Sophia Scriptura

Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.9.7 (17.7)

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

Summary: Church leaders must not carry poison in their hearts.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:50

νῦν οὖν ὑμῖν λέγω τοῖς προηγουμένοις τῆς ἐκκλησίας καὶ τοῖς πρωτοκαθεδρίταις· μὴ γίνεσθε ὅμοιοι τοῖς φαρμακοῖς. οἱ φαρμακοὶ μὲν οὖν τὰ φάρμακα ἑαυτῶν εἰς τὰς πυξίδας βαστάζουσιν, ὑμεῖς δὲ τὸ φάρμακον ὑμῶν καὶ τὸν ἰὸν εἰς τὴν καρδίαν.

English · Claude translation

Now, then, I say to you who lead the church and to those who occupy the chief seats: do not be like the sorcerers. For the sorcerers carry their drugs in boxes, but you carry your drug and your poison in your heart.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:50 · 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)
Topics
Church office

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Those who occupy the chief seats” (πρωτοκαθεδρῖται): leaders who sat in the front seats of the assembly.

Cite this passage

Herm. Vis. 3.9.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/9/7/).

Plain text
Herm. Vis. 3.9.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/9/7/).

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