" I said, "The Sibyl." "You are wrong," he said, "she is not." "Then who is she?" I asked. "The Church," he said. I said to him, "Why then is she aged?" "Because," he said, "she was created before all things; that is why she is aged, and for her sake the world was made."

Afterward I saw another vision in my house. The aged woman came and asked me whether I had already given the book to the elders. I told her I had not. "You have done well," she said, "for I have more words to add. When I have finished all the words, they will be made known through you to all the elect."

You shall write two little books and send one to Clement and one to Grapte. Clement will send his copy to the cities abroad, for that is his duty, while Grapte will instruct the widows and the orphans. But you shall read yours to this city together with the elders who preside over the Church.

The Third Vision

The third vision I saw, brothers, was as follows.

After fasting many times and earnestly asking the Lord to reveal to me what he had promised to show me through the aged woman, that very night she appeared to me and said, "Since you are so persistent and eager to know everything, come out into the countryside where you live, and around the fifth hour I will appear to you and show you what you need to see."

I asked her, "Lady, to what part of the countryside?" "Wherever you like," she said. I chose a beautiful and secluded spot, but before I could even speak and name the place, she said to me, "I will come wherever you choose."

So I went out into the countryside, brothers, counted the hours, and arrived at the place I had appointed for her to meet me. There I saw an ivory couch set out, and on the couch lay a linen cushion, and spread over the cushion was a coverlet of fine flaxen linen.

When I saw all this arranged so carefully with no one in sight, I was astonished. A trembling came over me, my hair stood on end, and a shudder ran through me because I was alone. Then I collected myself, called to mind the glory of God, took courage, knelt down, and confessed my sins to the Lord once more, just as I had done before.

Then she arrived with the same six young men I had seen previously. She stood beside me and listened closely while I prayed and confessed my sins to the Lord. She touched me and said, "Hermas, stop endlessly pleading about your sins. Pray also for righteousness, so that you may take some part of it back to your family without delay."

Then she raised me by the hand and led me to the couch, and said to the young men, "Go and build."

After the young men had withdrawn and we were left alone, she said to me, "Sit down here." I said to her, "Lady, let the elders sit first." "Do as I tell you," she said. "Sit down."

When I moved to sit on the right side, she would not allow it, but motioned with her hand that I should sit on the left. I was troubled by this and saddened that she would not let me sit on the right, and she said to me, "Are you sad, Hermas? The right side is for others — for those who have already pleased God and have suffered for the sake of the Name. You still fall far short of sitting with them. But as long as you continue in your sincerity, you will one day sit with them — you and all who have done as they did and endured what they endured."

"What did they endure?" I asked. "Listen," she said. "Floggings, imprisonments, great tribulations, crucifixions, wild beasts — all for the sake of the Name. That is why the right side of the Holy Place belongs to them, and to all who will suffer for the Name. The left side is for the rest. Yet both those on the right and those on the left receive the same gifts and the same promises; it is simply that those on the right possess a certain glory in addition."

"You are very eager to sit on the right with them, but your failings are many. Yet you will be cleansed of your failings — and indeed all who are not double-minded will be cleansed of every sin committed up to this day."

When she had said this she made to leave, but I fell at her feet and begged her by the Lord to show me the vision she had promised.

She took me by the hand again, raised me up, and seated me on the left side of the couch while she herself sat on the right. Then she lifted a gleaming rod and said to me, "Do you see something great?" I said, "Lady, I see nothing." She said, "Look — do you not see before you a great tower being built upon the waters, of gleaming square stones?"

The tower was being built in a square by the six young men who had come with her. Countless other men were bringing stones — some hauling them up from the deep and others carrying them from the dry land — and handing them to the six young men, who took them and built.

The stones drawn from the deep were placed into the building exactly as they were, for they had already been shaped and fitted perfectly with the other stones. They bonded so closely together that their joints were impossible to detect, and the whole tower looked as though it had been built from a single stone.

Of the stones brought from the dry land, however, some were placed into the building, some were thrown aside, and others were broken in pieces and hurled far from the tower.

Many other stones lay scattered around the tower but were not used in the building. Some were covered with mildew, some were cracked, some were too short, and others were white and round and simply would not fit into the structure.

I also saw other stones thrown far from the tower. Some rolled toward the road but did not stay on it, tumbling off instead to where there was no road at all. Others fell into the fire and burned there. Still others fell near the water yet could not roll into it, though they seemed to want to reach it.

When she had shown me all these things she made to hurry away. I said to her, "Lady, what good does it do me to have seen all this if I do not understand what any of it means?" She answered, "You are a very curious man, wanting to know everything about the tower." "Yes, lady," I said, "so that I may tell my brothers, and when they hear it they may come to know the Lord in his great glory." Then she said,

"Many shall hear, and when they hear, some will be glad and others will weep. Yet even those who weep, if they hear and repent, will likewise be glad. Listen now to the parables of the tower, for I will reveal everything to you. And trouble me no more about revelations, for these revelations have an end — they have been completed. Yet you will not stop asking for revelations, for you are shameless."

"The tower you see being built is myself — the Church, which appeared to you both now and before. Ask, then, whatever you wish about the tower, and I will reveal it to you, so that you may rejoice with the saints."

I said to her, "Lady, since you have seen fit to reveal all things to me, reveal them." She said to me, "Whatever it is possible to reveal to you shall be revealed. Only keep your heart with God, and do not doubt in your mind about what you see."

I asked her, "Why is the tower built upon water, lady?" "I told you so before," she said, "and indeed you inquire diligently — through your questioning you discover the truth. Hear then why the tower is built upon water: it is because your life is saved and shall be saved by water. But the tower has been founded on the word of the Almighty and Glorious Name, and is strengthened by the unseen power of the Master."

I answered her, "Lady, this is a great and marvelous thing. But the six young men who are building — who are they, lady?" "These are the holy angels of God, created first of all, to whom the Lord entrusted all his creation, to increase it and build it and to be masters over it. By their hands, therefore, the building of the tower will be accomplished."

"And who are the others who are bringing the stones?" "They also are holy angels of God, but these six are superior to them. The building of the tower will be accomplished, and all alike will rejoice around the tower and glorify God that the building was completed."

I asked her, "Lady, I would like to know about the stones — their final purpose and what their power means." She answered me, "It is not that you above all others are especially worthy to have this revealed to you, for there are others before you, and better than you, to whom these visions ought to have been shown. But so that the name of God may be glorified, it has been revealed to you — all of it — for the sake of those who are doubtful in their hearts and wonder whether these things are true or not. Tell them that all these things are true, and that there is nothing apart from the truth, but that all are steadfast and valid and established on a firm foundation."

"Hear now about the stones that go into the building. The stones that are squared and white, and that fit together at their joints — these are the apostles, bishops, teachers, and deacons who walked in the holiness of God and carried out their office as bishop, teacher, and deacon in purity and sanctity for the elect of God, some of them already fallen asleep and others still living. Because they always agreed with one another, they had peace among themselves and listened to one another. Therefore their joints fit together in the building of the tower."

"But those that are dragged up from the deep and placed in the building, fitting together at their joints with the stones already built in — who are they?" "These are those who suffered for the name of the Lord."

"But the other stones brought from the dry land — I would like to know who these are, lady." She said, "Those that go into the building and are not hewn — the Lord has approved these because they walked in the uprightness of the Lord and rightly performed his commandments."

"But those that are brought and placed in the building — who are they?" "They are young in the faith and faithful, but they are warned by the angels to do good, because wickedness was found in them."

"But those whom the builders rejected and threw away — who are they?" "These have sinned and desire to repent, and so they were not cast far from the tower, because they will be useful for the building if they repent. Those who do repent will be strong in the faith, provided they repent now while the tower is still being built. But if the building is finished, they will have no place in it and will be cast away. Their only privilege is that they lie near the tower."

"But would you like to know about those that are broken in pieces and thrown far from the tower? These are the children of lawlessness. They received the faith in hypocrisy, and no wickedness was absent from them. Therefore they have no salvation, for they are useless for the building on account of their wickedness. That is why they were broken up and thrown far away — because they provoked the Lord to wrath."

"As for the rest you saw lying in great numbers, not going to the building — those that are mildewed are those who knew the truth but did not remain in it, nor hold fast to the saints. Therefore they are useless."

"But those that have cracks — who are they?" "These are those who hold discord in their hearts against one another and are not at peace among themselves. They put on an appearance of peace, but when they part from one another, their wickedness remains in their hearts. These are the cracks that the stones have."

"But those that are broken off short — these have believed and have the greater part of themselves in righteousness, but retain some portion of lawlessness. Therefore they fall short and are not perfect."

"But the white and round stones that did not fit into the building — who are they, lady?" She answered me, "How long will you be foolish and dull, asking about everything and understanding nothing? These are those who have faith but also have the riches of this world. When tribulation comes, they deny their Lord on account of their wealth and their business affairs."

"When, then, will they be useful for the building?" I asked her. "When their wealth, which leads their souls astray, has been stripped away," she replied, "then they will be useful to God. Just as a round stone cannot become square unless it is cut and loses some portion of itself, so those who are rich in this world cannot become useful to the Lord unless their riches are cut away.

Learn this first from your own experience. When you had riches, you were useless; but now you are useful and profitable for life. Be useful to God — for you yourself were taken from the same stones.

"As for the other stones you saw thrown far from the tower, falling into the road and rolling off the road into pathless regions — these are those who believed, but because of their double-mindedness they abandon the true way. Thinking they can find a better path, they go astray and suffer greatly as they wander through regions where there is no way.

"Those that fall into the fire and are burned are those who finally rebelled against the living God, and repentance no longer entered their hearts, because of the lusts of their wantonness and the wickedness they committed.

"And those near the water yet unable to roll into it — do you want to know who they are? These are those who heard the word and wished to be baptized in the name of the Lord. But then, when they recall the purity of the truth, they change their minds and turn back again to their evil desires."

And so she finished her explanation of the tower.

Still pressing her, I asked whether all those rejected stones that would not fit into the building of the tower had any hope of repentance, and whether they might yet find a place in it. "They can repent," she said, "but they cannot be fitted into this tower.

They will be fitted into another place, far more humble, and not until they have endured torments and fulfilled the days of their sins. They will be changed for this reason: because they shared in the Righteous Word. Then it will come about that they are relieved of their torments, if the evil deeds they have done come back into their hearts with genuine sorrow. But if those deeds do not come into their hearts, they will not be saved, because of the hardness of their hearts."

When I had finished asking her about all these things, she said to me, "Would you like to see something else?" I was very eager to behold more, and greatly rejoiced at the prospect.

She looked at me and smiled, and said, "Do you see the seven women standing around the tower?" "I see them, lady," I said. "This tower is supported by them, by the commandment of the Lord.

Hear now what their roles are. The first of them, the woman with the strong hands, is called Faith; through her the elect of God are saved.

The second, who is girded about and looks like a man, is called Continence; she is the daughter of Faith. Whoever follows her becomes happy in life, for he will hold back from all evil deeds, believing that if he refrains from every evil desire, he will inherit eternal life."

"And the others, lady — who are they?" "They are daughters one of another. The name of one is Simplicity, the next Knowledge, the next Guilelessness, the next Reverence, and the next Love. When you do all the works of their mother, you can truly live."

"I would very much like to know, lady," I said, "what power each of them possesses." "Listen, then," she said, "to the powers they hold.

Their powers are bound up in one another, and they follow each other in the order in which they were born. From Faith is born Continence, from Continence Simplicity, from Simplicity Guilelessness, from Guilelessness Reverence, from Reverence Knowledge, and from Knowledge Love. Their works are pure and reverent and divine.

Whoever therefore serves these women, and has the strength to master their works, will have his dwelling in the tower with the saints of God."

Then I asked her about the times — whether the end was already near. She cried out loudly, saying, "Foolish man! Do you not see that the tower is still being built? Whenever the tower is finished, the end will come — but it will be built up quickly. Ask me no more questions. This reminder is enough for you and for the saints, and is the renewal of your spirits.

But this was not revealed to you alone; it was so that you might show these things to everyone. After three days —

for you must first understand, and I charge you, Hermas, with these words that I am about to speak to you — tell all these things plainly to the saints, so that hearing them and doing them they may be purified from their wickedness, and you along with them."

"Hear me, my children. I brought you up in much simplicity and guilelessness and reverence, through the mercy of the Lord, who instilled righteousness into you, that you might be justified and sanctified from all wickedness and all crookedness. Yet you will not cease from your wickedness.

Now then, hear me and be at peace among yourselves. Have regard for one another, help one another, and do not consume the gifts of God in abundance for yourselves alone, but share them also with those who are in need.

For some men, through excessive eating, bring weakness upon the flesh and damage their bodies; while the flesh of those who have nothing to eat is harmed by insufficient nourishment, and their bodies are ruined.

This selfishness, therefore, is harmful to you who have plenty and do not share with those in need.

Look to the judgment that is coming. You who have more than enough — seek out those who are hungry while the tower is still unfinished; for after the tower is finished, you will wish to do good and will find no opportunity for it.

Take heed, then, you who glory in your wealth, lest those who are in want cry out, and their cry rise up to the Lord, and you, with all your abundance of good things, be shut outside the door of the tower.

So I say to you who are rulers of the Church and occupy the seats of honor: do not be like sorcerers. Sorcerers carry their drugs in boxes, but you carry your drug and your poison in your heart.

You are hardened, and you will not cleanse your hearts and blend your wisdom together in a clean heart, so that you might receive mercy from the Great King.

Take care, then, children, that these divisions among you do not cost you your lives.

How can you wish to instruct the Lord's chosen people when you yourselves have no instruction? Instruct one another, and be at peace among yourselves, so that I too may stand joyfully before the Father and give a good account of you all to your Lord.

When she had finished speaking with me, the six young men who had been building came and took her away to the tower, and four others lifted the couch and carried it away to the tower as well. I could not see the faces of these four, for they were turned away from me.

As she was leaving, I asked her to reveal to me the meaning of the three forms in which she had appeared to me. She answered, "Concerning these things you must ask another, and they will be revealed to you."

Now, brothers, in my first vision of the previous year she appeared to me as a very old woman, seated on a chair.

In the second vision her face was youthful, but her flesh and her hair were aged, and she spoke to me while standing; and she was more joyful than before.

But in the third vision she was entirely youthful and of surpassing beauty, and only her hair was aged; and she was exceedingly joyful, and seated on a couch. I was deeply anxious to understand what this revelation meant.

Then I saw the old woman in a vision of the night, saying to me, "Every inquiry requires humility. Fast, therefore, and you will receive from the Lord what you are asking."

So I fasted for one day, and that very night a young man appeared to me and said, "Since you are asking me for revelations so urgently and with such insistence, take care that by your much asking you do not harm your own flesh.

These revelations are sufficient for you. Can you see mightier revelations than those you have already seen?"

I replied, "Sir, this one thing alone I ask — concerning the three forms of the old woman — that a complete revelation may be granted me." He answered me, "How long will you remain without understanding? It is your double-mindedness that makes you so, and the fact that your heart is not set toward the Lord."

I answered him again, "But from you, Sir, we shall learn these matters more accurately."

"Listen," he said, "concerning the three forms about which you are inquiring.

In the first vision, why did she appear to you as an old woman seated on a chair? Because your spirit was aged and already worn out, and had no power on account of your weaknesses and your double-mindedness.

For just as elderly people, having no longer any hope of renewing their youth, expect nothing but to fall asleep, so you also, weakened by the affairs of this world, gave yourselves over to despair and did not cast your cares upon the Lord. Your spirit was broken, and you were aged by your sorrows."

"But why was she seated on a chair? I would very much like to know, Sir." "Because every weak person sits in a chair on account of their weakness, so that the frailty of the body may be supported. There you have the meaning of the first vision."

"But in the second vision you saw her standing, with her face more youthful and more joyful than before, though her flesh and her hair were still aged. Listen to this parable as well," he said.

"Imagine an old man who has given up all hope for himself because of his weakness and poverty, and expects nothing but the last day of his life. Suddenly an inheritance is left to him. He hears the news, rises up, and full of joy clothes himself with strength. He no longer lies down but stands up, and his spirit, which had been broken by his former circumstances, is renewed, and he no longer sits in despair but takes courage. So it was with you when you heard the revelation which the Lord revealed to you.

For He had compassion on you and renewed your spirits, and you laid aside your ailments, and strength came to you, and you were made powerful in the faith, and the Lord rejoiced to see you put on your strength. And therefore He showed you the building of the tower, and other things besides He will show you, if with your whole heart you are at peace among yourselves.

But in the third vision you saw her younger, fair, and joyful, and her form beautiful.

For just as when some piece of good news comes to a person in mourning, they immediately forget their former sorrows and take in nothing but the good tidings they have heard, and are strengthened from that moment toward what is good, and their spirit is renewed by the joy they have received — so also you have received a renewal of your spirits by seeing these good things.

And as for your seeing her seated on a couch, the position is a firm one, for a couch has four feet and stands solidly — just as the world itself is upheld by means of four elements.

Those who have fully repented will be made young again and established firmly, because they have repented with their whole heart. There you have the revelation entire and complete. You shall ask nothing more concerning revelation — but if anything is still lacking, it will be revealed to you."

The fourth vision I saw, brothers, came twenty days after the former vision, and it came to me as a foreshadowing of the tribulation that was approaching.

I was going into the country by the Campanian Way. From the main road it is about ten stades, and the path is easy to travel.

As I walked alone, I was entreating the Lord to bring to completion the revelations and visions He had shown me through His holy Church, that He might strengthen me and grant repentance to His servants who had stumbled, so that His great and glorious Name might be glorified — for He had counted me worthy to show me His wonders.

As I gave glory and thanks to Him, something like a voice answered me: "Do not doubt, Hermas." I began to question myself, saying, "How can I doubt, when I am so firmly grounded in the Lord and have seen such glorious things?"

I walked on a little further, brothers, and then I saw a cloud of dust rising as if toward heaven. I began to say to myself, "Can it be that cattle are coming and raising a cloud of dust?" for it was only about a furlong away from me.

As the cloud of dust grew larger and larger, I suspected that something supernatural was approaching. Then the sun broke through a little, and I saw a huge beast like some sea-monster, with fiery locusts pouring from its mouth. The beast was about a hundred feet in length, and its head was like fired clay.

I began to weep and to beg the Lord to rescue me from it. And I remembered the word I had heard: "Do not doubt, Hermas."

So, brothers, having put on the faith of the Lord and called to mind the mighty works He had taught me, I took courage and gave myself up to face the beast. It was coming on with such a rush that it could have laid a whole city in ruins.

I drew near to it, and that enormous creature stretched itself out on the ground and merely put out its tongue, not stirring at all until I had passed by.

The beast had four colors on its head: first black, then a fiery blood-red, then gold, then white.

After I had passed the beast and gone forward about thirty feet, a young woman met me, dressed as though she were coming out of a bridal chamber — all in white, with white sandals, veiled up to her forehead, her head covered with a turban, and her hair white.

From the earlier Visions I knew that she was the Church, and my heart lifted. She greeted me, saying, "Good morning, my good man," and I greeted her in return: "Good morning, my lady."

She answered me, "Did nothing meet you on the way?" I said to her, "Lady, a beast so huge it could have destroyed whole peoples — but by the power of the Lord and His great mercy, I escaped it."

"You escaped it well," she said, "because you cast your care upon God and opened your heart to the Lord, trusting that nothing could save you but His great and glorious Name. Therefore the Lord sent His angel, who has authority over the beasts and whose name is Segri, and shut the beast's mouth so that it could not harm you. You have escaped a great tribulation through your faith, and because, even when you saw so terrible a beast, you did not waver in your heart."

"Go, then, and declare to the Lord's chosen ones His mighty works, and tell them that this beast is a figure of the great tribulation that is to come. If you prepare yourselves beforehand and repent to the Lord with your whole heart, you will be able to escape it — if your heart is made pure and without blemish, and if for the remaining days of your life you serve the Lord blamelessly. Cast your cares upon the Lord and He will put them right."

"Trust in the Lord, you who are of two minds, for He can do all things. He can turn His wrath away from you, and He can also send His plagues upon those who keep doubting. Woe to those who hear these words and disobey them; it would have been better for them never to have been born."

I asked her about the four colors that the beast had on its head. She answered me and said, "You are curious about such things again." "Yes, lady," I said, "make known to me what they mean."

"Listen," she said. "The black is this present world in which you live."

"The fire and blood color shows that this world must perish by blood and fire."

"The golden part represents those of you who have fled from this world. For just as gold is tested by fire and made useful, so you too are being tested within yourselves. Those who endure and pass through the fire will be purified by it. For just as gold sheds its dross, so you will cast away all sorrow and tribulation, be purified, and become fit for the building of the tower."

"But the white portion is the age to come, in which the elect of God will dwell — for the elect of God will be without spot and pure unto eternal life."

"Therefore never stop speaking into the ears of the saints. You now have the meaning of the tribulation that is coming in power. But if you are willing, it need be nothing. Remember the things that were written beforehand."

With these words she departed, and I could not see which way she went, for a noise arose and I turned back in fear, thinking the beast was coming.

While I was praying at home and sitting on the couch, a man of glorious appearance entered, dressed as a shepherd, with a white fleece wrapped around him, a bag on his shoulders, and a staff in his hand. He greeted me, and I greeted him in return.

He sat down beside me at once and said to me, "I was sent by the most holy angel to live with you for the remaining days of your life."

I thought he had come to test me, and I said to him, "Who are you? I know," I said, "to whose care I was entrusted." He said to me, "Do you not recognize me?" "No," I said. "I," he said, "am the shepherd to whose care you were entrusted."

While he was still speaking, his form changed, and I recognized him as the very one to whom I had been entrusted. At once I was thrown into confusion; fear took hold of me, and I was overwhelmed with distress that I had answered him so rudely and foolishly.

"Do not be confused," he answered me. "Instead, strengthen yourself in the commandments I am about to give you. I was sent," he said, "to show you again all the things you saw before — the essential points that are useful to you. First, write down my commandments and my parables, and the other matters you shall write down as I reveal them to you. The reason I command you to write down the commandments and parables first," he said, "is so that you can read them readily and be able to keep them."

So I wrote down the commandments and parables, just as he instructed me.

If, when you hear them, you keep them and walk in them and carry them out with a pure heart, you will receive from the Lord everything he has promised you. But if, when you hear them, you do not repent but instead go on adding to your sins, you will receive from the Lord the opposite. All these things the shepherd, the angel of repentance, commanded me to write.

Mandate 1

"First of all, believe that God is One — he who created all things and set them in order, who brought all things out of nothing into being, who encompasses all things, and who alone is beyond all comprehension.

Believe in him, therefore, and fear him, and in that fear practice self-restraint. Hold to these things, and you will cast off all wickedness from yourself, clothe yourself with every excellence of righteousness, and live unto God, if you keep this commandment."

Mandate 2

He said to me, "Keep simplicity and be without guile, and you will be like little children who do not yet know the wickedness that destroys the lives of men.

First of all, speak evil of no one, and take no pleasure in listening to a slanderer. Otherwise you who listen will share in the guilt of the one who speaks evil — if you believe the slander you hear, for in believing it you yourself will harbor a grudge against your brother. In that way you become responsible for the sin of the one who spoke the evil.

Slander is evil. It is a restless demon, never at peace, always making its home among quarrels and factions. Refrain from it, therefore, and you will get along well at all times with everyone.

Clothe yourself instead in reverence, in which there is no harmful stumbling block, but everything is smooth and joyful. Do what is good, and from the fruits of your labor, which God gives you, give freely to all who are in need — without questioning to whom you should give and to whom you should not. Give to all, for God desires that his own gifts be shared with everyone.

Those who receive will render an account to God for why they received and to what end. Those who receive out of genuine need will not be judged, but those who receive under false pretenses will pay the penalty.

The one who gives is without guilt, for having received from the Lord the ministry of giving, he has carried it out sincerely, making no distinction about who should or should not receive. This ministry, when performed sincerely, becomes glorious in the sight of God. The one who ministers in this way shall live unto God.

Keep this commandment, therefore, as I have told you, so that your own repentance and that of your household may be found sincere, and your heart pure and undefiled."

Mandate 3

Again he said to me, "Love truth, and let nothing but truth come from your mouth, so that the Spirit which God caused to dwell in this flesh may be found true in the sight of all people. In this way the Lord who dwells in you will be glorified, for the Lord is true in every word, and in him there is no falsehood.

Those who speak lies therefore set the Lord at nothing and become robbers of the Lord, because they do not return to him the deposit they received. For they received from him a spirit free from lies. If they return to him a lying spirit instead, they have defiled the commandment of the Lord and made themselves robbers."

When I heard these things I wept bitterly. Seeing me weep, he said, "Why are you weeping?" "Because, Sir," I said, "I do not know whether I can be saved." "Why do you say that?" he asked. "Because, Sir," I said, "never in my life have I spoken a true word. I always lied deceitfully with everyone, and dressed up my falsehood as truth before all people. No one ever contradicted me — my word was trusted. How then, Sir, can I live, having done these things?"

"Your concern," he said, "is right and true, for it was fitting that you, as a servant of God, should walk in truth. No complicity with evil should remain with the Spirit of truth, nor should it bring grief to the Spirit who is holy and true." "Sir," I said, "I have never heard such words stated so plainly before."

"Now then," he said, "you hear them. Guard them, so that even the former falsehoods you spoke in your daily affairs may themselves become credible, now that these present words are found to be true — for they too can become trustworthy. If you keep these things and from this point forward speak nothing but truth, you will be able to secure life for yourself. And whoever hears this commandment and abstains from falsehood, that most destructive of habits, shall live unto God."

Mandate 4

"I charge you," he said, "to keep purity. Let no thought enter your heart concerning another man's wife, or concerning fornication, or any such evil deed, for in doing so you commit a great sin. Keep your mind on your own wife always, and you will never go wrong.

For if this desire enters your heart, you will go wrong, and if any other desire as evil as this enters in, you commit sin. For this desire in a servant of God is a great sin, and if any man commits this evil deed, he is working out his own death.

Take heed, therefore. Abstain from this desire, for where holiness dwells, lawlessness ought not to enter into the heart of a righteous man."

I said to him, "Sir, allow me to ask you a few more questions." "Go ahead," he said. "Sir," I said, "if a man has a wife who is faithful in the Lord, and he discovers her in adultery, does the husband sin if he continues to live with her?"

"As long as he is ignorant," he said, "he does not sin. But if the husband knows of his wife's sin and she does not repent but continues in her adultery, and he goes on living with her, he makes himself responsible for her sin and becomes an accomplice in her adultery."

"What then should the husband do, Sir," I asked, "if the wife continues in this way?" "Let him divorce her," he said, "and let the husband remain alone. But if after divorcing her he marries another woman, he too commits adultery."

"But Sir," I said, "what if after the divorce the wife repents and wishes to return to her husband — should he not take her back?"

"Certainly he should," he said. "If the husband does not take her back, he sins and brings great sin upon himself. One who has sinned and repented must be received back — yet not repeatedly, for there is only one repentance for the servants of God. For the sake of her repentance, therefore, the husband ought not to remarry. This is the rule of conduct laid down for husband and wife.

"And it is not only adultery," he said, "when a man defiles his body — whoever does the things that the pagans do commits adultery as well. If a man persists in such deeds and does not repent, keep away from him and do not live with him, or you too will become a sharer in his sin.

"This is why you were commanded to remain as you are, whether husband or wife — because in such cases repentance is still possible.

"I am not saying this to give anyone an excuse to end the matter there, but so that the sinner will sin no more. As for his former sin, there is One who has the power to heal it — He who has authority over all things."

I asked him again, saying, "Since the Lord has counted me worthy to have you always with me, allow me to say a few more words, for I understand nothing and my heart has been made dull by my former deeds. Make me understand, for I am very foolish and grasp absolutely nothing."