Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 12.2.5 (45.5)

Hermas · Shepherd of Hermas: Mandates · ca. 100–150 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: Serve good desire, and you will master evil desire.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:128

σὺ οὖν νικήσας καὶ στεφανωθεὶς κατʼ αὐτῆς ἐλθὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν τῆς δικαιοσύνης, καὶ παραδοὺς αὐτῇ τὸ νῖκος, ὃ ἔλαβες, δούλευσον αὐτῇ, καθὼς αὐτὴ βούλεται. ἐὰν δουλεύσῃς τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῇ ἀγαθῇ καὶ ὑποταγῇς αὐτῇ, δυνήσῃ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς πονηρᾶς κατακυριεῦσαι καὶ ὑποτάξαι αὐτήν, καθὼς βούλει.

English · Claude translation

So you, having conquered and been crowned against it, come to the desire of righteousness, and handing over to it the victory you have won, serve it as it wishes. If you serve good desire and submit to it, you will be able to master evil desire and subdue it as you wish.”

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:128 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 70–137 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in Lake, LCL 25. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 25, 1913); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 12.2.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/12/2/5/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 12.2.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/12/2/5/).

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