Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.1.9 (9.9)

Summary: The right side is for those who suffered for the name.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:28

θέλοντος οὖν μου καθίσαι εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ μέρη οὐκ εἴασέ με, ἀλλʼ ἐννεύει μοι τῇ χειρί, ἵνα εἰς τὰ ἀριστερὰ μέρη καθίσω. διαλογιζομένου μου οὖν καὶ λυπουμένου, ὅτι οὐκ εἴασέ με εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ μέρη καθίσαι, λέγει μοι· Λυπῇ, Ἑρμᾶ; ὁ εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ μέρη τόπος ἄλλων ἐστίν, τῶν ἤδη εὐαρεστηκότων τῷ θεῷ καὶ παθόντων εἵνεκα τοῦ ὀνόματος· σοὶ δὲ πολλὰ λείπει ἵνα μετʼ αὐτῶν καθίσῃς· ἀλλὰ ὡς μένεις τῇ ἁπλότητί σου, μεῖνον, καὶ καθιῇ μετʼ αὐτῶν καὶ ὅσοι ἐὰν ἐργάσωνται τὰ ἐκείνων ἔργα καὶ ὑπενέγκωσιν, ἃ καὶ ἐκεῖνοι ὑπήνεγκαν.

English · Claude translation

When I wished to sit on the right side, she did not let me, but motioned to me with her hand to sit on the left side. As I was pondering this and grieving because she did not let me sit on the right, she said to me, “Are you grieved, Hermas? The place on the right belongs to others, to those who have already pleased God and suffered for the sake of the name. But you lack much before you can sit with them. But as you remain in your simplicity, remain so, and you will sit with them, and so will all who do their works and endure what they endured.”

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:28 · 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

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

Martyrdom

Cite this passage

Herm. Vis. 3.1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/1/9/).

Plain text

Herm. Vis. 3.1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/1/9/).