Herminus

Herminus is known only as a correspondent of Isidore of Pelusium (d. c. 450), addressed throughout as "the Count" (comes), a high-ranking imperial official, in the milieu of Pelusium and the eastern Nile Delta in early-to-mid 5th-century Egypt. The roughly thirty letters Isidore sends him are substantive theological and ecclesiastical pieces rather than mere courtesies: Isidore answers his written questions about Scripture (e.g. the giving of alms in secret per Matthew 6:1), supplies him on request a treatise against fate and astrological determinism, warns him about the Montanist heresy, and discusses why the righteous suffer trials. Herminus appears as a learned and inquiring layman who corresponds about the troubles of the local church, including the evils Isidore says had overrun the Pelusium church administered by bishop Eusebius, and Isidore writes to him with frankness on the failings of unworthy clergy. He is otherwise unattested.