Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 5.1.3 (54.3)

Summary: The Shepherd says this is not a true fast.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:152

Οὐκ οἴδατε, φησί, νηστεύειν τῷ κυρίῳ, οὐδέ ἐστιν νηστεία αὕτη ἡ ἀνωφελής, ἣν νηστεύετε αὐτῷ. Διατί, φημί, κύριε, τοῦτο λέγεις; Λέγω σοι, φησίν, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν αὕτη νηστεία, ἣν δοκεῖτε νηστεύειν· ἀλλʼ ἐγώ σε διδάξω, τί ἐστι νηστεία δεκτὴ καὶ πλήρης τῷ κυρίῳ. Ἄκουε, φησίν.

English · Claude translation

“You do not know,” he said, “how to fast to the Lord, and this useless fast that you keep for him is not a fast.” “Why, sir,” I said, “do you say this?” “I tell you,” he said, “that this is not a fast, which you think you are keeping; but I will teach you what a fast is that is acceptable and complete to the Lord. Hear,” he said.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:152 · 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

Fasting

Cite this passage

Herm. Sim. 5.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/5/1/3/).

Plain text

Herm. Sim. 5.1.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/herm-sim/5/1/3/).