Ebionites (, derived from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, , meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a

Jewish Christian Jewish Christians were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Roman Judea during the late Second Temple period, under the Herodian tetrarchy (1st century AD). These Jews believed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and ...

sect that existed during the early centuries of the

Common Era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

. 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 The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

—

Irenaeus Irenaeus ( or ; ; ) was a Greeks, Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christianity, Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by oppos ...

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

, 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 Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a single ...

, 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 The Law of Moses ( ), also called the Mosaic Law, is the law said to have been revealed to Moses by God. The term primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Heb ...

, was adopted as the son of God to be a

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

. 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 Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

), their use of additional scripture to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Jewish–Christian gospels), and their lifestyle practices ( religious vegetarianism, ritual washing, etc.). These variations reflect the evolving and schismatic nature of

early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

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 The term ''historical Jesus'' refers to the life and teachings of Jesus as interpreted through critical historical methods, in contrast to what are traditionally religious interpretations. It also considers the historical and cultural context ...

himself.

Name

The hellenized Hebrew term ''Ebionite'' was first applied by

in the second century without making mention of Nazarenes ().

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 Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ...

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 Purim (; , ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Genocide, annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman, as it is recounted in the Book of Esther (u ...

. 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 The Beatitudes () are blessings recounted by Jesus in Matthew 5:3–10 within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, and four in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke, followed by four woes which mirror the blessings. In ...

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

as blessed and meriting entry in the coming

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...

on Earth.

History

Emergence

The earliest reference to a sect that might fit the description of the later Ebionites appears in

Justin Martyr Justin, known posthumously as Justin Martyr (; ), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and Philosophy, philosopher. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue did survive. The ''First Apolog ...

's '' Dialogue with Trypho'' (c. 155-60). Justin distinguishes between

s who observe the

but do not require its observance upon others and those who believe the Mosaic Law to be obligatory on all.

(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".

(c. 212) remarks that the name derives from the

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

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

s, 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 Elcesaites, Elkasaites, Elkesaites or Elchasaites were an ancient Jewish Christian sect in Lower Mesopotamia, then the province of Asoristan in the Sasanian Empire that was active between 100 and 400 CE. The members of this sect, which origi ...

, the fourth century Nazarenes and the Sampsaeans, most of whom were Jewish Christian sects who held

gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

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 Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

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,

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

itis, and Kochaba in the region of Bashan, near

Adraa Daraa (, Levantine Arabic: ) is a city in southwestern Syria, north of the Jordan–Syria border, border with Jordan. It is the capital of Daraa Governorate in the Hauran region. Located south of Damascus on the Damascus–Amman highway, ...

. (citing Epiphanius' ''Anacephalaiosis'' 30.18.1.) From these places, they dispersed and went into

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

(Anatolia),

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. According to Harnack, the influence of

Elchasaites The Elcesaites, Elkasaites, Elkesaites or Elchasaites were an ancient Jewish Christian sect in Lower Mesopotamia, then the province of Asoristan in the Sasanian Empire that was active between 100 and 400 CE. The members of this sect, which origi ...

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 The Jewish diaspora ( ), alternatively the dispersion ( ) or the exile ( ; ), consists of Jews who reside outside of the Land of Israel. Historically, it refers to the expansive scattering of the Israelites out of their homeland in the Southe ...

in the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, where it was slowly eclipsed by Gentile Christianity, which then spread throughout the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

without competition from Jewish Christian sects. Once the Jerusalem church was eliminated during the

Bar Kokhba revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 AD) was a major uprising by the Jews of Judaea (Roman province), Judaea against the Roman Empire, marking the final and most devastating of the Jewish–Roman wars. Led by Simon bar Kokhba, the rebels succeeded ...

, 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 Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...

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 The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

, in ''

Sefer Sefer may refer to: * Sefer (Hebrew), a term for a book People with the surname * Franjo Šefer (born 1905), Yugoslav tennis player * Bela Šefer, Yugoslav footballer playing in 1924 People with the forename * Sefer Reis, Turkish privateer and O ...

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 Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

and

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

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

, revered

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

as the holiest city and restricted table fellowship only to God-fearing Gentiles who

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by convertin ...

. 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 The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

. 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 In Christianity, Christology is a branch of Christian theology, theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would b ...

, 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 Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

, engaged in excessive ritual washing, denied parts of the Law deemed obsolete or corrupt, opposed

animal sacrifice Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Chris ...

, practiced

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

and celebrated a commemorative meal annually on or around

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

with unleavened bread and water only, in contrast to the daily Christian

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

. 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 Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse academic discipline, disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the Biblical canon#Jewish canons, canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Judais ...

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 John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some 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 Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

' '' 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 Enoch ( ; ''Henṓkh'') is a biblical figure and Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch prior to Noah's flood, and the son of Jared (biblical figure), Jared and father of Methuselah. He was of the Antediluvian period in the Hebrew Bible. The text of t ...

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

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'

, 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

, was adopted as the son of God to fulfill the Hebrew scriptures. Origen (''

Contra Celsum ''Against Celsus'' ( Greek: Κατὰ Κέλσου, ''Kata Kelsou''; Latin: ''Contra Celsum''), preserved entirely in Greek, is a major apologetics work by the Church Father Origen of Alexandria, written in around 248 AD, countering the writ ...

'' 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 The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

'', which omitted the first two chapters (on the

nativity of Jesus The Nativity or birth of Jesus Christ is found in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and Gospel of Luke, Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, in Herodian kingdom, Roman-controlled Judea, th ...

) and started with the baptism of Jesus by

. The Ebionites viewed Jesus as a

in the mold of a new "prophet like Moses" foretold in

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

18:15-19. They believed Jesus came to call all descendants of the

Twelve Tribes of Israel The Twelve Tribes of Israel ( , ) are described in the Hebrew Bible as being the descendants of Jacob, a Patriarchs (Bible), Hebrew patriarch who was a son of Isaac and thereby a grandson of Abraham. Jacob, later known as Israel (name), 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 The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms kingdom of God and kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...

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 A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

, who was arrested and sentenced to death by

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

, 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

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

s, 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

, 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 (theologian), 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 succession#Apostolic founders, apostolic founder. Conservative Christian scholars, such as Richard Bauckham, hold that James and his circle in the early Jerusalem church held a "Christology#Development of "low Christology" and "high Christology", high Christology" (i.e. Jesus was a angel of the Lord, pre-existent angelic or divine being) while the Ebionites held a "Christology#Development of "low Christology" and "high Christology", low Christology" (i.e. Jesus was a mere man adoptionism, 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 Church of Antioch, 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 schism, 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, 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 in the New Testament, apostles" — talented and respected Jewish Christian Minister (Christianity), ministers in favour of Circumcision controversy in early Christianity, mandatory circumcision of converts — who sought to undermine Paul in Galatia and Ancient Corinth, Corinth. Epiphanius relates that the Ebionites opposed Paul, who they saw as responsible for the idea that Gentile Christians did not have to be Circumcision, circumcised or follow the

, and named him an apostasy in Judaism, apostate from Judaism. Epiphanius further relates that some Ebionites alleged that Paul was a Greek who

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 Clementine literature, ''Recognitions of Clement'' and the ''Clementine Homilies'', two third century Christian works, are regarded by general scholarly consensus as largely or entirely Jewish Christians, 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 Islam, 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 The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

'' exclusively. Eusebius of Caesarea wrote that they used only the ''Gospel of the Hebrews''.Eusebius of Caesarea,
Church History
'

From this, the minority view of James R. Edwards and Bodley's Librarian Edward Nicholson (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 Holy See, episcopal see of Rome; and their antagonism to Simon Magus, as well as gnosticism, 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 The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Symmachus' Hypomnemata is mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebius in his ''Church History (Eusebius), 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 (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 of Elchasai, 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,

recorded a sect, the

, 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 language, 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

, who portrayed them as Heresy, heretics for rejecting many of the Proto-orthodox Christianity, proto-orthodox Christian views of Jesus and allegedly having an improper fixation on the

at the expense of the divine grace, grace of God. In this view, the Ebionites may have been the descendants of a

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

and thus shared Islamic view of Jesus' humanity and also rejected proto-orthodox theories of Salvation in Christianity, 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 Monophysitism, 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 proselytization and counter-proselytization of Jews, 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 Apostasy, apostatizing from the belief in the divinity of Jesus.

References

Literature

* * * * * * *

External links

*
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