15 [1 Cor. vii. 39; Rom. vii. 3. See my note on Simil. ix. cap. 28. Here are touching illustrations of the new spirit as to the sanctity of marriage, to which the Gospel was awakening the heathen mind.]

1 It will be noticed that space is attributed to the heart or soul, and that joy and goodness expand the heart, and produce width, while sadness and wickedness contract and straiten.

2 But ... himself. But rejoicing he will be expanded, and he will feast in the vessel in which he dwells, and he will serve the Lord joyfully in the midst of great peace.-Vat. He will serve the Lord in great gladness, having abundance of all things within himself.-Pal.

3 For ... anger, omitted in Vat.; fuller in Pal.: For the Lord dwells in calmness and greatness of mind, but anger is the devil's house of entertainment. [Eph. iv. 26,27.]

4 [Jas iii. 11.]

5 Patience if polluted. The mind is distressed.-Vat.; omitted in Pal.

6 I...heart. I, the angel [or messenger] of righteousness, am with you, and all who depart from anger, and repent with their whole heart, will live to God.-Vat.

7 Are justified. Are received into the number of the just by the most holy angel (or messenger).-Pal. [i.e., As the instrument of justification; but the superlative here used seems to indentify this angel with that of the covenant (Mal. iii. 1); i.e., the meritorious cause, "the Lord."]

8 [Matt. xii. 45; Luke xi. 26.]

9 [Matt. xii. 45; Luke xi. 26.]

10 You ... Lord. You will be found by God in the company of purity and chastity.-Vat.

11 And put ... them. That you may live to God, and they who keep these commandments will live to God.-Vat. [The beauty of this chapter must be felt by all, especially in the eulogy on patience. A pious and learned critic remarks on the emphasis and frequent recurrence of scriptural exhortations to patience, which he thinks have been to little enlarged upon in Christian literature.]

1 [See Tob. iii. 8, 17. The impure spirit, and the healing angel. This apocryphal book greatly influenced the Church's ideas of angels, and may have suggested this early reference to one's good and evil angel. The mediaeval ideas on this subject are powerfully illustrated in the German legends preserved by Sir. W. Scott in The Wild Huntsman and The Fire-King.]

2 Forthwith ... heart, omitted in Lips.

3 Transactions. I think the writer means, when a longing is felt to engage with too great devotedness to business and the pursuit of wealth. ["That ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction." 1 Cor. vii. 35.]

4 Trust ... deed. Trust the angel of righteousness, beacause his instruction is good.-Vat.

5 Faithful. Most happy.-Vat.

6 But to bid farewell. The Vat. ends quite differently from this point: If, then, you follow him, and trust to his works, you will live to God; and they who trust to his works will live to God.-Vat.

1 Eccles. xii. 13.

2 [Prov. xxviii. 14; 1 John iv. 18. This chapter seems based on Jas. iv. 7.]

3 Why ... they only who fear the Lord, omitted in Vat.

4 God. Lord.-Vat.

1 [Command. vi. cap. i. p. 24, supra. The idea taken from Ecclus. xxxiii. 15, and Eccles. vii. 14.]

2 For ... sin, omitted in Lips.

3 [Gal. v. 10, 21; 1 Pet. iv. 3.]

4 [First of all, faith, holy fear, love etc. Then, works of mercy. Could evangelical morality be more beautifully illustrated?]

5 [First of all, faith, holy fear, love etc. Then, works of mercy. Could evangelical morality be more beautifully illustrated?]

6 From them ... all who act thus will live to God, omitted in Vat., which ends thus: If you keep all these commandments, you will live to God, and all who keep these commandments will live to God.

1 [Jas. i. 6-8 is here the text of the Shepherd's comment.]

2 With difficulty be saved. Will with difficulty live to God.-Vat.

3 Lord. God.-Vat.

1 The Vat. Has here a considerable number of sentences, found in the Greek, the Palatine, and the Aethiopic, in Commandment Eleventh. In consequence of this transference, the Eleventh Commandment in the Vatican differs considerably from the others in the position of the sentences, but otherwise it is substantially the same.

2 And ... business. This part is omitted in the Leipzig Codex, and is supplied from the Latin and Aethiopic translation. [Luke viii. 14.]

3 This ... repented, omitted in Vat. [2 Cor. vii. 10. Compare this Commandment in Wake's translation and notes.]

4 God. The Lord.-Vat., Aeth.

5 God. The Lord.-Vat.

6 Grief. Injustice.-Vat.

7 [Eph. iv. 30.]

8 e0comologou9menoj one would expect here to mean "giving thanks," a meaning which it has in the New Testament: but as e0comologou=mai means to "confess" throughout the Pastor of Hermas, it is likely that it means "confessing" here also.

9 [Matt. vi. 16, 17: Is. lviii. 5; 2 Cor. vi. 10; John xvi. 33; Rom. xii. 8.]

1 Is ... God. He who sits in the chair is a terrestrial spirit.-Vat. And then follows the dislocation of sentences noticed above.



Website by C.J.S. Hayward (The Angelic Letters, TEDx Draft Lecture: The Silicon Rule, Doxology, The Consolation of Theology).

Site under the auspices of St. Job of Pochaev Print Shop of Holy Trinity Monastery ("Jordanville") (seminary, museum, publications).

Please visit our bookstore (books, candles, crosses, icons, incense, prayer ropes)!