Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.8.7 (16.7)

Summary: Each virtue is born from the one before, from Faith to Love.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:46–48

κρατοῦνται δὲ ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν καὶ ἀκολουθοῦσιν ἀλλήλαις, καθὼς καὶ γεγεννημέναι εἰσίν. ἐκ τῆς Πίστεως γεννᾶται Ἐγκράτεια, ἐκ τῆς Ἐγκρατείας Ἁπλότης, ἐκ τῆς Ἁπλότητος Ἀκακία, ἐκ τῆς Ἀκακίας Σεμνότης, ἐκ τῆς Σεμνότητος Ἐπιστήμη, ἐκ τῆς Ἐπιστήμης Ἀγάπη. τούτων οὖν τὰ ἔργα ἁγνὰ καὶ σεμνὰ καὶ θεῖά ἐστιν.

English · Claude translation

Their powers are held together by one another, and they follow one another in the order in which they were born. From Faith is born Self-control, from Self-control Simplicity, from Simplicity Innocence, from Innocence Reverence, from Reverence Knowledge, from Knowledge Love. Their works, then, are pure and reverent and divine.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:46–48 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 6–71 · 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)

Scripture

2 Pet 1:5 · echo, medium confidence
2 Pet 1:7 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics

Cite this passage

Herm. Vis. 3.8.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/8/7/).

Plain text

Herm. Vis. 3.8.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/8/7/).