Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 6.2.3 (36.3)

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:96

Ἄκουε, φησί, καὶ συνιεῖς αὐτάς. ὁ μὲν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἄγγελος τρυφερός ἐστι καὶ αἰσχυντηρὸς καὶ πραῢς καὶ ἡσύχιος· ὅταν οὖν οὗτος ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν σου ἀναβῇ, εὐθέως λαλεῖ μετὰ σοῦ περὶ δικαιοσύνης, περὶ ἁγνείας, περὶ σεμνότητος καὶ περὶ αὐταρκείας καὶ περὶ παντὸς ἔργου δικαίου καὶ περὶ πάσης ἀρετῆς ἐνδόξου. ταῦτα πάντα ὅταν εἰς τὴν καρδίαν σου ἀναβῇ, γίνωσκε, ὅτι ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς δικαιοσύνης μετὰ σοῦ ἐστί. ταῦτα οὖν ἐστι τὰ ἔργα τοῦ ἀγγέλου τῆς δικαιοσύνης. τούτῳ οὖν πίστευε καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ.

English · Claude translation

“Hear,” he said, “and you will understand them. The angel of righteousness is delicate and modest and gentle and quiet. When, then, he enters your heart, he immediately speaks with you about righteousness, about purity, about reverence, about contentment, about every righteous deed, and about every glorious virtue. When all these things enter your heart, know that the angel of righteousness is with you. These, then, are the works of the angel of righteousness. Trust him, then, and his works.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:96 · 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)

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (wrong accent)): περὶ παντός ἔργου → περὶ παντὸς ἔργου.

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 6.2.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/6/2/3/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 6.2.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/6/2/3/).