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HERMAS
1. Christian to whom Paul sent greetings in his letter to the Romans (Rom 16:14).
2. Christian who wrote the apocryphal book called The Shepherd (referring to the work’s central shepherd figure). In The Shepherd, Hermas states that he was originally a slave, gained his freedom, married and started a business, lost nearly everything material, saw his children lapse, and finally brought his family together by acts of repentance. Hermas indicates also that he knew Clement of Rome, late-first-century bishop of Rome. From internal evidences, it is impossible to tell if this biography is fictional or not. As to external facts, references to Hermas are contradictory. Some authorities, most eminently the Muratorian Canon, a late-second-century document, make Hermas a brother of Pius, bishop of Rome about 150. In the third century, Origen thought Hermas was the individual Paul named in Romans 16:14, an identification upholding Hermas’s own statements. Modern scholarly commentators lean much toward the first opinion. See also Shepherd of Hermas.