The vision I saw, brothers, twenty days after the previous vision was a symbol of the coming tribulation. I was going into the countryside by the Campanian Way. It is about ten stades from the public road, and the place is easy to travel. As I walked alone, I asked the Lord to bring to completion the revelations and visions He had shown me through His holy Church, so that He might strengthen me and grant repentance to His servants who had stumbled, and so that His great and glorious Name might be glorified, because He had considered me worthy to see His wonders. While I was glorifying Him and giving Him thanks, something like the sound of a voice answered me: “Do not be double-minded, Hermas.” I began reasoning within myself and saying, “What reason do I have to be double-minded, when I have been so firmly founded by the Lord and have seen glorious things?” I went a little farther, brothers, and suddenly I saw a cloud of dust rising as high as the sky. I began saying to myself, “Perhaps cattle are coming and raising the dust?” It was about a stade away from me. As the dust grew larger and larger, I suspected that it was something divine. The sun shone out a little, and suddenly I saw an enormous beast, like some sea monster, and fiery locusts were coming out of its mouth. The beast was about a hundred feet long, and its head was like pottery. I began to weep and ask the Lord to rescue me from it. Then I remembered the word I had heard: “Do not be double-minded, Hermas.” So, brothers, I put on the faith of the Lord and remembered the mighty things He had taught me. Taking courage, I gave myself up to face the beast. The beast was rushing forward with such a roar that it could have devastated a city. I came near it, and the enormous sea monster stretched itself out on the ground. It did nothing except stick out its tongue and did not move at all until I had passed it. The beast had four colors on its head: black; then fiery and blood-red; then gold; then white.
After I had passed the beast and gone forward about thirty feet, suddenly a virgin met me, adorned as though coming out of a bridal chamber. She was entirely dressed in white and wore white sandals. She was veiled up to her forehead, and her head covering was arranged as a headband; her hair was white. From the earlier visions I knew that she was the Church, and I became more cheerful. She greeted me, saying, “Greetings, man.” I greeted her in return: “Greetings, Lady.” She answered me, “Did nothing meet you?” I said, “Lady, such an enormous beast met me, one able to destroy whole peoples. But by the power of the Lord and His great compassion I escaped it.” “You escaped well,” she said, “because you cast your care upon God and opened your heart to the Lord, believing that you could be saved by nothing except through the great and glorious Name. For this reason the Lord sent His angel who is over the beasts, whose name is Thegri, and he shut the beast’s mouth so that it would not harm you. You escaped a great tribulation because of your faith and because, when you saw such an enormous beast, you were not double-minded. Go, therefore, and tell the Lord’s elect about His mighty works. Tell them that this beast is a symbol of the great tribulation that is coming. Therefore, if you prepare yourselves beforehand and repent to the Lord with your whole heart, you will be able to escape it, if your heart becomes pure and blameless and you serve the Lord blamelessly for the remaining days of your life. Cast your cares upon the Lord, and He will set them right. Believe in the Lord, you who are double-minded, because He can do all things. He turns His wrath away from you, and He sends scourges upon you who are double-minded. Woe to those who hear these words and disobey; it would have been better for them not to have been born.”
I asked her about the four colors the beast had on its head. She answered me, “Again you are curious about such matters.” “Yes, Lady,” I said. “Make known to me what these things are.” “Listen,” she said. “The black is this world in which you live. The fiery and blood-red part means that this world must perish through blood and fire. The golden part is you who have escaped this world. For just as gold is tested through fire and becomes useful, so you too, who live among these things, are being tested. Those who endure and are refined through them will therefore be purified. Just as gold casts off its dross, so you too will cast off every sorrow and distress. You will be purified and become useful for the building of the tower. The white part is the coming age, in which God’s elect will dwell, because those chosen by God for eternal life will be spotless and pure. Therefore do not cease speaking into the ears of the saints. You also have the symbol of the great tribulation that is coming. But if you are willing, it will be nothing. Remember the things written beforehand.” After saying this, she departed. I did not see where she went, because a cloud arose. I turned around in fear, thinking that the beast was coming.