Hermas (freedman)

Hermas (Greek: Ερμάς) was a freedman and Christian born in Aquileia, who lived in Ancient Rome. He was a brother of Pius, Bishop of Rome about the middle of the 2nd century. His father was an Italian called Rufinus, and according to the Liber Pontificalis was also a native of Aquileia. Some later writers identify him as Hermas of Dalmatia, mentioned in Romans 16:14. Hermas the freedman was the character and, by some assessments, the author of the work titled The Shepherd of Hermas, which, in the early Church, was sometimes classed among the canonical Scriptures.