The Shepherd of Hermas

The Shepherd of Hermas, or the Good Shepherd, 3rd century, Catacombs of Rome.

The Shepherd of Hermas (c. AD 110-c. 140) is an early text of the Christian Church. It was popular in the Christian Church in the second, third, and fourth centuries. Its exact date of origin is uncertain but must have been written at an early period of the Church's history because it was recognised by Irenaeus as Scripture. Clement of Alexandria spoke of it as making its statements 'divinely'. Eusebius wrote that it was read publicly in the churches. The Muratorian fragment objected to its inclusion in the canon on account of being written after the first century.

The work consists of five Visions, twelve Mandates or Commandments, and ten Parables.

Quotes

• Remember not the wrongs done to you by your children... For the remembrance of wrongs worketh death.
  • VISION SECOND, Chapter III. in: Sir James Donaldson (1867). Ante-Nicene Christian Library: The Apostolic fathers, (1870) p. 330