Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 3.2 (52.2)

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

Summary: In this world the righteous and sinners look alike; it is winter.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:148

Διατί οὖν, φημί, κύριε, ὡσεὶ ξηρά εἰσι καὶ ὅμοια; Ὅτι, φησίν, οὔτε οἱ δίκαιοι φαίνονται οὔτε οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλʼ ὅμοιοί εἰσιν· ὁ γὰρ αἰὼν οὗτος τοῖς δικαίοις χειμών ἐστι, καὶ οὐ φαίνονται μετὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν κατοικοῦντες.

English · Claude translation

“Why, then, sir,” I said, “are they as if withered and alike?” “Because,” he said, “neither the righteous nor the sinners are distinguishable in this world, but they are alike; for this world is winter for the righteous, and they are not distinguishable, living with the sinners.

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:148 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 138–305 · 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), and from the ancient Latin version where Lake prints it because the Greek is lost (from Sim. 9.30.3); 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. Sim. 3.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/3/2/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 3.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/3/2/).

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