Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp & others · a new plain-English translation from the original language
"Those who handed in their rods half green and half withered are the ones entangled in worldly affairs and not holding fast to the saints; that is why half of them is alive and half is dead. Many, then, on hearing my commandments, repented. All who repented, then, have their dwelling in the tower. But some of them fell away for good; these have no repentance left, for their business dealings led them to curse the Lord's name and turn their backs on him entirely. And so they forfeited their lives through the evil they had done. Many of them, though, became double-minded. These still have repentance open to them, if they repent quickly; and their dwelling will be in the tower. But if they repent more slowly, they will dwell within the walls; and if they do not repent at all, they too have lost their life. As for those who handed in rods two-thirds green and one-third withered, these are the ones who denied the faith with various denials. Many of them repented and went to dwell in the tower; but many fell away from God for good — these have lost their life for good. Some of them, though, became double-minded and split into factions. For these, then, repentance remains, if they repent quickly and do not persist in their pleasures; but if they persist in their deeds, they too are working out death for themselves."
"Those who turned in rods that were withered through two of the three parts, with only the remaining third still green, are people who became believers, but then grew rich and became honored among the pagans; they clothed themselves in great arrogance and grew haughty in mind, and they abandoned the truth and did not hold fast to the righteous, but lived alongside the pagans instead, and this way of life became more pleasant to them. Yet they did not fall away from God; they remained in the faith, only they were not doing the works that faith requires. Many of them, then, repented, and their dwelling came to be in the tower. Others, though, went on living with the pagans to the end, corrupted by the pagans' empty pursuits, and fell away from God and did the deeds the pagans do. These were counted among the pagans. Others of them became double-minded, having no hope of being saved because of the deeds they had done; and others became double-minded and caused divisions among themselves. For these, then, who became double-minded because of their deeds, repentance still remains; but their repentance must come quickly, so that their dwelling may be in the tower. For those who do not repent, but persist in their pleasures, death is near."
"Those who handed in their rods green, but with the very tips withered and split, these were always good and faithful and honored before God, but sinned in the smallest way, through petty desires and small grievances against one another. Yet once my words reached their ears, most of them repented without delay, and their dwelling came to be in the tower. Some of them, though, became double-minded, and some who became double-minded caused a greater division. In these, then, there is hope of repentance, because they were always good; hardly one of them will perish. As for those who handed in their rods withered but with the smallest bit of green, these are the ones who believed only, but performed the works of lawlessness. Yet they never fell away from God, and they bore his name gladly, and welcomed the servants of God gladly into their homes. When they heard, then, of this repentance, they repented without hesitation, and now they practice every virtue and righteousness. Some of them are also afraid, knowing the deeds they had done. For all of these, then, the dwelling will be in the tower."
And when he had finished explaining all the rods, he says to me: "Go and tell everyone to repent, and they will live to God; for the Lord sent me, moved with compassion, to give repentance to all, even though some are not worthy of it because of their deeds; but the Lord, being patient, wants the calling that came about through his Son to be saved." I say to him: "Lord, my hope is that everyone who hears this will turn back to you, since I am convinced that once each person recognizes his own conduct and comes to fear God, he will change his ways." In answer he says to me: "As many as," he says, "repent with their whole heart and cleanse themselves of the wickednesses already named, and add nothing further to their sins, will obtain from the Lord a cure for the sins they committed before, provided they do not waver in doubt about these commandments, and they will live to God. But as many as," he says, "pile more onto their sins and follow the cravings of this present age will pass sentence of death upon themselves. But you, walk in my commandments, and you will live to God; and as many as walk in them and work rightly will live to God." Having shown me and told me all this, he says to me: "The rest I will show you after a few days."
"Once I had set down in writing the commandments and parables that the Shepherd — the angel of repentance — had given me, he came back and said to me: 'I wish to reveal to you everything that the holy Spirit, who spoke with you in the guise of the Church, already showed you — for that very Spirit is in fact the Son of God. Because you were then still weak in body, an angel was not the means by which it was made known to you. But now that you have gained strength through the Spirit and grown powerful in your own vigor, to where you are even able to see an angel, the tower's construction — which was earlier revealed to you through the Church, and which you viewed reverently and well, as a virgin would show it — you now behold instead through an angel, by that same Spirit. Yet you still need to learn every detail from me with greater precision. This is exactly why the glorious angel sent me here, to make my home in your house, so that you might view it all with full courage, and no longer flinch the way you did before.' He then led me off into Arcadia, up onto a mountain shaped like a woman's breast, sat me down upon its summit, and pointed out to me a broad plain, ringed round by twelve mountains, each shaped differently from the rest. The first was black like soot; the second was bare, bearing no plants whatsoever; the third bristled with thorns and briers; the fourth carried plants that were half withered — green at the tips but dry down near the roots, and some of the plants dried up completely whenever the sun scorched them; the fifth mountain was rugged, its plants green. The sixth was riddled with fissures, some small and some enormous; plants grew within those cracks, though scarcely thriving — they looked withered instead. On the seventh mountain the plants flourished, and the whole mountain prospered, with cattle and birds of every kind grazing across it; and the more they fed there, the more luxuriant that mountain's growth became. The eighth overflowed with springs, and creatures belonging to the Lord, of every kind, drank from the waters flowing out of that mountain. The ninth had no water whatsoever and lay entirely barren, home to wild beasts and venomous creatures that destroy people. The tenth bore enormous trees and was shaded through and through, and beneath their cover sheep lay resting as they chewed their cud. The eleventh was thick with trees weighed down with fruit of one kind after another, so tempting that anyone who saw them would long to taste what they bore. The twelfth mountain was entirely white and cheerful to look upon — the loveliest of all the mountains there."
"In the middle of the plain he pointed out to me an immense white rock rising up out of the ground. That rock stood taller than the surrounding mountains, four-sided, so vast that it could hold the whole world within it. The rock was ancient, cut through with a gateway; yet the carving of that gateway looked to me remarkably fresh. The gateway gleamed so far beyond the brightness of the sun that its radiance left me amazed. Twelve virgins stood ringed around the gateway. The four positioned at its corners struck me as more splendid still; yet the rest were splendid too. They took their places at the four sides of the gateway, two virgins standing between each corner pair. They wore linen tunics, gracefully girded, their right shoulders left bare as though poised to carry some burden. So they stood ready, for they were full of cheer and eagerness. Once I had taken all this in, I marveled to myself at the grandeur and splendor of what lay before me. And again I grew puzzled over the virgins — for despite their delicate appearance, they held their ground so bravely, as if ready to bear up the whole sky. And the Shepherd says to me: 'Why do you turn this over in your mind, grow puzzled, and bring grief upon yourself? Whatever lies beyond your grasp, do not attempt to seize it through your own cleverness — ask the Lord instead, and once granted understanding, you will know it. What lies behind you, you cannot see; what stands before you, you do see. So set aside what you cannot see, and stop tormenting yourself over it; take firm hold instead of what you do see, and do not busy yourself with the rest. Everything I show you, I will explain to you in full. So fix your gaze on what remains.'"
"I saw six men arrive, tall, glorious, and identical in appearance; and they summoned a great crowd of men. Those who arrived were likewise tall, handsome, and powerful men; and the six men gave the command for a tower to be raised atop the rock. There arose a great commotion among the men who had gathered to build the tower, dashing this way and that around the gateway. The virgins stationed around the gateway kept urging the men to hasten the building of the tower; and the virgins held their hands stretched out, as though ready to take something from the men. The six men then commanded stones to rise up out of a certain deep place and pass into the tower's construction. Ten square stones came up, gleaming, unshaped by any tool. The six men called the virgins over and ordered them to carry every stone destined for the tower's construction, pass through the gateway bearing them, and deliver them into the hands of those who would build the tower. The virgins set the first ten stones — those that had risen from the deep — one atop another, each stone borne together by the group."
"As they stood together in a ring around the gateway, those who appeared strongest carried in this manner, having positioned themselves beneath the corners of the stone; the rest positioned themselves beneath its sides, and in this way all of them together carried the stones. They brought them through the gateway, exactly as instructed, and handed them over to the men working on the tower; and those men took the stones and kept building. The tower's construction rose upon the great rock and directly above the gateway. So those ten stones were joined together and covered the entire surface of the rock, becoming the foundation of the tower's structure; and it was the rock together with the gateway that upheld the whole tower. After those ten stones, twenty more rose up out of the deep, and these too were fitted into the tower's construction, carried by the virgins just as the earlier ones had been. After these, another thirty-five came up, and these likewise were joined into the tower. After these, forty more stones rose up, and all of them were set into the tower's construction; so the foundation of the tower came to have four courses. Then the stones stopped rising from the deep, and the builders too paused briefly. Once more the six men directed the great crowd to bring stones down from the mountains for the tower's construction. So stones of varied colors were brought from every mountain, cut by the men, and handed over to the virgins; who bore them through the gateway and delivered them for the tower's construction. And whenever the varied-colored stones were placed into the structure, they turned alike and white, losing their varied colors. But some stones, handed over by the men for the construction, never turned bright; rather, just as they were set down, so they remained — for they had not passed through the virgins' hands, nor been carried through the gateway. These stones, then, proved unsuitable for the tower's construction. When the six men noticed the unsuitable stones within the structure, they ordered them removed and carried back down to the very spot they had come from. And they say to the men bringing the stones: 'None of you are to hand over stones yourselves for the construction at all; set them down instead beside the tower, so the virgins can bear them past the gateway and deliver them for the construction. For,' they say, 'unless they pass through the gateway by the hands of these virgins, their colors cannot be altered. So do not,' they say, 'labor for nothing.'"
"The building was finished for that day, though the tower itself was not completed, since it was meant to be raised still higher, and a pause came in the construction. The six men ordered all the builders to step back a short distance and rest; but they instructed the virgins not to leave the tower's side. It seemed to me that the virgins had been stationed there to guard the tower. Once everyone had withdrawn and rested, I say to the Shepherd: 'Why, sir,' I say, 'has the tower's construction not been finished?' 'The tower,' he says, 'cannot be finished yet until its Lord arrives and examines this structure, so that he may replace any stones that turn out to be rotten; for it is according to his will that the tower is being raised.' 'I would like, sir,' I say, 'to understand about this tower — what this structure signifies — and about the rock, the gateway, the mountains, the virgins, and the stones that rose from the deep unhewn and yet went straight into the construction just as they were. And why ten stones went first into the foundations, followed by twenty-five, then by thirty-five, and then by forty of them; and about the stones that had entered the structure and were afterward removed again and set aside in a place of their own — put my mind at rest, sir, about all of this, and make it known to me.' 'If,' he says, 'you turn out not to be idly curious, you will learn everything; for we will come back here after a few days, and you will watch what happens next to this tower, and come to know every parable with precision.' And after a few days we returned to the place where we had been sitting, and he says to me: 'Let us go to the tower, for the tower's master is coming to inspect it.' So we arrived at the tower, and found absolutely nobody standing beside it except the virgins alone. And the Shepherd asks the virgins whether the tower's master had yet arrived. And they answered that he was about to come and inspect the structure."
And behold, before long I catch sight of a great company of men approaching, and among them one man of such towering stature that he rose above the tower itself. And the six men who had been overseeing the construction walked beside him, on his right and his left, and all who had worked on the structure were with him, together with many others of splendid bearing all around him. The virgins guarding the tower ran up and embraced him with a kiss, then began walking close at his side, circling the tower. That man inspected the structure with such care that he ran his hand over each individual stone. Grasping a rod in his hand, he struck one by one every stone set into the building. And with each blow, some of the stones turned out black as soot, some looked scabby, some showed cracks, some were stunted, some were neither white nor black, some were rough and clashed with the stones beside them, some bore many blemishes — such were the varied flaws found among the rotten stones in the structure. He then ordered every one of these carried off from the tower and set down beside it, and other stones brought and put in their place. The builders asked him from which mountain he wanted the replacement stones brought. But he ordered none brought from the mountains at all — instead he directed that they come from a nearby plain. So the plain was dug up, and bright square stones turned up, along with some round ones as well. Every stone that had ever lain in that plain was gathered up and carried through the gateway by the virgins. The square stones were then cut and set into the places of the ones taken away; the round stones, however, were left out of the structure altogether, because cutting them proved so difficult that finishing the work would have dragged on and on. So they were left lying beside the tower, meant to be shaped later and set into the structure, for they were remarkably bright.
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