Eriphion is the diminutive form of eriphos — a young goat or kid. It appears once in the New Testament: Matthew 25:32-33, in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats: 'He will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the eriphia.' The term is chosen to emphasize the young/small nature of the goats being separated from the sheep — heightening the visual contrast of the eschatological sorting.
The Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matt 25:31-46) is one of the New Testament's most searching eschatological passages. The eriphion — the young goat — represents those who failed to recognize Christ in 'the least of these brothers and sisters.' What is decisive in the judgment is not religious profession but concrete acts of mercy: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned. The eriphion did not recognize Christ in the needy; the sheep did. This is not salvation by works but the diagnostic criterion of genuine faith — as James 2:14-26 and 1 John 3:17 also make clear.