Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others · a new plain-English translation from the original language
The one who raised me sold me to a certain Rhoda in Rome. Years afterward I recognized her once more, and I came to cherish her like a sister. After a while I noticed her washing herself in the waters of the Tiber, so I reached out my hand and drew her up onto the bank. Seeing her beauty, I thought to myself: How fortunate I would be to have a wife of such beauty and character. That was the whole of my thought — nothing else at all. Some time later, as I was traveling to Cumae and glorifying God's creation for how great and splendid and powerful it is, I fell asleep while walking. And a spirit took hold of me and carried me off through a trackless region that no man could pass through, for the place was a ravine, torn open by the waters. When I had crossed that river I came to level ground, where I bent my knees, praying to the Lord and acknowledging my wrongs. As I was praying, the heavens opened, and I saw that woman I had desired, greeting me from heaven and saying, 'Hermas, greetings.' Looking at her I said, 'Lady, what are you doing here?' She answered me, 'I was taken up so that I might accuse you of your sins before the Lord.' I said to her, 'Are you now my accuser?' 'No,' she said, 'but listen to the words I am about to speak to you. The God who dwells in the heavens, who made out of nothing the things that are, and who has multiplied and increased them for the sake of his holy church, is angry with you, because you sinned against me.' I answered her, 'Did I sin against you? Where or when did I ever speak an indecent word to you? Have I not always regarded you as a goddess? Have I not always shown you the respect due a sister? Why, woman, do you falsely charge me with such wicked and unclean things?' Laughing, she said to me, 'The desire for wickedness rose up in your heart. Or do you not think it a wicked thing for a righteous man, if a wicked desire should rise up in his heart? That is truly a fault, and no small one,' she said. 'For the righteous man plans righteous things. And by planning righteous things he secures his standing in the heavens and finds the Lord gracious to him in every matter of his life. But those who plan wicked things in their hearts draw down upon themselves death and captivity — especially those who lay claim to this present age and boast in their wealth and do not hold fast to the good things to come. Their souls will repent, those who have no hope but have given up on themselves and on their own life. But you — pray to God, and he will heal your sins, and the sins of your whole household, and of all the saints.'
After she had spoken these words the heavens closed, and I was left utterly shaken and grieving. I thought to myself, wondering: with this failing now set down against me, what hope remains for my rescue? Or by what means shall I placate God over sins so complete? Or in what terms shall I entreat the Lord for mercy? While I was pondering these things and weighing them in my heart, I saw before me a white bench, made of snow-white wool, large; and an elderly woman approached, dressed in shining garments, clutching a scroll, and she took her seat by herself, apart from anyone, and greeted me: 'Hermas, greetings.' Grieving and weeping, I said, 'Lady, greetings.' Then she asked, 'Hermas, why do you look so downcast? You who are patient and even-tempered, always laughing — why so gloomy now, with no cheer in you?' I said to her, 'Because of a most excellent woman who says that I sinned against her.' She said, 'By no means does this apply to a servant of God. Rather, it merely rose up in your heart concerning her. For servants of God, such a thought does carry sin with it. It is a wicked and shocking plan for a spirit so revered and already proven, if it should desire a wicked deed — especially Hermas the self-controlled, who holds back from every evil craving and is filled with plain honesty and deep innocence.'
'But it is not for this reason that God is angry with you, but so that you might turn back your household, which offended the Lord as well as you, its own parents. But being fond of your children, you did not admonish your household, but let it fall into corruption. This is why the Lord is angry with you. But he will heal all the past wrongs in your household, for because of their sins and transgressions you yourself were corrupted by worldly affairs. But the Lord's great compassion has had mercy on you and your household, and he will strengthen you and establish you in his glory. Only do not grow careless, but take courage and strengthen your household. For just as the smith, hammering at his work, masters the object he wants to shape, so also the daily upright word masters all wickedness. Do not stop, then, admonishing your children. For I know that if they repent with their whole heart, they will be written into the books of life together with the saints.' After she had finished saying these words she said to me, 'Do you want to hear me read?' I said, 'I do, lady.' She said to me, 'Become a listener, and hear the glories of God.' I heard things great and wondrous which I was not able to remember, for all the words were terrifying, such as a man cannot bear. But I did remember the last words, for they were suitable and gentle for us: 'Behold, the God of powers, whom I love, who by his mighty power and his great understanding created the world, and by his glorious plan clothed his creation in beauty, and by the might of his word set the sky firmly in place and grounded the earth over the waters, and through his own understanding and forethought brought his holy church into being, a church he also blessed — behold, he is shifting the sky itself, along with every peak, ridge, and sea, leveling all things for the sake of those he has chosen, so that he may render them the promise given with such glory and joy, provided they hold to God's statutes, which they took up in great faith.'
When she had finished reading and rose up from the bench, four young men came and took up the bench and went away toward the east. She then called me to her, touched my chest, and said, 'Did my reading please you?' I said to her, 'Lady, these last things please me, but the first were harsh and hard.' She said to me in reply, 'These last things are for the righteous, but the first are for the nations and the apostates.' While she was still talking with me, a pair of men suddenly appeared, took hold of her arms at the elbow, and went off toward the east, to where the bench had gone. She departed cheerfully, and as she was going she said to me, 'Be a man, Hermas.'
As I was traveling to Cumae at the same time as the year before, and walking along, I remembered the vision of the previous year, and again a spirit took me and carried me off to the same place as before. Once there, I bent my knees and gave myself to prayer, praising the Lord's name, because he had considered me worthy and made known to me my former sins. After I rose from prayer I found the same aged woman I had seen the previous year standing before me, pacing as she read from a small scroll; she spoke to me, 'Can you announce these things to God's chosen ones?' I said to her, 'Lady, I cannot remember so much; give me the little book, so that I may copy it.' 'Take it,' she said, 'and you shall return it to me.' I took it, and withdrawing to a certain place in the field, I transcribed it stroke by stroke, since I was unable to distinguish the syllables. When I had finished copying the letters of the little book, all at once it was torn from my grip, though I never saw who took it.
After fifteen days of fasting and much prayer to the Lord, the meaning of the writing was revealed to me. What was written was this: 'Your seed, Hermas, has rejected God and blasphemed against the Lord, and betrayed their parents in great wickedness, and were called betrayers of their parents; and though betrayers, they gained no benefit, but even added to their sins acts of debauchery and confused mixtures of wickedness, and so their lawless deeds were filled up. But make these words known to all your children, and to your wife, who is to become your sister; for she does not restrain her tongue, with which she does wrong, but on hearing these words she will restrain it and find mercy. After you have made known these words to them, which the Master commanded me to reveal to you, then all the sins they committed before are forgiven them, and to all the saints who have sinned up to this day, if they turn back with an undivided heart and cast off the doubt lodged within them. For the Master has sworn by his own glory concerning his chosen ones: if, once this day has been fixed, sin should still occur, they shall have no salvation; for repentance for the righteous has an end. The days of repentance are fulfilled for all the saints; but for the nations there is repentance until the last day. You shall say, then, to the leaders of the church, that they should straighten their ways in righteousness, so that they may receive the promises in full, with much glory. Stand firm, then, you who work righteousness, and do not be double-minded, so that your passage may be with the holy angels. Blessed are you, as many as endure the great tribulation that is coming, and as many as will not deny their own life. For the Lord has sworn by his Son that those who deny their Christ will be disowned from their life — those who in the days ahead will turn away from him; but for those who denied him earlier, because of his great compassion, mercy has been shown to them.'
'But you, Hermas, no longer hold a grudge against your children, nor abandon your sister, so that they may be cleansed of their former sins. For they will be disciplined with righteous discipline, if you do not hold a grudge against them. Holding a grudge produces death. But you, Hermas, have had great troubles of your own because of the transgressions of your household, since you gave no thought to them; instead you grew careless and were mixed up in your own wicked business affairs. But what saves you is that you did not fall away from the living God, and your simplicity, and your great self-control. These have saved you, if you continue in them, and they bring safety to everyone acting likewise and living in guilelessness and plainness. These will overcome all wickedness and remain unto eternal life. Blessed are all who work righteousness — they will not be destroyed forever. And you shall say to Maximus: Behold, tribulation is coming; if it seems good to you, deny again. The Lord is near to those who turn back to him, as recorded in the book of Eldad and Modat, the two who spoke as prophets to the people out in the wilderness.'
It was revealed to me, brothers, while I slept, by a most handsome young man who said to me, 'The elderly woman from whom you received the little book — who do you think she is?' I said, 'The Sibyl.' 'You are mistaken,' he said, 'it is not so.' 'Then who is she?' I asked. 'The Church,' he said. I said to him, 'Then why elderly?' 'Because,' he said, 'she was created first of all things; that is why she is elderly, and it was on her account that the world came into existence.' Later on, inside my own house, another vision came to me. The elderly woman came and asked whether I had yet handed over the book to the presiding elders. I said I had not given it. 'That was well done,' she replied, 'since I still have more to say. When I have completed all the words, they will be made known to all the chosen ones through you. So you must write out two small books, delivering the first to Clement and the second to Grapte. Clement shall then send it to the cities abroad, for that has been entrusted to him; Grapte shall instruct the widows and orphans. But you yourself shall read it in this city, together with the elders who preside over the church.'
This is what I saw, brothers. After fasting many times and begging the Lord to reveal to me the vision which he had promised to show me through that elderly woman, that same night the elderly woman appeared to me and said, 'Since you are so eager and earnest to know everything, come to the field where you tend the crops, and around the fifth hour I will appear to you and show you what you must see.' I asked her, 'Lady, to what part of the field?' 'Wherever you wish,' she said. I chose a fine, secluded spot. But before I had spoken to her and named the place, she said to me, 'I will come there, wherever you wish.' So I went, brothers, to the field, and I counted the hours, and I came to the place where I had arranged for her to come, and I saw an ivory bench set there, and on the bench lay a linen cushion, and spread over it a linen covering of fine cotton cloth. Seeing these things laid out and no one present, I was struck with awe, and a tremor seized me, and every hair on my body rose; a strange shiver swept over me at being alone. Once I had gathered my wits, recalling God's glory, and mustered my nerve, I knelt down and again confessed my sins to the Lord as before. She then came with six young men, whom I had seen before, and stood near and listened while I addressed the Lord in prayer, confessing my wrongs. Touching me she said, 'Hermas, stop asking only about your sins; ask also about righteousness, so that you may receive some share of it for your household.' And she raised me by the hand and led me to the bench and said to the young men, 'Go and build.' After the young men had withdrawn and we were alone, she said to me, 'Sit here.' I said to her, 'Lady, let the elders sit first.' 'What I tell you,' she said, 'sit.' When I tried to take the seat on the right, she refused to permit it, motioning instead with her hand for me to sit on the left side. As I was pondering and grieving that she had not let me sit on the right side, she said to me, 'Are you grieved, Hermas? The place on the right belongs to others, to those who have already pleased God and suffered for the sake of the name. You still lack much before you can sit with them. But remain as you are in your simplicity, and you will sit with them, and so will all who do the works those did and endure what they endured.'
'What did they endure?' I asked. 'Listen,' she said: 'floggings, prison, harsh afflictions, the cross, savage beasts — all for the sake of the name. This is why the right side of the sanctuary belongs to them, and to whoever suffers for the name; the left side belongs to the rest. But for both — those seated on the right and those on the left — the gifts and the promises are the same; only those on the right sit with a certain glory. You long deeply to take a seat among them on the right, yet you still fall short in many ways. Yet you will be cleansed of your shortcomings; and all who are not double-minded will be cleansed of all their sins by this day.' Having said this she wanted to leave; but falling at her feet I begged her, by the Lord, to show me the vision she had promised. Once more she took my hand, lifted me up, and placed me on the bench's left side, while taking the right side for herself. Then, raising a bright rod, she asked me, 'Do you see a great thing?' I said to her, 'Lady, I see nothing.' She said to me, 'Look — do you not see before you a great tower being built upon the waters, of shining square stones?' The tower was being built square by the six young men who had come with her; but countless myriads of men were carrying stones, some from the deep, some from the land, and handing them to the six young men, who took them and built. The stones drawn up from the deep they placed into the building just as they were, for they were well-fitted and matched in their joints with the other stones, and so they clung to one another that the joint between them could not be seen. So the tower's structure looked as though it had been carved from one solid stone. Of the other stones brought from dry land, some they rejected, some they set into the building, and others they cut down and threw far away from the tower. Plenty of other stones were scattered around the tower without being used in its construction, since some of them were flaking and rough, others had cracks, others were broken off short, and others were white and round, not fitting for the building. And I saw other stones thrown far from the tower, coming onto the road and not staying on the road, but rolling from the road into the trackless waste; others falling into fire and being burned; others falling near the waters but unable to roll into the water, though they wanted to roll and come into the water.'
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