Ebionite

Ebionites (, derived from Hebrew , , meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect that existed during the early centuries of the Common Era.

Since historical records by the Ebionites are scarce, fragmentary and disputed, much of what is known or conjectured about them derives from the polemics of their Gentile Christian opponents, specifically the Church Fathers — Irenaeus, Origen, Eusebius, and Epiphanius of Salamis — who saw the Ebionites as distinct from other Jewish Christian sects, such as the Nazarenes.
A Companion to Second-Century Christian 'Heretics'
'. BRILL; 2008. . .; : "Following the devastation of the Jewish War, the Nazarenes took refuge in Pella, a community in exile, where they lay in anxious wait with their fellow Jews. From this point on it is preferable to call them the Ebionites. There was no clear demarcation or formal transition from Nazarene to Ebionite; there was no sudden change of theology or Christology."; : "While the writings of later church fathers speak of Nazarenes and Ebionites as if they were different Jewish Christian groups, they are mistaken in that assessment. The Nazarenes and the Ebionites were one and the same group, but for clarity we will refer to the pre-70 group in Jerusalem as Nazarenes, and the post-70 group in Pella and elsewhere as Ebionites."

The Church Fathers generally agree on key points about the majority of Ebionites, such as their voluntary poverty and rejection of proto-orthodox Christian beliefs in Jesus' divinity, pre-existence, and virgin birth; they argue these Ebionites believed that Jesus was a mere man, born the natural son of Joseph and Mary, who, by virtue of his righteousness in perfectly following the letter and spirit of the Law of Moses, was adopted as the son of God to be a Messiah.

According to these patristic sources, the Ebionites insisted on the necessity of following both the Law of Moses and the moral teachings of Jesus to be righteous; they revered James the Just, brother of Jesus, as an exemplar of righteousness and the true successor to Jesus (rather than Peter), while rejecting Paul as a false apostle and an apostate from the Law.
an abridgement

However, the Church Fathers diverge on details regarding some specific Ebionite views about Jesus (the nature and mission of Christ), their use of additional scripture to the Hebrew Bible), and their lifestyle practices ( religious vegetarianism, ritual washing, etc.). These variations reflect the evolving and schismatic nature of early Christian sects, as well as the tendency of patristic polemicists to conflate different sects and misattribute unusual views and practices, more typical of Gnostic Christianity than Jewish Christianity, to Ebionites to discredit them.

Some modern critical scholars argue the Church Fathers' condemnation of Ebionites as "heretics" and "Judaizers" is both ironic and tragic, since many Ebionite views may have been closer to the authentic views of not only the first disciples of Jesus but also of the historical Jesus himself.

Name

The hellenized Hebrew term ''Ebionite'' was first applied by Irenaeus in the second century without making mention of Nazarenes (). Origen wrote "for Ebion signifies 'poor' among the Jews, and those Jews who have received Jesus as Christ are called by the name of Ebionites." Tertullian was the first to write against a heresiarch called Ebion; scholars believe he derived this name from a literal reading of ''Ebionaioi'' as 'followers of Ebion', a derivation now considered mistaken for lack of any more substantial references to such a figure. The term ''the poor'' (Greek: ''ptōkhoí'') was still used in its original, more general sense. Modern Hebrew still uses the Biblical Hebrew term ''the needy'' for almsgiving to the needy at Purim.

Scholar James D. Tabor argues that the Ebionites most likely named themselves after the poor, the first of many groups of people mentioned in the Beatitudes of Jesus as blessed and meriting entry in the coming Kingdom of God on Earth.

History

Emergence

The earliest reference to a sect that might fit the description of the later Ebionites appears in Justin Martyr's ''Dialogue with Trypho'' (c. 155-60). Justin distinguishes between Jewish Christians who observe the Law of Moses but do not require its observance upon others and those who believe the Mosaic Law to be obligatory on all. Irenaeus (c. 180) was probably the first to use the term ''Ebionites'' to name a sect he labeled heretical "Judaizers" for " stubbornly clinging to the Law". Origen (c. 212) remarks that the name derives from the Hebrew word ''evyon'', meaning 'poor'. Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310–320 – 403) gives the most complete account in his heresiology called ''Panarion'', denouncing eighty heretical sects, among them the Ebionites. Epiphanius mostly gives general descriptions of their religious beliefs and includes quotations from their gospels, which have not survived. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the Ebionite movement "may have arisen about the time of the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem" (70 CE). The tentative dating of the origins of this sect depends on Epiphanius writing three centuries later and relying on information for the Ebionites from the '' Book of Elchasai'', which may not have had anything to do with the Ebionites.

Paul talks of his collection for the "poor among the saints" in the Jerusalem church, but this is generally taken as meaning the poorer members of the church as a whole.

The actual number of sects described as Ebionites is difficult to ascertain, as the contradictory patristic accounts in their attempt to distinguish various sects sometimes confuse them with each other. Other sects mentioned are the Carpocratians, the Cerinthians, the Elcesaites, the fourth century Nazarenes and the Sampsaeans, most of whom were Jewish Christian sects who held gnostic or other views rejected by the Ebionites. Epiphanius, however, mentions that a sect of Ebionites came to embrace some of these views despite keeping their name.

As the Ebionites are first mentioned as such in the second century, their earlier history and any relation to the first Jerusalem church remains obscure and a matter of contention. There is no evidence linking the origin of the later sect of the Ebionites with the First Jewish-Roman War of 66–70 CE or with the Jerusalem church led by James. Eusebius relates a tradition, probably based on Aristo of Pella, that the early Christians left Jerusalem just prior to the war and fled to Pella, Jordan beyond the Jordan River, but does not connect this with Ebionites. They were led by Simeon of Jerusalem (d. 107) and during the Second Jewish-Roman War of 115–117, they were persecuted by the Jewish followers of Bar Kochba for refusing to recognize his messianic claims. As late as Epiphanius (310–403), members of the Ebionite sect resided in Nabatea, and Paneas, Moabitis, and Kochaba in the region of Bashan, near Adraa. (citing Epiphanius' ''Anacephalaiosis'' 30.18.1.) From these places, they dispersed and went into Asia (Anatolia), Rome and Cyprus.

According to Harnack, the influence of Elchasaites places some Ebionites in the context of the gnostic movements widespread in Syria and the lands to the east.

Disappearance

After the end of the First Jewish–Roman War, the importance of the Jerusalem church began to fade. Jewish Christianity became dispersed throughout the Jewish diaspora in the Levant, where it was slowly eclipsed by Gentile Christianity, which then spread throughout the Roman Empire without competition from Jewish Christian sects. Once the Jerusalem church was eliminated during the Bar Kokhba revolt, which ended in 136 CE, the Ebionites gradually lost influence and followers. Some modern scholars, such as Hyam Maccoby, argue the decline of the Ebionites was due to marginalization and persecution by both Jews and Christians. Maccoby's views as expressed in his works from the 1980s and 1990s have, however, been nearly universally rejected by scholars. Following the defeat of the rebellion and the subsequent expulsion of Jews from Judea, Jerusalem became the Gentile city of Aelia Capitolina. Many of the Jewish Christians residing at Pella renounced their Jewish practices at this time and joined the mainstream Christian church. Those who remained at Pella and continued in obedience to the Law were labeled heretics. In 375, Epiphanius records the settlement of Ebionites on Cyprus, but by the 5th century, Theodoret of Cyrrhus reported that they were no longer present in the region.

The Ebionites are still attested, if as marginal communities, down to the 7th century. Some modern scholars argue that the Ebionites survived much longer and identify them with a sect encountered by the historian Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad around the year 1000. There is another possible reference to Ebionite communities has them existing around the 11th century in northwestern Arabia, in ''Sefer Ha'masaot'', the "Book of the Travels" of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, a rabbi from Spain. These communities were located in two cities, Tayma and "Tilmas", possibly Saada in Yemen. The 12th century Muslim historian Muhammad al-Shahrastani mentions Jews living in nearby Medina and Hejaz who accepted Jesus as a prophetic figure and followed traditional Judaism, rejecting mainstream Christian views. Some scholars propose that interactions between Ebionite communities and early Muslims played a role in shaping the Islamic perspective on Jesus.

Views and practices

Judaism, Gnosticism and Essenism

Most patristic sources portray the Ebionites as Jews who zealously followed the Law of Moses, revered Jerusalem as the holiest city and restricted table fellowship only to God-fearing Gentiles who converted to Judaism.

Some Church Fathers describe some Ebionites as departing from traditional Jewish principles of faith and practice. For example, Methodius of Olympus stated that the Ebionites believed that the prophets spoke only by their own power and not by the power of the Holy Spirit. Excerpt from St. Methodius of Olympus, ''Symposium on Virginity'', 8.10., "and with regard to the Spirit, such as the Ebionites, who contend that the prophets spoke only by their own power". Epiphanius of Salamis stated that the Ebionites possessed a separationist Christology, which claimed that Jesus and the Christ are two different beings, and, therefore, the Christ is an angel of God who was incarnated in Jesus when he was adopted as the son of God during his baptism, engaged in excessive ritual washing, denied parts of the Law deemed obsolete or corrupt, opposed animal sacrifice, practiced vegetarianism and celebrated a commemorative meal annually on or around Passover with unleavened bread and water only, in contrast to the daily Christian Eucharist. The reliability of Epiphanius' account of the Ebionites is questioned by some scholars. Modern scholar Shlomo Pines, for example, argues that the heterodox views and practices he ascribes to some Ebionites originated in Gnostic Christianity rather than Jewish Christianity and are characteristics of the Jewish Elcesaite sect, which Epiphanius mistakenly attributed to the Ebionites.

While mainstream biblical scholars do suppose some Essene influence on the nascent Jewish Christian church in some organizational, administrative and cultic respects, some scholars go beyond that assumption. Regarding the Ebionites specifically, a number of scholars have different theories on how the Ebionites may have developed from an Essene Jewish messianic sect. Hans-Joachim Schoeps argues that the conversion of some Essenes to Jewish Christianity after the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE may be the source of some Ebionites adopting Essene views and practices, while some conclude that the Essenes did not become Jewish Christians, but still had an influence on the Ebionites.

On John the Baptist

In the ''Gospel of the Ebionites'', as quoted by Epiphanius, John the Baptist and Jesus are portrayed as vegetarians. Referring to Epiphanius' quotation from the ''Gospel of the Ebionites'' in ''Panarion'' 30.13, "And his food, it says, was wild honey whose taste was of ''manna'', as cake in oil". Epiphanius states that the Ebionites had amended "locusts" () to "honey cakes" (). This emendation is not found in any other New Testament manuscript or translation, though a different vegetarian reading is found in a late Slavonic version of Josephus' ''War of the Jews''. Pines and other modern scholars propose that the Ebionites were projecting their own vegetarianism onto John the Baptist.

The strict vegetarianism of the Ebionites may have been a reaction to the cessation of animal sacrifices after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE and a safeguard against the consumption of unclean meat in a pagan environment. James Tabor, however, argues that Ebionite disdain for eating meat and the Temple sacrifice of animals is due to their preference for the ideal pre-Flood diet and what they took to be the original form of worship. In this view, the Ebionites had an interest in reviving the traditions inspired by pre- Sinai revelation, especially the time from Enoch to Noah.

On Jesus the Nazarene

The Church Fathers agree that most or all of the Ebionites rejected many of the precepts central to proto-orthodox Christianity, such as Jesus' divinity, pre-existence, and virgin birth. The Ebionites are described as emphasizing the humanity of Jesus as the biological son of Joseph and Mary, who, by virtue of his righteousness in perfectly following the letter and spirit of the Law of Moses, was adopted as the son of God to fulfill the Hebrew scriptures.

Origen (''Contra Celsum'' 5.61) and Eusebius ('' Historia Ecclesiastica'' 3.27.3) recognize some variation in the Christology of Ebionite sects; for example, that while all Ebionites denied Jesus' pre-existence, there was a sub-sect which did not deny the virgin birth. Theodoret, while dependent on earlier writers, draws the conclusion that the two sub-sects would have used different gospels. The Ebionites may have used only some or all of the Jewish–Christian gospels as additional scripture to the Hebrew Bible'', which omitted the first two chapters (on the nativity of Jesus) and started with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

The Ebionites viewed Jesus as a Messiah in the mold of a new "prophet like Moses" foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. They believed Jesus came to call all descendants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel who had strayed from the  covenant with God, as well as potential converts from all Gentile nations, to repent and follow both the Law of Moses and Jesus' own  expounding of the Law in order to become righteous and merit entry into the coming kingdom of God on Earth.

According to Epiphanius alone, the Ebionites believed Jesus' mission as prophet and reformer included proclaiming the abolishment of animal sacrifices, rather than substituting himself for them through intentional self-sacrifice. Consequently, they did not believe Jesus suffered and died for the atonement of the sins of Israelites or mankind. The Ebionites appear to have revered Jesus not as a savior, but as a martyr, who was arrested and sentenced to death by crucifixion, both for his messianic claim and his failed attempt at ending the Temple sacrificial system, in order to establish a more simple form of worship based on authentic repentance and works of mercy. Rejecting the belief in a physical resurrection of the dead, while embracing a belief in immortal human souls, some Ebionites may have believed Jesus was resurrected in a spiritual body, rather than a physical one.

On James the Just

Some of the Church Fathers argue that the Ebionites revered James the Just, brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem church, as the true successor to Jesus (rather than Peter) and an exemplar of righteousness. One of the popular primary connections of the Ebionites to James is that the '' Ascents of James'' in the Pseudo-Clementine literature are related to the Ebionites. The other popularly proposed connection is that mentioned by William Whiston in his 1794 edition of Josephus, where he notes that we learn from fragments of Hegesippus that the Ebionites interpreted a prophecy of Isaiah as foretelling the murder of James.

Scholars, including Robert Eisenman, E.g. : "As presented by Paul, James is the Leader of the early Church ''par excellence''. Terms like 'Bishop of the Jerusalem Church' or 'Leader of the Jerusalem Community' are of little actual moment at this point, because from the 40s to the 60s CE, when James held sway in Jerusalem, there really were no other centres of any importance." : "there can be little doubt that 'the Poor' was the name for James' Community in Jerusalem or that Community descended from it in the East in the next two-three centuries, ''the Ebionites.''"; : "For James 2:5, of course, it is '"; : "...''the Righteous Teacher'' and those of his followers (called ''the Poor'' or ''Ebionim'' - in our view, James and his Community, pointedly referred to in the early Church literature, as will by now have become crystal clear, as ''the Ebionites'' or ''the Poor'')." , Will Durant, Michael Goulder, Gerd Ludemann, : "therefore, it seems that we should conclude that Justin's Jewish Christians are a historical connecting link between the Jewish Christianity of Jerusalem before the year 70 and the Jewish Christian communities summed up in Irenaeus' account of the heretics." John Painter and James Tabor, argue for some form of continuity of the Jerusalem church into the second and third centuries and that the Ebionites regarded James as their apostolic founder.

Conservative Christian scholars, such as Richard Bauckham, hold that James and his circle in the early Jerusalem church held a " high Christology" (i.e. Jesus was a pre-existent angelic or divine being) while the Ebionites held a " low Christology" (i.e. Jesus was a mere man adopted by God). As an alternative to the traditional view of Eusebius that the Jewish Jerusalem church gradually adopted the proto-orthodox Christian theology of the Gentile church, Bauckham and others suggest immediate successors to the Jerusalem church under James and the other relatives of Jesus were the Nazarenes who accepted Paul as an "apostle to the Gentiles", while the Ebionites were a later schismatic sect of the early second century that rejected Paul. Reproduced in part by permission of the author.

On Paul the Apostle

The Ebionites rejected the Pauline Epistles, and, according to Origen, they viewed Paul as an " apostate from the Law". The Ebionites may have been spiritual and physical descendants of the "super-apostles" — talented and respected Jewish Christian ministers in favour of mandatory circumcision of converts — who sought to undermine Paul in Galatia and Corinth.

Epiphanius relates that the Ebionites opposed Paul, who they saw as responsible for the idea that Gentile Christians did not have to be circumcised or follow the Law of Moses, and named him an apostate from Judaism. Epiphanius further relates that some Ebionites alleged that Paul was a Greek who converted to Judaism in order to marry the daughter of a High Priest of Israel, but apostatized when she rejected him.

Writings

No writings of the Ebionites have survived outside of a few quotes by others and they are in uncertain form. The ''Recognitions of Clement'' and the ''Clementine Homilies'', two third century Christian works, are regarded by general scholarly consensus as largely or entirely Jewish Christian in origin and reflect Jewish Christian beliefs. The exact relationship between the Ebionites and these writings is debated, but Epiphanius's description of some Ebionites in ''Panarion'' 30 bears a striking similarity to the ideas in the ''Recognitions'' and ''Homilies''. Scholar Glenn Alan Koch speculates that Epiphanius likely relied upon a version of the ''Homilies'' as a source document. Some scholars also speculate that the core of the ''Gospel of Barnabas'', beneath a polemical medieval Muslim overlay, may have been based upon an Ebionite or gnostic document. The existence and origin of this source continues to be debated by scholars.

John Arendzen classifies the Ebionite writings into four groups.

Gospel of the Ebionites

Irenaeus stated that the Ebionites used the ''Gospel of Matthew'' exclusively. Eusebius of Caesarea wrote that they used only the ''Gospel of the Hebrews''.Eusebius of Caesarea,
Church History
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From this, the minority view of James R. Edwards and Bodley's Librarian Edward Nicholson claim that there was only one Hebrew gospel in circulation, Matthew's ''Gospel of the Hebrews''. They also note that the title ''Gospel of the Ebionites'' was never used by anyone in the early church. Epiphanius contended that the gospel the Ebionites used was written by Matthew and called the "Gospel of the Hebrews". Because Epiphanius said that it was "not wholly complete, but falsified and mutilated", writers such as Walter Richard Cassels and Pierson Parker consider it a different "edition" of Matthew's Hebrew Gospel; however, internal evidence from the quotations in ''Panarion'' 30.13.4 and 30.13.7 suggest that the text was a gospel harmony originally composed in Greek.

Mainstream scholarly texts, such as the standard edition of the New Testament apocrypha edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher, generally refer to the text Jerome cites as used by the Ebionites as the ''Gospel of the Ebionites'', though this is not a term current in the early church.

Clementine literature

The collection of New Testament apocrypha known as the Clementine literature included three works known in antiquity as the ''Circuits of Peter'', the ''Acts of the Apostles'' and a work usually titled the ''Ascents of James''. They are specifically referenced by Epiphanius in his polemic against the Ebionites. The first-named books are substantially contained in the Homilies of Clement under the title of Clement's ''Compendium of Peter's itinerary sermons'' and in the ''Recognitions'' attributed to Clement. They form an early Christian didactic fiction to express Jewish Christian views, such as the primacy of James the Just, brother of Jesus; their connection with the episcopal see of Rome; and their antagonism to Simon Magus, as well as gnostic doctrines. Scholar Robert E. Van Voorst opines of the ''Ascents of James'' (R 1.33–71), "There is, in fact, no section of the Clementine literature about whose origin in Jewish Christianity one may be more certain". Despite this assertion, he expresses reservations that the material is genuinely Ebionite in origin.

Symmachus

Symmachus produced a translation of the Hebrew Bible, which was used by Jerome and is still extant in fragments, and his lost '' Hypomnemata'',Symmachus' Hypomnemata is mentioned by Eusebius in his '' Historia Ecclesiae'', VI, xvii: "As to these translators it should be stated that Symmachus was an Ebionite. But the heresy of the Ebionites, as it is called, asserts that Christ was the son of Joseph and Mary, considering him a mere man, and insists strongly on keeping the law in a Jewish manner, as we have seen already in this history. Commentaries of Symmachus are still extant in which he appears to support this heresy by attacking the ''Gospel of Matthew''. Origen states that he obtained these and other commentaries of Symmachus on the Scriptures from a certain Juliana, who, he says, received the books by inheritance from Symmachus himself."; Jerome, ''De Viris Illustribus'', chapter 54; written to counter the canonical ''Gospel of Matthew''. Although lost, the ''Hypomnemata'' is probably identical to ''De distinctione præceptorum'' mentioned by Ebed Jesu (Assemani, ''Bibl. Or.'', III, 1). The identity of Symmachus as an Ebionite has been questioned in recent scholarship. Skarsaune argues that Eusebius may have only that Symmachus was an Ebionite based on his commentaries on certain passages in the Hebrew Scriptures. E.g., Eusebius mentions Isa 7:14 where Symmachus reads "young woman" based on the Hebrew text rather than "virgin" as in the LXX, and he interprets this commentary as attacking the ''Gospel of Matthew''.(''Dem. ev.'' 7.1) and (''Hist. eccl.'' 5.17).

Elcesaites

Hippolytus of Rome reported that a Jewish Christian, Alcibiades of Apamea, appeared in Rome teaching from a book which he claimed to be the revelation which a righteous man, Elchasai, had received from an angel, though Hippolytus suspected that Alcibiades was himself the author. Shortly afterwards, Origen recorded a sect, the Elcesaites, with the same beliefs. Epiphanius claimed the Ebionites also used this book as a source for some of their beliefs and practices (''Panarion'' 30.17). Epiphanius explains the origin of the name Elchasai to be Aramaic ''El Ksai'', meaning "hidden power" (''Panarion'' 19.2.1). Scholar Petri Luomanen believes the book to have been written originally in Aramaic as a Jewish apocalypse, probably in Babylonia in 116–117.

Religious and critical perspectives

Christianity

The mainstream Christian view of the Ebionites is partly based on interpretation of the polemical views of the Church Fathers, who portrayed them as heretics for rejecting many of the proto-orthodox Christian views of Jesus and allegedly having an improper fixation on the Law of Moses at the expense of the grace of God. In this view, the Ebionites may have been the descendants of a Jewish Christian sect within the early Jerusalem church which broke away from its proto-orthodox theology possibly in reaction to the Council of Jerusalem compromise of 50 CE.

Islam

Islam charges Christianity with having distorted the pure monotheism of the God of Abraham through the doctrines of the Trinity and through the veneration of icons. Paul Addae and Tim Bowes write that the Ebionites were faithful to the original teachings of the historical Jesus and thus shared Islamic view of Jesus' humanity and also rejected proto-orthodox theories of atonement.

Furthermore, the Islamic view of Jesus is compatible with the view of a minor sect within the Ebionites who embraced rather than denied the virgin birth of Jesus.

Hans Joachim Schoeps observes that the Christianity which Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, was likely to have encountered on the Arabian peninsula "was not the state religion of Byzantium but a schismatic Christianity characterized by Ebionite and Monophysite views":

Irfan Shahîd, a Palestinian Christian scholar in the field of Oriental studies, counters that there is no evidence that the Ebionites remained until the 7th century, much less that they had a presence in Mecca. Irfan Shahîd. ''Islam And Oriens Christianus: Makka 610-622 Ad''. in Mark Swanson et al, eds. ''The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam''. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006. p18.

Judaism

The counter-missionary group Jews for Judaism favorably mentions the historical Ebionites in their literature in order to argue that "Messianic Judaism", as promoted by missionary groups such as Jews for Jesus, is Pauline Christianity misrepresenting itself as Judaism. In 2007, some Messianic commentators expressed concern over a possible existential crisis for the Messianic movement in Israel due to a resurgence of Ebionitism, specifically the problem of Israeli Messianic leaders apostatizing from the belief in the divinity of Jesus.

See also

References

Literature

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External links

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Yahad Ebyoni: Ebionite Jewish Community
(archived website of a modern Ebionite revival group founded by Shemayah Phillips in 1985)

The Ebionite Home Page by Allan Cronshaw

{{Heresies condemned by the Catholic Church, state=collapsed

Christian terminology
Christianity and Judaism related controversies
Denial of the virgin birth of Jesus
Early Jewish Christian sects
Elcesaites
Heresy in ancient Christianity
Jewish religious movements
Nature of Jesus Christ
Nontrinitarian denominations
Patristics