HERMAS, 'Eppils, one of the Christians at Rome to whom Paul addressed special salutations in his Epistle (Rom. xvi. 14). Of his history and station in life nothing is known. By several writers, ancient and modern, he has been reputed to be the author of a work entitled The Shepherd of Hernzas, which from its high antiquity and the supposed connection of the writer with St. Paul, has been usually classed with the epistles of the so-called Apostolic Fathers. A Latin version has come down to us from the time of Tertullian ; of the original Greek, till very recently, only a few fragments have been known as quotations in other ancient authors. But in 1859 the first part of the original, being nearly one-fourth of the whole, was discovered by Tischendorf at the end of the Codex Sinalticus; a fac-simile of a portion of it is given in his Notitia. A medival Greek re-translation of the Latin version (according to Tischendorf) was published by Dressel in his edition of the Apostolic Fathers. It has been divided by modem editors (for in the manuscript copies there is no such division) into three books ; the first consisting of four visions, the second of twelve commands, and the third of ten similitudes. It is called the Shepherd' (6 rlimp.7jv, Pastor), because the Angel of Repentance (Nuntius Brit/tent/a), at whose dictation Hermas professes that he wrote the second and third books, appeared in the garb of a shep herd. It is frequently quoted by Clemens Alexan drinus, either by the author's name (Strom. i. 29, sec. 181 ; Ofip. ed. Klotz, ii. 119 ; t, sec. 3 ; 01/5. ii. 124), or by the phrase 'the Shepherd says' (Strom. i. 17, sec. 85 ; Opp. ii. 6o ; 12, sec. 55 ; ii. 158 ; 9, sec. 43 ; ii. 150 ; 12, sec. 55 ; Opp. ii. 158 ; iv. 9, sec. 76 ; 318 ; vi. 6, sec. 46 ; opp. 125), though he does not expressly identify the author as the Hermas in Rom. xvi. Eusebius is more definite. In his Eccles. Hist. (iii. 3) he says, The apostle, in the salutations at the cnd of his Epistle to the Romans, makes mention among others of Hermas, who, it is said, wrote the book called the Shepherd ; it is to be noted that this book is called in question Von-LVX0,-TaL), so that it cannot be ranked among the books received as canonical (h., Ol.taXo-yawelnas-). By others it is judged to be a most necessary book for elementary instruction. And we know that it is publicly read in churches, and that some very ancient writers make use of it.' Elsewhere he says, among the spurious (iv rilis vbOots) are to be placed the Acts of Paul, the Book callea' the Shep herd', and the Revelation of Peter' (Hist. Eccles. . 25). And in giving an account of the opinions of Irenmus (Hist. Eccles. v. S), he remarks, the book (1-0 -y packip) of the Shepherd he not only knew, but received with approbation, saying, Well spake the book -ypak) which says, first of all believe that there is one God." This passage has been adduced, but, perhaps, improperly, to prove that Irenzeus regarded The Shepherd' as canoni cal : the word ypacp4, by some here translated Scripture, may mean simply the book or writing (Lardner's Credibility, ch. xvii. ; Works, ii. 171).
Origen often quotes The Shepherd,' speaks of it as useful, and, in his opinion, inspired : ut puto, divinitzts inspirata (Ep. aa' R.onz. Comment. lib. x. ; Opera, vii. 437, ed. Lommatzsch). Elsewhere he describes it as a book cilculated in the church, but not universally acknowledged to be divine' (Comment. in Evang. Hatt. Hom. xiv. ; Opp. iii. 316). Jerome also states that it was publicly read in some of the churches of Greece, though among the Latins it was ahnost unknown (De illust. cap. x.) Tertullian (De Pudicitia, sec. to) classes it with apocryphal and spurious writings. If it be admitted that The Shepherd' was written by the Hermas of St. Paul, its date must be fixed towards the end of the first century. Some eminent critics, however, ascribe it to Hermas, a brother of Pius, who was Bishop of Rome about A.D. 14.1. Mosheim argues at some length in favour of this opinion ; but the only authorities he adduces on its behalf are some lines in a poem against the Marcionites, falsely attributed to Tertullian, the fragment of an anonymous work on the canon, published by Mura tori in his Antiquitates ital. Med. .eEvi, and a passage in the Liber Pontificalis, respecting Easter, there said to be from a book called the Shepherd, written by Hermas, the brother of Pius, but not found in the work that has come down to us under that title (Contmentaries on the Affizirs of the Chris tians, vol. i. pp. i8o-188, Vidal's transl.) The same opinion is advocated by liefele, in the Tubin g-en Theol. Quart. Schrift., 1839. Neander, while he allows that it may be doubted whether The Shepherd' was written by the Hermas of St. Paul, seems to consider the other supposition still more questionable, since we cannot determine what credit is due to the authorities adduced in its favour, and it is difficult to reconcile with the later origination of the work, the high esteem in which it was held in the age of Irenmus and Clement of Alexandria (A llgemeine Geschichte, etc. Alith. i. Band 2, p.
zd ed. ; Torrey's translation [Bohn] ii. 21o).
The Shepherd of Hermas was first published at Paris in 1513, and is included in the editions of the apostolic fathers by Cotelerius, Galland, Dres sel, and Hefele. Fabricius also published it in his Codex Apocryphus, Hamburgi, 1719. Archbishop Wake's translation is well known.
The following works may be consulted—Dorner, .Entwicklungsgeschichee der Lehre von der Person Christi, Erste Abth. 185-215 ; Doctrine of the Per son of Christ, vol. i. 123-135 , Notes, 38o-399 (Clark's F. T Library); Lechler, Das A postoliSche und a'as Nachapostolische Zeitalter, 489, 518 ; Bun sen, Hippolytus, vol. i. ; Uhlhorn, Hernias in Her zog's Real Encyklopiiilie, v. 771.—J. E. R.