The Shepherd of Hermas

And she raised me up by the hand and took me to the couch and said to the young men: Go and build.

And after the young men had gone away and we were alone, she said to me: Sit here. I said to her: Lady, let the elders sit first.[*](The meaning is obscure: the elders is often explained as the Elders of the Church, but it is more probably a mere formula of politeness seniores priores. ) She said: Do what I tell you, and sit down.

Yet when I wished to sit[*](Hermas and the couch) on the right hand she would not let me, but signed to me with her hand to sit on the left. When therefore I thought about this, and was grieved because she did not let me sit on the right hand, she said to me: Are you sorry, Hermas? The seat on the[*](The place of the martyrs) right is for others, who have already been found well-pleasing to God and have suffered for the Name. But you fall far short of sitting with them. But remain in your simplicity as you are doing, and you shall sit with them, and so shall all who do their deeds and bear what they also bore.

What, I said, did they bear? Listen, she said: Stripes, imprisonments, great afflictions, crucifixions, wild beasts, for the sake of the Name.

And you are desirous of sitting on the right hand with them, but your failings are many. But you shall be cleansed from your failings, and all who are not double-minded shall be cleansed from all sins, up to this day.