Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.1.8 (29.8)

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:78–80

Καὶ μήν, φησίν, ἐὰν μὴ παραδέξηται αὐτὴν ὁ ἀνήρ, ἁμαρτάνει καὶ μεγάλην ἁμαρτίαν ἑαυτῷ ἐπισπᾶται, ἀλλὰ δεῖ παραδεχθῆναι τὸν ἡμαρτηκότα καὶ μετανοοῦντα, μὴ ἐπὶ πολὺ δέ· τοῖς γὰρ δούλοις τοῦ θεοῦ μετάνοιά ἐστιν μία. διὰ τὴν μετάνοιαν οὖν οὐκ ὀφείλει γαμεῖν ὁ ἀνήρ. αὕτη ἡ πρᾶξις ἐπὶ γυναικὶ καὶ ἀνδρὶ κεῖται.

English · Claude translation

“Indeed,” he said, “if the husband does not receive her, he sins and brings a great sin upon himself; rather, the one who has sinned and repents must be received, but not many times. For there is one repentance for the servants of God. Because of repentance, then, the husband ought not to marry. This rule applies to wife and husband alike.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:78–80 · 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

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.

Topics

Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage

Notes

Translation notes

“One repentance” (μετάνοιά ἐστιν μία): Hermas's teaching of a single repentance after baptism (compare 4.3.1–6).
“This rule applies to wife and husband alike”: the same standard for both sexes, unusual in the ancient world.

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 4.1.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/1/8/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 4.1.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/1/8/).