Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.26.6 (103.6)

Summary: Repentance is offered for past denials, not for those who deny now.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:282

καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ εἰς ταύτας τὰς ἡμέρας λέγω, ἵνα τις ἀρνησάμενος μετάνοιαν λάβῃ· ἀδύνατον γάρ ἐστι σωθῆναι τὸν μέλλοντα νῦν ἀρνεῖσθαι τὸν κύριον ἑαυτοῦ· ἀλλʼ ἐκείνοις τοῖς πάλαι ἠρνημένοις δοκεῖ κεῖσθαι μετάνοια. εἴ τις οὖν μέλλει μετανοεῖν, ταχινὸς γενέσθω πρὶν τὸν πύργον ἀποτελεσθῆναι· εἰ δὲ μή, ὑπὸ τῶν γυναικῶν καταφθαρήσεται εἰς θάνατον.

English · Claude translation

And I do not say this about these days, that anyone who denies may receive repentance; for it is impossible for one who is now going to deny his Lord to be saved; but for those who denied long ago repentance seems to be laid down. If, then, anyone is going to repent, let him be quick, before the tower is completed; otherwise he will be destroyed by the women to death.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:282 · 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

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.

Topics

Persecution

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 9.26.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/26/6/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 9.26.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/9/26/6/).