Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3.5.1 (13.1)

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:36–38

Ἄκουε νῦν περὶ τῶν λίθων τῶν ὑπαγόντων εἰς τὴν οἰκοδομήν. οἱ μὲν οὖν λίθοι οἱ τετράγωνοι καὶ λευκοὶ καὶ συμφωνοῦντες ταῖς ἁρμογαῖς αὐτῶν, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἀπόστολοι καὶ ἐπίσκοποι καὶ διδάσκαλοι καὶ διάκονοι οἱ πορευθέντες κατὰ τὴν σεμνότητα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐπισκοπήσαντες καὶ διδάξαντες καὶ διακονήσαντες ἁγνῶς καὶ σεμνῶς τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ, οἱ μὲν κεκοιμημένοι, οἱ δὲ ἔτι ὄντες· καὶ πάντοτε ἑαυτοῖς συνεφώνησαν καὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς εἰρήνην ἔσχον καὶ ἀλλήλων ἤκουον· διὰ τοῦτο ἐν τῇ οἰκοδομῇ τοῦ πύργου συμφωνοῦσιν αἱ ἁρμογαὶ αὐτῶν.

English · Claude translation

Hear now about the stones that go into the building. The stones that are square and white and fit together in their joints are the apostles and bishops and teachers and deacons who have walked in the holiness of God, and have served as bishops and taught and served as deacons purely and reverently for God's elect: some have fallen asleep, and some are still living. And they always agreed with one another, and had peace among themselves, and listened to one another; for this reason their joints fit together in the building of the tower.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:36–38 · 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

Church office

Notes

Translation notes

The ministries named (apostles, bishops, teachers, deacons) reflect the Roman church of Hermas's time; presbyters are named elsewhere (Vis. 2.4.2–3). “Bishops” here is plural, as in 1 Clement.

Cite this passage

Herm. Vis. 3.5.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/5/1/).

Plain text

Herm. Vis. 3.5.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-vis/3/5/1/).