The First Vision of Rhoda and the Elderly Woman

1 The master, who raised me, had sold me to a woman named Rhoda in Rome. After many years, I met her again, and began to love her as a sister. 2 Some time later I saw her bathing in the river Tiber;⁠a and I gave her my hand, and led her out of the river. Seeing her beauty, I said to myself, “How happy I would be if I had a wife like her in beauty and in character.” I merely reflected on this and nothing more. 3 Some time later, as I was traveling to Cumae, and glorifying God’s creatures for their greatness and splendor and power, as I walked I fell asleep. And a Spirit took me, and carried me away through a pathless place where no one could walk, for the ground was steep and broken into clefts by the waters. When I had crossed the river, I came to level ground, and knelt down, and began to pray to the Lord and to confess my sins. 4 While I was praying, heaven opened, and I saw the woman I had desired greeting me from heaven, saying, “Good morning, Hermas.” 5 And, looking at her, I said to her, “Lady, what are you doing here?” Then she answered me, “I was taken up, so that I might convict you of your sins before the Lord.” 6 I said to her, “Are you convicting me now?” “No,” she said, “but listen to the words that I will say to you. God, who lives in the heavens, and created out of nothing the things that are, and increased and multiplied them for the sake of His holy Church, is angry with you, for you sinned against me.” 7 I answered her, “Sin against you? In what way? Did I ever speak an improper word to you? Did I not always regard you as a goddess? Did I not always respect you as a sister? How can you falsely accuse me, lady, of such wickedness and impurity?” 8 Laughing, she said to me, “The desire for evil entered your heart. Do you not think it is an evil thing for a righteous person if an evil desire enters their heart? It is indeed a sin, and a great one too,” she said. “For the righteous person has righteous intentions. As long as their intentions remain righteous, their reputation stands firm in heaven, and they find the Lord easily reconciled in all they do. But those who harbor evil intentions in their hearts bring death and captivity on themselves, especially those who cling to this present world and boast in its riches, and do not hold on to the good things to come. 9 Their souls will regret it, since they have no hope but have abandoned themselves and their life. But pray to God and He will heal your sins, and those of your whole household, and of all the saints.”