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affliction, and you will be cleansed and you will be useful for the building of the tower. But the white part is the age to come, in which the elect of God will dwell; because spotless and pure will be those who have been chosen by God for eternal life. You, therefore, do not cease speaking into the ears of the saints. You have also the figure of the great affliction to come. But if you are willing, it will be nothing. Remember the things that were written before. Having said these things, she departed, and I did not see to what place she departed; for a cloud appeared; and I turned back afraid, thinking that the beast was coming. Revelation 5 As I was praying in the house and sitting on the couch, a man came in, glorious in appearance, in the guise of a shepherd, clothed in a white goatskin, and having a wallet on his shoulder and a staff in his hand. And he greeted me, and I greeted him in return. And immediately he sat down beside me and says to me: I was sent from the most holy angel, that I might dwell with you for the remaining days of your life. I thought that he was present to test me, and I say to him: For who are you? For I, I said, know to whom I was delivered. He says to me: Do you not recognize me? No, I said. I, he says, am the shepherd to whom you were delivered. While he was still speaking his appearance was changed, and I recognized him, that he was the one to whom I was delivered, and immediately I was confounded, and fear seized me, and I was wholly overcome with grief, because I had answered him so wickedly and foolishly. But he answered and says to me: Do not be confounded, but be strengthened in my commandments, which I am about to command you. For I was sent, he says, that I might again show you all the things you saw before, the very chief points which are profitable for you. First of all write my commandments and the parables; but the other things you shall write as I will show you; for this reason, he says, I command you first to write the commandments and parables, that you may read them readily and be able to keep them. So I wrote the commandments and parables, as he commanded me. If, then, when you have heard them, you keep them and walk in them and do them with a pure heart, you will receive from the Lord what things He has promised you; but if, after hearing them, you do not repent, but still add to your sins, you will receive from the Lord the opposite. All these things the shepherd commanded me thus to write, the angel of repentance. Commandment 1 First of all, believe that God is one, who created and fashioned all things, and made all things to be out of that which was not, and contains all things, but alone is uncontained. Believe in Him therefore and fear Him, and fearing Him, exercise self-control. Keep these things and you will cast away all wickedness from yourself and will put on every virtue of righteousness, and you will live to God, if you keep this commandment. Commandment 2 He says to me: Have simplicity and be innocent and you will be as infants who do not know the wickedness which destroys the life of men. First, speak evil of no one, nor listen gladly to one who speaks evil; otherwise you also who hear will be guilty of the sin of the one who speaks evil, if you believe the slander which you hear; for believing it you yourself will also have

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στενοχωρίαν, καὶ καθαρισθήσεσθε καὶ χρήσιμοι ἔσεσθε εἰς τὴν οἰκοδο μὴν τοῦ πύργου. τὸ δὲ λευκὸν μέρος ὁ αἰὼν ὁ ἐπερχόμενός ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧ κατοικήσουσιν οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ· ὅτι ἄσπιλοι καὶ καθαροὶ ἔσονται οἱ ἐκλελεγμένοι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. σὺ οὖν μὴ διαλίπῃς λαλῶν εἰς τὰ ὦτα τῶν ἁγίων. ἔχετε καὶ τὸν τύπον τῆς θλίψεως τῆς ἐρχομένης με γάλης. ἐὰν δὲ ὑμεῖς θελήσητε, οὐδὲν ἔσται. μνημονεύετε τὰ προγεγραμμένα. ταῦτα εἴπασα ἀπῆλθεν καὶ οὐκ εἶδον ποίῳ τόπῳ ἀπῆλθεν· νέφος γὰρ ἐγέ νετο· κἀγὼ ἐπεστράφην εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω φοβηθείς, δοκῶν ὅτι τὸ θηρίον ἔρχεται. Ἀποκάλυψις ε Προσευξαμένου μου ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ καὶ καθίσαντος εἰς τὴν κλίνην εἰσῆλθεν ἀνήρ τις ἔνδοξος τῇ ὄψει, σχήματι ποιμενικῷ, περικείμενος δέρμα αἴγειον λευκόν, καὶ πήραν ἔχων ἐπὶ τὸν ὦμον καὶ ·άβδον εἰς τὴν χεῖρα. καὶ ἠσπά σατό με, κἀγὼ ἀντησπασάμην αὐτόν. καὶ εὐθὺς παρεκάθισέν μοι καὶ λέγει μοι· Ἀπεστάλην ἀπὸ τοῦ σεμνοτάτου ἀγγέλου, ἵνα μετὰ σοῦ οἰκήσω τὰς λοιπὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς σου. ἔδοξα ἐγὼ ὅτι πάρεστιν ἐκπειράζων με, καὶ λέγω αὐτῷ· Σὺ γὰρ τίς εἶ; ἐγὼ γάρ, φημί, γινώσκω ᾧ παρεδόθην. λέγει μοι· Oὐκ ἐπιγινώσκεις με; Oὔ, φημί. Ἐγώ, φησίν, εἰμὶ ὁ ποιμὴν ᾧ παρεδόθης. ἔτι λαλοῦντος αὐτοῦ ἠλλοιώθη ἡ ἰδέα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπέγνων αὐτόν, ὅτι ἐκεῖνος ἦν, ᾧ παρεδόθην, καὶ εὐθὺς συνεχύθην, καὶ φόβος με ἔλα βεν, καὶ ὅλος συνεκόπην ἀπὸ τῆς λύπης, ὅτι οὕτως αὐτῷ ἀπεκρίθην πονηρῶς καὶ ἀφρόνως. ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθείς μοι λέγει· Μὴ συνχύννου, ἀλλὰ ἰσχυρο ποιοῦ ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς μου, αἷς σοι μέλλω ἐντέλλεσθαι. ἀπεστάλην γάρ, φη σίν, ἵνα ἃ εἶδες πρότερον πάντα σοι πάλιν δείξω, αὐτὰ τὰ κεφάλαια τὰ ὄντα ὑμῖν σύμφορα. πρῶτον πάντων τὰς ἐντολάς μου γράψον καὶ τὰς παρα βολάς· τὰ δὲ ἕτερα καθώς σοι δείξω οὕτως γράψεις· διὰ τοῦτο, φησίν, ἐντέλλομαί σοι πρῶτον γράψαι τὰς ἐντολὰς καὶ παραβολάς, ἵνα ὑπὸ χεῖρα ἀναγινώσκῃς αὐτὰς καὶ δυνηθῇς φυλάξαι αὐτάς. ἔγραψα οὖν τὰς ἐντο λὰς καὶ παραβολάς, καθὼς ἐνετείλατό μοι. ἐὰν οὖν ἀκούσαντες αὐτὰς φυ λάξητε καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς πορευθῆτε καὶ ἐργάσησθε αὐτὰς ἐν καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ, ἀπολήμψεσθε ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ὅσα ἐπηγγείλατο ὑμῖν· ἐὰν δὲ ἀκούσαντες μὴ μετανοήσητε, ἀλλ' ἔτι προσθῆτε ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν, ἀπολήμψεσθε παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου τὰ ἐναντία. ταῦτά μοι πάντα οὕτως γράψαι ὁ ποιμὴν ἐνετείλατο, ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς μετανοίας. Ἐντολὴ α Πρῶτον πάντων πίστευσον ὅτι εἷς ἐστιν ὁ θεός, ὁ τὰ πάντα κτίσας καὶ καταρτίσας καὶ ποιήσας ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι τὰ πάντα, καὶ πάντα χωρῶν, μόνος δὲ ἀχώρητος ὤν. πίστευσον οὖν αὐτῷ καὶ φοβήθητι αὐτόν, φοβηθεὶς δὲ ἐνκράτευσαι. ταῦτα φύλασσε καὶ ἀποβαλεῖς πᾶσαν πονηρίαν ἀπὸ σεαυτοῦ καὶ ἐνδύσῃ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν δικαιοσύνης, καὶ ζήσῃ τῷ θεῷ, ἐὰν φυλάξῃς τὴν ἐντολὴν ταύτην. Ἐντολὴ β Λέγει μοι· Ἁπλότητα ἔχε καὶ ἄκακος γίνου καὶ ἔσῃ ὡς τὰ νήπια τὰ μὴ γινώσκοντα τὴν πονηρίαν τὴν ἀπολλύουσαν τὴν ζωὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων. πρῶτον μὲν μηδενὸς καταλάλει, μηδὲ ἡδέως ἄκουε καταλαλοῦντος· εἰ δὲ μή, καὶ σὺ ὁ ἀκούων ἔνοχος ἔσῃ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ καταλαλοῦντος, ἐὰν πιστεύσῃς τῇ καταλαλιᾷ ᾗ ἂν ἀκούσῃς· πιστεύσας γὰρ καὶ σὺ αὐτὸς ἕξεις