Book Three 3 страница

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372.

And while I was glorifying Him and giving Him thanks, a voice, as it were, answered me,

Doubt not, Hermas;

373.

and I began to think with myself, and to say,

What reason have I to doubt—

I who have been established by the Lord, and who have seen such glorious sights?

374.

I advanced a little, brethren,

and, lo! I see dust rising even to the heavens.

375.

I began to say to myself, Are cattle approaching and raising the dust?

376.

It was about a furlong's distance from me.

377.

And, lo! I see the dust rising more and more,

so that I imagined that it was something sent from God.

378.

Yet the sun now shone out a little,

and, lo! I see a mighty beast like a whale, and out of its mouth fiery locusts proceeded.

379.

Yet the size of that beast was about a hundred feet, and it had a head like an urn. [a dragon? ]

380.

I began to weep, and to call on the Lord to rescue me from it.

381.

Then I remembered the word which I had heard,

Doubt not, O Hermas.

382.

Clothed, therefore, my brethren, with faith in the Lord

and remembering the great things which He had taught me, I boldly faced the beast.

383.

Now that beast came on with such noise and force, that it could itself have destroyed a city.

384.

I came near it, and the monstrous beast stretched itself out on the ground,

and showed nothing except its tongue, and did not stir at all until I had passed by it.

385.

The beast had four colours on its head

— black, then fiery and bloody, then golden, and lastly white.

386.

Now after I had passed by the wild beast, and had moved forward about thirty feet, lo!

a virgin meets me, adorned as if she were proceeding from the bridal chamber,

387.

clothed entirely in white, and with white sandals, and veiled up to her forehead,

and her head was covered by a hood, and she had white hair.

388.

I knew from my former visions that this was the Church, and I became more joyful.

389.

She saluted me, and said, Hail, O man!

390.

And I returned her salutation, and said, Lady, hail!

391.

And she answered, and said to me, Has nothing crossed your path?

392.

I said,

I was met by a beast of such a size that it could destroy peoples,

but through the power of the Lord and His great mercy I escaped from it.

393.

Well did you escape from it, says she, because you cast your care on God, and opened your heart to the Lord, believing that you can be saved by no other than by His great and glorious name.

394.

On this account the Lord has sent His angel, who has rule over the beasts,

and whose name is Thegri,

and who has shut up its mouth, so that it cannot tear you.

395.

You have escaped from great tribulation on account of your faith,

and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast.

396.

Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds,

and say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that is coming.

397.

If then you prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart, and turn to the Lord,

it will be possible for you to escape it, if your heart be pure and spotless,

and you spend the rest of the days of your life in serving the Lord blamelessly.

398.

Cast your cares upon the Lord, and He will direct them.

399.

Trust the Lord, you who doubt,

for He is all-powerful,

and can turn His anger away from you, and send scourges on the doubters.

400.

Woe to those who hear these words, and despise them:

better were it for them not to have been born. Matthew 26: 24

The Shepherd of Hermas CHAPTER TWELVE

Divisions 401-430

Visions

SHEPHERD OF HERMAS 1, 4-5

401.

I asked her about the four colours which the beast had on his head.

402.

And she answered, and said to me,

Again you are inquisitive in regard to such matters.

403.

Yea, Lady, said I, make known to me what they are.

404.

Listen, said she: the black is the world in which we dwell:

yet the fiery and bloody points out that the world must perish through blood and fire:

yet the golden part are you who have escaped from this world.

405.

For as gold is tested by fire, and thus becomes useful, so are you tested who dwell in it.

406.

Those, therefore, who continue steadfast, and are put through the fire,

will be purified by means of it.

407.

For as gold casts away its dross,

so also will you cast away all sadness and straitness,

and will be made pure so as to fit into the building of the tower.

408.

Yet the white part is the age that is to come, in which the elect of God will dwell,

since those electedby God to eternal life will be spotless and pure.

409.

Wherefore cease not speaking these things into the ears of the saints.

410.

This then is the type of the great tribulation that is to come.

411.

If you wish it, it will be nothing.

412.

Remember those things which were written down before.

413.

And saying this, she departed.

414.

But I saw not into what place she retired.

415.

There was a noise, however,

and I turned round in alarm, thinking that that beast was coming.

Vision 5

SHEPHERD OF HERMAS 1, 5

416.

Concerning the Commandments

417.

After I had been praying at home, and had sat down on my couch,

there entered a man of glorious aspect,

418.

dressed like a shepherd, with a white goat's skin,

a wallet [backpack] on his shoulders, and a rod in his hand,

and he saluted me.

419.

I returned his salutation,

and straightway he sat down beside me, and said to me,

420.

I have been sent by a most venerable angel to dwell with you the remaining days of your life.

421.

And I thought that he had come to tempt me, and I said to him,

Who are you?,

422.

For I know him to whom I have been entrusted.

423.

He said to me, Do you not know me?

424.

No, said I.

425.

I, said he, am that shepherd to whom you have been entrusted.

426.

And while he yet spoke, his figure was changed;

and then I knew that it was he to whom I had been entrusted.

427.

And straightway I became confused, and fear took hold of me,

and I was overpowered with deep sorrow that I had answered him so wickedly and foolishly.

428.

Yet he answered, and said to me,

Do not be confounded, yet receive strength from the commandments which I am going to give you.

429.

For I have been sent, said he, to show you again all the things which you saw before,

especially those of them which are useful to you.

430.

First of all, then, write down my commandments and similitudes,

andyou will then write the other things as I shall show you.

431.

For this purpose, said he,

I command you to write down the commandments and similitudes first,

that you may read them easily, and be able to keep them.

432.

Accordingly I wrote down the commandments and similitudes, exactly as he had ordered me.

433.

If then, when you have heard these, you keep them

and walk in them, and practice them with pure minds,

you will receive from the Lord all that He has promised to you.

434.

But if, after you have heard them, you do not repent, yet continue to add to your sins,

then shall you receive from the Lord the opposite things.

435.

All these words did the shepherd, even the angel of repentance, command me to write.

The Shepherd of Hermas CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Divisions 436-470

Book Two – Commandments

SHEPHERD OF HERMAS 2, 1-3

431.

Commandment 1

Faith in God

432.

First of all, believe that there is one God who created and finished all things,

and made all things out of nothing.

433.

He alone is able to contain the whole, yet He cannot be contained.

434.

Have faith therefore in Him, and fear Him;

and fearing Him, exercise control and discipline of your desires.

435.

Keep these commands, and you will cast away from you all wickedness,

and put on the strength of righteousness, and live to God, if you keep this commandment.

Commandment 2

436.

Avoiding evil-speaking, and on giving alms in simplicity

437.

He said to me, Be simple and guileless,

and you will be as the children who know not the wickedness that ruins the life of men.

438.

First, then, speak evil of no one,

nor listen with pleasure to any one who speaks evil of another.

439.

But if you listen, you will partake of the sin of him who speaks evil,

if you believe the slander which you hear;

for believing it, you will also have something to say against your brother.

440.

Thus, then, will you be guilty of the sin of him who slanders.

441.

For slander is evil and an unsteady demon.

442.

It never abides in peace, but always remains in discord.

443.

Keep yourself from it, and you will always be at peace with all.

444.

Put on a holiness in which there is no wicked cause of offense,

but all deeds that are equable and joyful.

445.

Practice goodness;

and from the rewards of your labours, which God gives you,

give to all the needy in simplicity, not hesitating as to whom you are to give or not to give.

446.

Give to all, for God wishes His gifts to be shared among all.

447.

They who receive, will render an account to God why and for what they have received.

448.

For the afflicted who receive will not be condemned,

yet they who receive on false pretences will suffer punishment.

449.

He, then, who gives is guiltless,

for as he received from the Lord, so has he accomplished his service in simplicity,

not hesitating as to whom he should give and to whom he should not give.

450.

This service, then, if accomplished in simplicity, is glorious with God.

451.

He, therefore, who thus ministers in simplicity, will live to God.

452.

Keep therefore these commandments, as I have given them to you,

that your repentance and the repentance of your house may be found in simplicity,

and your heart may be pure and stainless.

Commandment 3

453.

Avoiding falsehood, and on the repentance of Hermas for his deceit

454.

Again he said to me, Love the truth, and let nothing but truthproceed from your mouth,

that the spirit which God has placed in your flesh may be found truthful before all men;

455.

and the Lord, who dwells in you, will be glorified,

because the Lord is truthful in every word, and in Him is no falsehood.

456.

They therefore who lie deny the Lord, and rob Him,

not giving back to Him the deposit which they have received.

457.

For they received from Him a spirit free from falsehood.

458.

If they give him back this spirit untruthful,

they pollute the commandment of the Lord, and become robbers.

459.

On hearing these words, I wept most violently.

460.

When he saw me weeping, he said to me, Why do you weep?

461.

And I said, Because, sir, I know not if I can be saved.

462.

Why? said he.

463.

And I said,

Because, sir, I never spoke a true word in my life,

yet have ever spoken cunningly to all, and have affirmed a lie for the truth to all;

and no one ever contradicted me, but credit was given to my word.

464.

How then can I live, since I have acted thus?

465.

And he said to me,

Your feelings are indeed right and sound, for you ought as a servant of God to have walked in truth,

and not to have joined an evil conscience with the spirit of truth,

nor to have caused sadness to the holy and true Spirit.

466.

And I said to him,

Never, sir, did I listen to these words with so much attention.

467.

And he said to me,

Now you hear them, and keep them, that even the falsehoods which you formerly told in your transactions may come to be believed through the truthfulnessof your present statements.

468.

For even they can become worthy of credit.

469.

If you keep these precepts, and from this time forward you speak nothing except the truth,

it will be possible for you to obtain life.

470.

And whosoever shall hear this commandment,

and depart from that great wickedness falsehood, shall live to God.

The Shepherd of Hermas CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Divisions 471-

Commandment 4

SHEPHERD OF HERMAS 2, 4

471.

About when a man should put his wife away for adultery

Chapter 1

472.

I charge you, said he, to guard your chastity,

and let no thought enter your heart of another man's wife, or of fornication, or of similar iniquities;

for by doing this you commit a great sin.

473.

But if you always remember your own wife, you will never sin.

474.

For if this thought enter your heart, then you will sin;

and if, in like manner, you think other wicked thoughts, you commit sin.

475.

For this thought is great sin in a servant of God

476.

But if any one commit this wickeddeed, he works death for himself.

477.

Attend, therefore, and refrain from this thought;

for where purity dwells, there iniquity ought not to enter the heart of a righteous man.

478.

I said to him, Sir, permit me to ask you a few questions.

479.

Say on, said he.

480.

And I said to him, Sir, if any one has a wife who trusts in the Lord,

and if he detect her in adultery, does the man sin if he continue to live with her?

481.

And he said to me,

As long as he remains ignorant of her sin, the husband commits no transgression in living with her.

482.

But if the husband know that his wife has gone astray, and if the woman does not repent,

yet persists in her fornication [sex outside of marriage], and the husband continues yet to live with her,

he also is guilty of her crime, and a sharer in her adultery.

483.

And I said to him,

What then, sir, is the husband to do, if his wife continue in her vicious practices?

484.

And he said, The husband should put her away, and remain by himself.

485.

But if he put his wife away and marry another, he also commits adultery.

486.

And I said to him,

What if the woman put away should repent, and wish to return to her husband:

shall she not be taken back by her husband?

487.

And he said to me, Certainly.

If the husband do not take her back, he sins, and brings a great sin upon himself;

for he ought to take back the sinner who has repented,

488.

Yet not frequently,

for there is but one repentance to the servants of God.

489.

In case, therefore, that the divorced wife may repent,

the husband ought not to marry another, when his wife has been put away.

490.

In this matter man and woman are to be treated exactly in the same way.

491.

Moreover, adultery is committed not only by those who pollute their flesh,

but by those who imitate the heathen in their actions.

492.

Wherefore if any one persists in such deeds, and repents not,

withdraw from him, and cease to live with him, otherwise you are a sharer in his sin.

493.

Therefore has the injunction been laid on you, that you should remain by yourselves,

both man and woman, for in such persons repentance can take place.

494.

But I do not, said he, give opportunity for the doing of these deeds,

yet that he who has sinned may sin no more.

495.

But with regard to his previous transgressions, there is One who is able to provide a cure;

for it is He, indeed, who has power over all.

Chapter 2

496.

I asked him again, and said,

Since the Lord has vouchsafed to dwell always with me, bear with me while I utter a few words;

497.

for I understand nothing, and my heart has been hardened by my previous mode of life.

498.

Give me understanding, for I am exceedingly dull, and I understand absolutely nothing.

499.

And he answered and said unto me,

I am set over repentance, and I give understanding to all who repent.

500.

Do you not think, he said, that it is great wisdom to repent?

501.

For repentance is great wisdom.

502.

For he who has sinned and understands that he acted wickedly in the sight of the Lord,

and remembers the actions he has done, and he repents, and no longer acts wickedly,

yet does good munificently, and humbles and torments his soul because he has sinned.

503.

You see, therefore, that repentance is great wisdom.

504.

And I said to him, It is for this reason, sir,

that I inquire carefully into all things, especially because I am a sinner;

that I may know what works I should do, that I may live: for my sins are many and various.

505.

And he said to me,

You shall live if you keep my commandments, and walk in them;

and whosoever shall hear and keep these commandments, shall live to God.

The Shepherd of Hermas CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Divisions 501-525

Commandments 4

SHEPHERD OF HERMAS 2, 4

Chapter 3

501.

And I said to him,

I should like to continue my questions.

502.

Speak on, said he.

503.

And I said,

I heard, sir, some teachers maintain that there is no other repentance than that which takes place,

when we descended into the water and received remission of our former sins.

504.

He said to me,

That was sound doctrine which you heard; for that is really the case.

505.

For he who has received remission of his sinsought not to sin any more, but to live in purity.

506.

Since, however, you inquire diligently into all things, I will point this also out to you,

not as giving occasion for error to those who are to believe, or have lately believed, in the Lord.

507.

For those who have now believed, and those who are to believe, have not repentance for their sins;

but they have remission of their previous sins.

508.

For to those who have been called before these days, the Lord has set repentance.

509.

For the Lord, knowing the heart, and foreknowing all things,

knew the weakness of men and the manifold wiles of the devil,

that he would inflict some evil on the servants of God, and would act wickedly towards them.

510.

The Lord, therefore, being merciful, has had mercy on the work of His hand,

and has set repentance for them;

511.

and He has entrusted to me power over this repentance.

512.

And therefore I say to you,

that if any one is tempted by the devil, and sins after that great and holy calling in which the Lord has called His people to everlasting life, he has opportunity to repent but once.

513.

But if he should sin frequently after this, and then repent,

to such a man his repentance will be of no avail; for with difficulty will he live.

514.

And I said,

Sir, I feel that life has come back to me in listening attentively to these commandments;

for I know that I shall be saved, if in future I sin no more.

515.

And he said,

You will be saved, you and all who keep these commandments.

Chapter 4

516.

And again I asked him, saying,

Sir, since you have been so patient in listening to me, will you show me this also?

517.

Speak, said he.

518.

And I said, If a wife or husband die, and the widower or widow marry,

does he or she commit sin?

519.

There is no sin in marrying again, said he;

520.

yet if they remain unmarried, they gain greater honour and glory with the Lord;

521.

yet if they marry, they do not sin.

522.

Guard, therefore, your chastity and purity,

and you will live to God.

523.

What commandments I now give you, and what I am to give,

keep from henceforth, yea, from the very day when you were entrusted to me,

and I will dwell in your house.

524.

And your former sins will be forgiven, if you keep my commandments.

525.

And all shall be forgiven who keep these my commandments, and walk in this chastity.

The Shepherd of Hermas CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Divisions 526-545

Commandment 5

SHEPHERD OF HERMAS 2, 5

526.

About sadness of heart, and of patience

Chapter 1

527.

Be patient, said he, and of good understanding,

and you will rule over every wicked work, and you will work all righteousness.

528.

For if you be patient, the Holy Spirit that dwells in you will be pure.

529.

He will not be darkened by any evil spirit,

but, dwelling in a broad region, he will rejoice and be glad;

530.

and within the vessel where he dwells he will serve God in gladness,

having great peace within his heart.

531.

But if any outburst of anger take place, immediately the Holy Spirit is straitened, who is tender,

and not having a pure place, and He seeks to depart.

532.

For he is choked by the vile spirit,

and cannot attend on the Lord as he wishes, for anger pollutes him.

533.

For the Lord dwells in long-suffering pateinece, yet the devil in anger.

534.

The two spirits, then, when dwelling in the same habitation, are at discord with each other, and are troublesome to that man in whom they dwell.

535.

For if an exceedingly small piece of wormwood be taken and put into a jar of honey,

is not the honey entirely destroyed,

536.

and does not the exceedingly small piece of wormwood entirely take away the sweetness of the honey,

so that it no longer affords any gratification to its owner, yet has become bitter, and lost its use?

537.

Yet if the wormwood be not put into the honey,

then the honey remains sweet, and is of use to its owner.

538.

You see, then, that patience is sweeter than honey, and useful to God, and the Lord dwells in it,

yet anger is bitter and useless.

539.

Now, if anger be mingled with patience, the patience is polluted,

and its prayer is not then useful to God.

540.

I should like, sir, said I, to know the power of anger, that I may guard myself against it.

541.

And he said,

If you do not guard yourself against it, you and your house lose all hope of salvation.

542.

Guard yourself, therefore, against it.

543.

For I am with you, and all will depart from it who repent with their whole heart.

544.

For I will be with them, and I will save them all.

545.

For all are justified by the most holy angel.

The Shepherd of Hermas CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Divisions 546-565

Commandments 5

SHEPHERD OF HERMAS 2, 5

Chapter 2

546.

Hear now, said he, how wicked is the action of anger,

and in what way it overthrows the servants of God by its action, and turns them from righteousness.

547.

Yet it does not turn away those who are full of faith, nor does it act on them,

for the power of the Lord God is with them.

548.

It is the thoughtless and doubting that it turns away.

549.

For as soon as it sees such men standing steadfast, it throws itself into their hearts,

and for nothing at all the man or woman becomes embittered because of occurrences in their daily life,

550.

as for instance because of their food, or some superfluous word that has been uttered,

or because of some friend, or some gift or debt, or some such senseless affair.

551.

For all these things are foolish and empty and unprofitable to the servants of God.

552.

Yet patience is great, and mighty, and strong, and calm in the midst of great enlargement, joyful, rejoicing, free from care, glorifying God at all times,

having no bitterness in her, and abiding continually meek and quiet.

553.

Now this patience dwells with those who have complete faith.

554.

But anger is foolish, and fickle, and senseless.

555.

Now, of folly is begotten bitterness, and of bitterness anger, and of anger frenzy.

556.

This frenzy, the product of so many evils, ends in great and incurable sin.

557.

For when all these spirits dwell in one vessel in which the Holy Spirit also dwells,

the vessel cannot contain them, but overflows.

558.

The tender Spirit, then, not being accustomed to dwell with the wicked spirit, nor with hardness, withdraws from such a man, and seeks to dwell with meekness and peacefulness.

559.

Then, when he withdraws from the man in whom he dwelt, the man is emptied of the righteous Spirit;

560.

and being henceforward filled with evil spirits, he is in a state of anarchy in every action, being dragged here and there by the evil spirits, and there is a complete darkness in his mind as to everything good.

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