Sophia Scriptura

Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.26.2 (103.2)

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

Summary: Spotted stones are deacons who embezzled from widows and orphans.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:280

οἱ μὲν τοὺς σπίλους ἔχοντες διάκονοί εἰσι κακῶς διακονήσαντες καὶ διαρπάσαντες χηρῶν καὶ ὀρφανῶν τὴν ζωὴν καὶ ἑαυτοῖς περιποιησάμενοι ἐκ τῆς διακονίας ἧς ἔλαβον διακονῆσαι· ἐὰν οὖν ἐπιμείνωσι τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ, ἀπέθανον καὶ οὐδεμία αὐτοῖς ἐλπὶς ζωῆς· ἐὰν δὲ ἐπιστρέψωσι καὶ ἁγνῶς τελειώσωσι τὴν διακονίαν αὐτῶν, δυνήσονται ζῆσαι.

English · Claude translation

those who have the spots are deacons who served badly and plundered the livelihood of widows and orphans and made gain for themselves from the ministry they had received to perform. If, then, they persist in the same desire, they are dead, and there is no hope of life for them; but if they turn back and complete their ministry purely, they will be able to live.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:280 · 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)
Scripture
Topics
Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • Deacons administered the church's care for widows and orphans; compare Acts 6:1–6.

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.26.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/26/2/).

Plain text
Herm. Sim. 9.26.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/26/2/).

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