Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate 4.1.5 (29.5)

Hermas · Shepherd of Hermas: Mandates · ca. 100–150 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: A husband who knowingly stays with an unrepentant adulterous wife shares her sin.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:78

Ἄχρι τῆς ἀγνοίας, φησίν, οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει· ἐὰν δὲ γνῷ ὁ ἀνὴρ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτῆς καὶ μὴ μετανοήσῃ ἡ γυνή, ἀλλʼ ἐπιμένῃ τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς καὶ συνζῇ ὁ ἀνὴρ μετʼ αὐτῆς, ἔνοχος γίνεται τῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῆς καὶ κοινωνὸς τῆς μοιχείας αὐτῆς.

English · Claude translation

“As long as he does not know,” he said, “he does not sin; but if the husband knows her sin and the wife does not repent, but persists in her immorality, and the husband goes on living with her, he becomes guilty of her sin and a partner in her adultery.”

About this passage

Source: Lake, LCL 25:78 · 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

Notes

Translation notes

“Immorality” (πορνεία): here used of the wife's adultery; see the glossary.

Cite this passage

Herm. Mand. 4.1.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/1/5/).

Plain text

Herm. Mand. 4.1.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-mand/4/1/5/).

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