Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 5.1.6 (33.6)

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

Summary: Anger mixed with patience spoils it and its prayer.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:88

βλέπεις ὅτι ἡ μακροθυμία γλυκυτάτη ἐστὶν ὑπὲρ τὸ μέλι καὶ εὔχρηστός ἐστι τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικεῖ. ἡ δὲ ὀξυχολία πικρὰ καὶ ἄχρηστός ἐστιν. ἐὰν οὖν μιγῇ ἡ ὀξυχολία τῇ μακροθυμίᾳ, μιαίνεται ἡ μακροθυμία καὶ οὐκέτι εὔχρηστός ἐστι τῷ θεῷ ἡ ἔντευξις αὐτῆς.

English · Claude translation

You see that patience is sweeter than honey and useful to the Lord, and he dwells in it. But bad temper is bitter and useless. If, then, bad temper is mixed with patience, patience is defiled, and its prayer is no longer useful to God.”

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:88 · 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)
Topics: Prayer

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 5.1.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/5/1/6/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 5.1.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/5/1/6/).

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