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{{Short description|Early Christian sect}}
{{Jewish Christianity}}
{{About|the early Jewish Christian sect|the gospel associated with them|Gospel of the Ebionites}}
'''Ebionites''', or ]: {{lang|grc|Ἐβιωναῖοι}} ''Ebionaioi'', (derived from ] '''אביונים''' ''ebyonim,'' ''ebionim'', meaning the poor or poor ones), is a ] term referring to a ] sect or sects that existed during the first centuries of the ].<ref>F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston (editors), ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'', Oxford University Press, 1989. Article: ''Ebionites''</ref> They regarded ] as the ]<ref></ref> and insisted on the necessity of following ].<ref>Kaufmann Kohler, , in: Isidore Singer & Cyrus Alder (ed.), ''Jewish Encyclopedia'', 1901-1906.</ref> The ''Ebionites'' used only one of the ], revered ] and rejected ] as an ].<ref name="Maccoby 1987"/> Their name suggests that they placed a special value on ].
{{Jewish Christianity|Ancient groups}}


'''Ebionites''' ({{langx|grc|Ἐβιωναῖοι|Ebiōnaîoi}}, derived from ] {{Lang|he|אֶבְיוֹנִים}},<ref>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ebionites |volume=8 |page=842}}</ref> {{Lang|he-latn|ʾEḇyōnīm}}, meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a ] sect that existed during the early centuries of the ],<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/177608/Ebionites | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Ebionites|access-date=2022-11-14}}</ref><ref name="CrossCross2005">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA526|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-19-280290-3|pages=526–}}</ref> whose name may have been taken from the first group of people mentioned in the ] of ] as ] and meriting entry in the coming ] on Earth.<ref name="Tabor 2006">{{Cite book| author = James D. Tabor | author-link = James Tabor | title = ]: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity| publisher = Simon & Schuster | year = 2006| isbn = 978-0-7432-8723-4}}</ref>
Since historical records by the Ebionites are scarce, fragmentary and disputed, much of what is known or conjectured about the ''Ebionites'' derives from the ], who wrote ] against the ''Ebionites'', whom they deemed ] ].<ref name="Klijn & Reinink 1973">{{Cite book| author = A.F.J. Klijn & G.J. Reinink| title = Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects| publisher = Brill | year = 1973 | isbn = 9004037632 }}</ref><ref>See also ]</ref> Consequently very little about the Ebionite sect or sects is known with certainty, and most, if not all, statements about them are conjectural.


Since historical records by the Ebionites are scarce, fragmentary and disputed, much of what is known or conjectured about them derives from the ]s of their ] opponents, specifically the ] — ], ], ], and ] — who saw the Ebionites as distinct from other Jewish Christian sects, such as the ].<ref name="MarjanenLuomanen2008">''''. BRILL; 2008. {{ISBN|90-04-17038-3}}. {{p.|267–}}.</ref><ref name="Klijn & Reinink 1973">{{Cite book| first1 = AFJ | last1 = Klijn | first2 = GJ | last2 = Reinink | title = Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects| publisher = Brill | year = 1973 | isbn = 90-04-03763-2}}</ref><ref name="Hegg 2007">{{Cite web| first = Tim | last = Hegg | title = The Virgin Birth — An Inquiry into the Biblical Doctrine | work = TorahResource | year = 2007 | url = http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/VirginBirth.pdf | access-date= 13 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821045706/http://torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/VirginBirth.pdf|archive-date=2007-08-21 }}</ref><ref name="Nazarene/Ebionite">{{Cite book| author = Jeffrey Butz | title = The Secret Legacy of Jesus| publisher = Inner Traditions | year = 2010| isbn = 978-1-59477-307-5|quote-page=124|quote=In fact, the Ebionites and the Nazarenes are one and the same|postscript=none}}; {{p.|137}}: "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."; {{p.|137}}: "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."</ref>
Many scholars distinguish the ''Ebionites'' from other Jewish Christian groups e.g. the ].<ref name="Hegg 2007">{{Cite journal| author = Tim Hegg | title = The Virgin Birth - An Inquiry into the Biblical Doctrine | publisher = TorahResource | year = 2007 | url = http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/VirginBirth.pdf | accessdate=2007-08-13|format=PDF}}</ref>


The Church Fathers generally agree on key points about the Ebionites, such as their ] and rejection of ] beliefs in Jesus' ], ], and ]; they argue the Ebionites believed that Jesus was a ], born the natural son of ] and ], who, by virtue of his ] in perfectly following the ], was ] to be a ].<ref name="Ehrman2005-lc" />
==Name==
The term ''Ebionites'' derives from the ] אביונים Ebionim, meaning "the Poor Ones",<ref name="Uhlhorn"/><ref>The word is still in use in that sense in contemporary Israeli Hebrew</ref> which has parallels in the ] and the self-given term of pious Jewish circles.<ref name="RGG"/><ref>PsSal 10, 6; 15, 1; 1 QpHab XII, 3.6.10</ref> The term "the poor" was at first a common designation for all Christians - a reference to their material as well their ].<ref name="Uhlhorn"/><ref>], ''Octavius, 36'': "That we are called the poor is not our disgrace, but our glory."</ref><ref>The Greek equivalent (]: {{lang|grc|πτωχοί}})'' ptōkhoi'' appears in the ] (; ), possibly as an honorary title of the ].</ref> Following ]s within the early Church, the graecized Hebrew term "Ebionite" was applied exclusively to ] separated from the developing ], and later in the 4th century a specific group of Jewish Christians or to a Jewish Christian sect distinct from the Nazarenes. All the while, the designation "the Poor" in other languages was still used in its original, more general sense.<ref name="Uhlhorn"/><ref name="RGG"/><ref name = "TaborNazEbiJames">James Tabor, ''''</ref><ref name="Eisenman p. 4,45 1997">Eisenman (1997), p. 4, 45.</ref> ] says "for Ebion signifies “poor” among the Jews, and those Jews who have received Jesus as Christ are called by the name of Ebionites."<ref>Origen, Contra Celsum, II, 1.</ref><ref></ref> ] was first to write against a non-existent ] called ] and scholars believe he derived the name Ebion from a literal reading of ''Ebionaioi'' as meaning "followers of Ebion", a derivation now considered mistaken.<ref name="Uhlhorn"/><ref name="RGG"/>


According to these patristic sources, the Ebionites insisted on the necessity of following both the Law of Moses and the ] to be righteous; they revered ] as an exemplar of righteousness and the true successor to Jesus (rather than ]), while rejecting ] as a ] and an ].<ref name="Kohler">{{Cite book|last=Kohler|first=Kaufmann|year=1901–1906|editor1-last=Singer|editor1-first=Isidore|editor2-last=Alder|editor2-first=Cyrus|chapter=EBIONITES (from = 'the poor')|chapter-url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5411-ebionites|title=Jewish Encyclopedia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930031429/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5411-ebionites|access-date=26 July 2020|archive-date=2020-09-30}}</ref><ref name="Maccoby 1987">{{Cite book| author = Hyam Maccoby| title = The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity| pages = 172–183| publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1987 | isbn = 0-06-250585-8| author-link = Hyam Maccoby|postscript=none}}, .</ref><ref name="Luomanen 2007">{{cite book|author=Petri Luomanen|title=Jewish Christianity Reconsidered|publisher=Fortress Press|editor=Matt Jackson-McCabe|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8006-3865-8}}</ref>{{rp|p=88}}
The divergent application of the term "Ebionite" persists today, as some authors choose to label as "Ebionites", Jewish Christians that maintained a continuity with the ] of the ] under ]<ref name = "TaborNazEbiJames"/><ref name="Eisenman p. 4,45 1997"/><ref name="Eisenman 2006">{{cite book| author=Robert Eisenman| title=The New Testament Code| pages=34,145,273| publisher=Watkins Publishing| year=2006| isbn=978-1-84293-186-8}}</ref> while others, though agreeing about the historical events, use it in a more restricted sense.<ref name="Maccoby 1987"/> Mainstream scholarship commonly uses the term in the restricted sense.<ref name="Uhlhorn"/><ref name="RGG"/>


However, the Church Fathers diverge on details regarding some specific Ebionite views about Jesus (the nature and mission of ]), their use of additional ] to the ] (one, some or all of the ]), and their lifestyle practices (], ], etc.). These variations reflect the esoteric and evolving nature of ] sects, as well as the tendency of patristic polemicists to conflate different sects and misattribute unusual views and practices, more typical of ] than Jewish Christianity, to Ebionites to discredit them.<ref name="Pines1966"/>{{rp|p=39}}
== History ==
The earliest reference to a group that might fit the description of the Ebionites appears in ]'s ''Dialogue with Trypho'' (c. 140). Justin distinguishes between ] who observe the ] but do not require its observance upon others, and those who believe the Mosaic Law to be obligatory on all.<ref name="Justin">Justin Martyr, .</ref> ] (c. 180) was probably the first to use the term "Ebionites" to describe a heretical judaizing sect, which he regarded as ].<ref name="Irenaeus">Irenaeus of Lyon, '']'' ; .</ref> ] (c. 212) remarks that the name derives from the ] word "evyon," meaning "poor."<ref>Origen, .</ref> ] in the 4th century gives the most complete but also questionable account in his ] called '']'', denouncing eighty heretical sects, among them the Ebionites.<ref name="Epiphanius30">Epiphanius of Salamis, '']'', 30.</ref><ref name="Koch 1976">{{Cite book| author = Glenn Alan Koch| title = A Critical Investigation of Epiphanius' Knowledge of the Ebionites: A Translation and Critical Discussion of 'Panarion' 30| publisher = University of Pennsylvania| year = 1976}}</ref> Epiphanius mostly gives general descriptions of their religious beliefs and includes quotations from their ]s, which have not survived. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the Ebionite movement may have arisen about the time of the ] (AD 70).<ref></ref> Others have argued that the Ebionites were more faithful to the authentic ] of Jesus and constituted the mainstream of the Jerusalem church before being gradually ] by the ].<ref name="Maccoby 1987">{{Cite book| author = ]| title = The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity| pages = 172–183.| publisher = HarperCollins | year = 1987 | isbn = 0062505858}}, </ref><ref name="Tabor 2006">{{Cite book| author = ] | title = The Jesus Dynasty: A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity| publisher = Simon & Schuster | year = 2006| isbn = 0743287231}}</ref><ref name="Tabor, authentic followers">Tabor (2006), p. 286, 289-291.</ref><ref name="Schoeps 1969">{{Cite book| author = Hans-Joachim Schoeps| title = Jewish Christianity: Factional Disputes in the Early Church. Translation Douglas R. A. Hare| publisher = Fortress Press| year = 1969}}</ref><ref name="Eisenman p. 5-6 1997">{{Cite book| author = ]| title = James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls | pages = 5–6.| publisher = Viking | year = 1997 | isbn = 1842930265}}</ref><ref>Howard Bream's review of H. J. Schoeps, ''Theologie und Geschichte des Judenchristentums'' (1949), in: ''The Journal of Religion'' (1952), p. 58: "In the development of Christianity itself, he believes that they were in many respects closer to the teachings of Jesus than were the Gentiles. This is true particularly where the Ebionites differed from normative Judaism, as in rejecting animal sacrifice and in deleting certain passages from Scripture with the claim that they were interpolations."</ref>


Some modern critical scholars argue the Church Fathers' condemnation of Ebionites as "]" and "]" is both ironic and tragic, since many Ebionite views may have been closer to the authentic views of not only the ] but also of the ] himself.<ref name="Tabor 2006"/><ref name="Ehrman2005-lc" />
The actual number of groups described as Ebionites is difficult to ascertain, as the contradictory ] accounts in their attempt to distinguish various sects, sometimes confuse them with each other.<ref name="RGG"/> Other groups mentioned are the ], the ], the ], the Nazarenes, the ]s, and the ], most of whom were Jewish Christian sects who held ] or other views rejected by the Ebionites. Epiphanius, however, mentions that a group of Ebionites came to embrace some of these views despite keeping their name.<ref name="Wace 1911">{{Cite book| author = Henry Wace & William Piercy | title = A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography | year = 1911 | url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Ebionism%20and%20Ebionites| accessdate = 2007-08-01}}</ref>


==Name==
As the Ebionites are first mentioned as such in the 2nd century, their earlier history and their relation to the first ] remains obscure and a matter of contention. Many scholars link the origin of the Ebionites with the ] of 66–70 CE. Prior to this, they are considered to be part of the Jerusalem church led by the ] and later by Jesus' brother, or cousin, ]. Eusebius relates a tradition, probably based on ], that the early Christians left Jerusalem just prior to the war and fled to ] beyond the ].<ref name="Uhlhorn">G. Uhlhorn, "Ebionites", in: ''A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology'', 3rd ed. (edited by Philip Schaff), p. 684–685 (vol. 2).</ref><ref name="RGG">O. Cullmann, "Ebioniten", in: ''Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', p. 7435 (vol. 2).</ref> They were led by ] (d. 107) and during the ], they were persecuted by the Jewish followers of ] for refusing to recognize his messianic claims.<ref name="Wace 1911"/>
The hellenized Hebrew term ''Ebionite'' was first applied by ] in the ] without making mention of Nazarenes ({{circa|180 CE}}).<ref>Antti Marjanen, Petri Luomanen "A companion to second-century Christian "heretics" p250 "It is interesting to note that the Ebionites first appear in the catalogues in the latter half of the second century. The earliest reference to the Ebionites was included in a catalogue used by Irenaeus in his Refutation and Subversion ..."</ref><ref>Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible 2000 {{p.|364}} "EBIONITES Name for Jewish Christians first witnessed in Irenaeus (Adv. haer. 1.26.2; Gk. ebionaioi) ca. 180 ce".</ref> ] wrote "for Ebion signifies 'poor' among the Jews, and those Jews who have received Jesus as Christ are called by the name of Ebionites."<ref>{{cite book|author=Origen|title=Contra Celsum|at=II, 1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.vi.ix.ii.i.html|title=Philip Schaff: ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second - Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=www.ccel.org}}</ref> ] was the first to write against a ] called ]; 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.<ref name="Uhlhorn"/><ref name="RGG"/> The term ''the poor'' (Greek: ''ptōkhoí'') was still used in its original, more general sense.<ref name="Uhlhorn"/><ref name="RGG"/> Modern Hebrew still uses the Biblical Hebrew term ''the needy'' both in histories of Christianity for "Ebionites" ({{Script/Hebrew|אביונים}}) and for almsgiving to the needy at ].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford English-Hebrew Dictionary|isbn=9780198601722}}</ref>

== History ==
] showing the location of Pella.]] ] showing the location of Pella.]]
According to some{{who|date=October 2010}} scholars, it was ], that the Nazarenes/Ebionites were first recognized as a distinct group when some Jewish Christians receded farther from mainstream Christianity, and approximated more and more closely to Rabbinical Judaism, resulting in a "degeneration" into an exclusively Jewish sect.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} Some from these groups later opened themselves to either ] (and possibly ]) or ] influences, as is seen in the book of ].<ref name="Kirby">{{Cite journal| author = Peter Kirby| title = Book of Elchasai | url = http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/elchasai.html | accessdate = 2007-08-18}}</ref> The latter influence places some Ebionites in the context of the ].<ref name="RGG"/><ref name="Harnack">], ''The History of Dogma'', , 1907, ISBN 9781579100674.</ref>


===Emergence===
After the end of the ], the importance of the ] began to fade. ] became dispersed throughout the ] in the ], where it was slowly eclipsed by gentile Christianity, which then spread throughout the ] without competition from "judaizing" Christian groups.<ref name="Brandon 1968">{{Cite book| author = Brandon, S. G. F| title = The fall of Jerusalem and the Christian church: A study of the effects of the Jewish overthrow of A. D. 70 on Christianity| publisher = S.P. C.K | year = 1968 | isbn = 0281004501 }}</ref> Once the Jerusalem church, still headed by ], was eliminated during the ] in 135, the Ebionites gradually lost influence and followers. According to one writer their decline was due to marginalization and "]" by both Jews and Christians.<ref name="Maccoby 1987"/> Following the defeat of the rebellion and the expulsion of all Jews from Judea, Jerusalem became the Gentile city of ]. Many of the Jewish Christians residing at Pella renounced their Jewish practices at this time and joined to the mainstream Christian church. Those who remained at Pella and continued in obedience to the Law were deemed heretics.<ref name="Gibbon 2003">{{Cite book| author = ]| title = ], ch. 15, p. 390–391.| publisher = Random House, NY| year = 2003 | isbn = 0375758119}} {{Cite book| title = Chapter 15 | url = http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/g/gibbon/edward/g43d/chapter15.html | accessdate = 2007-08-02}}</ref> In 375, Epiphanius records the settlement of Ebionites on Cyprus, but by the mid-5th century, ] reported that they were no longer present in the region.<ref name="Wace 1911"/>
The earliest reference to a sect that might fit the description of the later Ebionites appears in ]'s '']'' (c. 155-60).{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} 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.<ref name="Justin">{{cite book|author=Justin Martyr|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01283.htm|title=Dialogue with Trypho|at=47}}</ref> ] (c. 180) was probably the first to use the term ''Ebionites'' to name a sect he labeled heretical "]" for "]".<ref name="Irenaeus">{{cite book|author=Irenaeus of Lyon|title-link=Against Heresies (Irenaeus)|title=Adversus Haereses|at=; }}</ref> ] (c. 212) remarks that the name derives from the ] word ''evyon'', meaning 'poor'.<ref>{{cite book|author=Origen|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04124.htm|title=De Principiis|at=IV, 22}}</ref> ] (c. 310–320 – 403) gives the most complete account in his ] called '']'', denouncing eighty heretical sects, among them the Ebionites.<ref name="Epiphanius">{{cite book|author=Epiphanius of Salamis|title=Panarion|title-link=Panarion}}</ref>{{rp|at=30}}<ref name="Koch 1976">{{Cite book| author = Glenn Alan Koch| title = A Critical Investigation of Epiphanius' Knowledge of the Ebionites: A Translation and Critical Discussion of 'Panarion' 30| publisher = University of Pennsylvania| year = 1976}}</ref> Epiphanius mostly gives general descriptions of their religious beliefs and includes quotations from their ]s, which have not survived. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the Ebionite movement "may have arisen about the time of the ]" (70 CE).<ref name="Britannica"/> 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 '']'', which may not have had anything to do with the Ebionites.<ref>Hakkinen, Sakara. "Ebionites," in Marjanen, Antti, and Petri Luomanen, eds. ''A Companion to Second-Century Christian'Heretics''. Vol. 76. Brill, 2008, 257–278, esp. 259</ref>


] 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 rather than a ].<ref>Some scholars see the title present already in Paul's references to a collection for the "poor" in Jerusalem (Gal.1:10). But in Rom.15:26 Paul distinguishes this sect from the other Jerusalem believers by speaking of "the poor among the saints." In 2 Cor.9:12 Paul further confirms the economic, or literal, aspect by speaking of the collection as making up for "the deficiencies of the saints". E. Stanley Jones, '"Ebionites", in ''Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible,'' Amsterdam University Press, 2000 {{p.|364}}.</ref>
]
Some scholars argue that the Ebionites survived much longer and identify them with a sect encountered by the historian ] around the year 1000.<ref name="Pines 1966">{{Cite book| author = Shlomo Pines| title = The Jewish Christians Of The Early Centuries Of Christianity According To A New Source | publisher = Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities II, No. 13| year = 1966 | isbn = 102-255-998}}</ref> Another possible reference to surviving Ebionite communities in northwestern ], specifically the cities of ] and Tilmas, around the 11th century, appears in ''] Ha'masaot,'' the "Book of the Travels" of Rabbi ], a rabbi from Spain.<ref name="Adler 1907">{{Cite book| author = Marcus N. Adler| title = The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary, p. 70–72.| publisher = Phillip Feldheim| year = 1907}}</ref> 12th century Muslim historian ] mentions Jews living in nearby ] and ] who accepted Jesus as a prophetic figure and followed traditional Judaism, rejecting mainstream ].<ref name=" Shahrastani 1842">{{Cite book| author = ]| title = ], ] edition, page 167| publisher = Gorgias Press| year = 2002}}</ref> Some scholars argue that they contributed to the development of the ] due to exchanges of Ebionite remnants with the first Muslims.<ref name="RGG"/><ref name="Schoeps 1969" /> However, Muslim theologians and those who accept their narratives of early Islam maintain that the Islamic view of Jesus was revealed in the Quran well before any significant Muslim encounter with Christians such as the ].


The actual number of sects described as Ebionites is difficult to ascertain, as the contradictory ] accounts in their attempt to distinguish various sects sometimes confuse them with each other.<ref name="RGG"/> Other sects mentioned are the ], the ], the ], the fourth century ] and the ], most of whom were Jewish Christian sects who held ] 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.<ref name="Wace 1911">{{Cite book| author = Henry Wace & William Piercy | title = A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography | year = 1911 | url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Ebionism%20and%20Ebionites| access-date = 1 August 2007}}</ref>
==Legacy==
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, several small yet competing ]s, such as the ] and others, have emerged claiming to be revivalists of the views and practices of early Ebionites, although their idiosyncratic claims to authenticity cannot be verified.


As the Ebionites are first mentioned as such in the second century, their earlier history and any relation to the first ] remains obscure and a matter of contention. There is no evidence linking the origin of the later sect of the Ebionites with the ] of 66–70 CE or with the Jerusalem church led by ]. ] relates a tradition, probably based on ], that the early Christians left Jerusalem just prior to the war and ],<ref>Eusebius, ''Church History'' 3, 5, 3; Epiphanius, ''Panarion'' 29,7,7-8; 30, 2, 7; On Weights and Measures 15. On the flight to Pella see: {{cite book|author=Jonathan Bourgel|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/4909339|chapter=The Jewish Christians' Move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice|editor=]|title=Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity|location=Leyden|publisher=Brill|year=2010|pages=107–138}}</ref> ] beyond the ], but does not connect this with Ebionites.<ref name="Uhlhorn">{{cite book|author=G. Uhlhorn|chapter=Ebionites|title=A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology|edition=3rd|editor=Philip Schaff|pages=684–685|volume=2}}</ref><ref name="RGG">{{cite book|author=O. Cullmann|chapter=Ebioniten|title=Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart|page=7435|volume=2}}</ref> They were led by ] (d. 107) and during the ] of 115–117, they were persecuted by the Jewish followers of ] for refusing to recognize his messianic claims.<ref name="Wace 1911"/> As late as Epiphanius (310–403), members of the Ebionite sect resided in ], and ], ]itis, and Kochaba in the region of ], near ].<ref name= "Klijn1973">{{cite book |last1=Klijn |first1=A.F.J.|author-link1=Albertus Klijn |last2=Reinink |first2=G.J.|title=Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects |date=1973 |publisher=]|location=Leiden |page=29 |language=en |oclc=1076236746|isbn=978-9-00403763-2}} (citing Epiphanius' ''Anacephalaiosis'' 30.18.1.)</ref> From these places, they dispersed and went into ] (Anatolia), ] and ].<ref name= "Klijn1973"/>
The ] group ] favorably mentions the historical Ebionites in their literature in order to argue that "]", as promoted by missionary groups such as ], is ] misrepresenting itself as Judaism.<ref name="Kravitz 2001">{{Cite book| author = Bentzion Kravitz| title = The Jewish Response to Missionaries: Counter-Missionary Handbook | publisher = ] International | year = 2001}}</ref> Some Messianic groups have expressed concern over leaders in Israel that deny Jesus' divinity and the possible collapse of the Messianic movement due to a resurgence of Ebionitism.<ref name="Messianic Leaders Deny Yeshua">{{Cite journal| author = Moshe Koniuchowsky| title = "Messianic" Leaders Deny Yeshua in Record Numbers| year = 2007 | url = http://yourarmstoisrael.org/Editorials/?page=MESSIANIC_LEADERS_DENY&type=2| accessdate = 2007-07-21}}</ref><ref name="New Galations">{{Cite journal|author = James Prasch| title = You Foolish Galatians, Who Bewitched You? A Crisis in Messianic Judaism?|year = 2007 | url = http://www.moriel.org/articles/sermons/new_galatians.htm| accessdate = 2007-07-21}}</ref> In a recent polemic, a Messianic leader asked whether Christians should imitate the Torah-observance of "neo-Ebionites".<ref name="Torah Observance">{{Cite journal|author = John Parsons| title = Should Christians be Torah-observant?| year = 2007 | url = http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Torah_Observance/torah_observance.html| accessdate = 2007-07-21}}</ref>

According to Harnack, the influence of ] places some Ebionites in the context of the ].<ref name="RGG"/><ref name="Harnack">{{cite book|author=Adolf von Harnack|author-link=Adolf von Harnack|title=The History of Dogma|chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19612/19612-h/19612-h.htm#SEC_I_VI_I|chapter=Chapter VI. The Christianity of the Jewish Christians|year=1907|isbn=978-1-57910-067-4}}</ref>

===Disappearance===
After the end of the ], the importance of the ] began to fade. ] became dispersed throughout the ] in the ], where it was slowly eclipsed by ], which then spread throughout the ] without competition from Jewish Christian sects.<ref name="Brandon 1968">{{Cite book |last=Brandon |first=S. G. F. |title = The fall of Jerusalem and the Christian church: A study of the effects of the Jewish overthrow of A. D. 70 on Christianity |publisher = S.P. C.K. | year = 1968 | isbn = 0-281-00450-1 }}</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2014}} Once the Jerusalem church was eliminated during the ], which ended in 136 CE, the Ebionites gradually lost influence and followers. Some modern scholars, such as ], argue the decline of the Ebionites was due to marginalization and ] by both Jews and Christians.<ref name="Maccoby 1987"/> Maccoby's views as expressed in his works from the 1980s and 1990s have, however, been nearly universally rejected by scholars.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gregerman |first=Adam |date=2012-02-09 |title=It's 'Kosher' To Accept Real Jesus? |url=https://forward.com/culture/151028/its-kosher-to-accept-real-jesus/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427064939/http://forward.com/culture/151028/its-kosher-to-accept-real-jesus/ |archive-date=2016-04-27 |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref> Following the defeat of the rebellion and the subsequent expulsion of Jews from Judea, Jerusalem became the Gentile city of ]. 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.<ref name="Gibbon 2003">{{Cite book |first=Edward |last=Gibbon | title = The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire| publisher = Random House, NY| year = 2003 | isbn = 0-375-75811-9| author-link = Edward Gibbon| title-link = The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire| at = }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2024}} In 375, Epiphanius records the settlement of Ebionites on Cyprus, but by the 5th century, ] reported that they were no longer present in the region.<ref name="Wace 1911"/>

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 ] around the year 1000.<ref name=Pines1966>{{Cite book| author = Shlomo Pines|author-link = Shlomo Pines| title = The Jewish Christians Of The Early Centuries Of Christianity According To A New Source | publisher = Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities II, No. 13| year = 1966 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9yIUAQAAMAAJ|oclc=13610178}}</ref> There is another possible reference to Ebionite communities has them existing around the 11th century in northwestern ], in ''] Ha'masaot'', the "Book of the Travels" of Rabbi ], a rabbi from Spain. These communities were located in two cities, ] and "Tilmas",<ref name="Adler 1907">{{Cite book| first = Marcus N. |last=Adler| title = The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary|pages=70–72| publisher = Phillip Feldheim| year = 1907}}</ref> possibly ] in Yemen. The 12th century Muslim historian ] mentions Jews living in nearby ] and ] who accepted Jesus as a prophetic figure and followed traditional Judaism, rejecting mainstream ].<ref name="Shahrastani 1842">{{Cite book| first = Muhammad |last=al-Shahrastani| title = The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects, William Cureton edition|page=167| publisher = Gorgias Press| year = 2002| author-link = Muhammad al-Shahrastani}}</ref> Some scholars propose that interactions between Ebionite communities and early Muslims played a role in shaping the ].<ref name="RGG"/><ref name="Schoeps 1969">{{Cite book| first = Hans-Joachim |last=Schoeps| title = Jewish Christianity: Factional Disputes in the Early Church. Translation Douglas R. A. Hare| publisher = Fortress Press| year = 1969}}</ref>


==Views and practices== ==Views and practices==
===Judaic and Gnostic Ebionitism=== ===Judaism, Gnosticism and Essenism===
Most patristic sources portray the Ebionites as traditional Jews, who zealously followed the ], revered ] as the holiest city,<ref name="Irenaeus"/> and restricted ] only to Gentiles who ].<ref name="Justin"/> Most patristic sources{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} portray the Ebionites as Jews who zealously followed the ], revered ] as the holiest city<ref name="Irenaeus"/> and restricted ] only to ] Gentiles who ].<ref name="Justin"/>


Yet some Church Fathers describe some Ebionites as departing from traditional ] and ]. For example, ] stated that the Ebionites engaged in excessive ],<ref name="Epiphanius19">Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 19:28–30.</ref> possessed an ] which claimed that the Christ is a great archangel who was incarnated in Jesus and ],<ref>Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 30, 14, 5.</ref><ref name="Epiphanius 30-16">Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 30, 16, 4-5.</ref> opposed ],<ref name="Epiphanius 30-16"/> ],<ref>Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 30, 18, 7–9.</ref> and practiced ],<ref>Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 30.22.4</ref> and celebrated a commemorative meal annually,<ref name="Ramsey 1912">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.2307/624138| author = W.M. Ramsey| title = The Tekmoreian Guest-Friends| url = http://jstor.org/stable/624138 | journal=Journal of Hellenic Studies |volume=32 |pages=151–170.| year = 1912}}</ref> on or around ], with ] and water only, in contrast to the daily Christian ].<ref name="Epiphanius30"/><ref>{{Cite journal| author = Exarch Anthony J. Aneed| title = Syrian Christians, A Brief History of the Catholic Church of St. George in Milwaukee, Wis. And a Sketch of the Eastern Church| year = 1919| url = http://www.melkite.org/HolyCommunion.html| accessdate = 2007-04-28}}</ref><ref name="Irenaeus5">Irenaeus of Lyon, ''Against Heresies'' Some Church Fathers describe some Ebionites as departing from traditional ] and ]. For example, ] stated that the Ebionites believed that the ] spoke only by their own power and not by the power of the ].<ref name="Oden2006">{{cite book|author=Thomas C. Oden|title=Ancient Christian commentary on Scripture: New Testament|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=irWI6DUtPncC&pg=PA178|access-date=14 October 2010|year=2006|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-1497-8|pages=178–}} 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".</ref> ] stated that the Ebionites possessed a separationist ], which claimed that Jesus and the Christ are two different beings, and, therefore, the Christ is an ] who was incarnated in Jesus when he was ] during his ],<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30.14.5}}<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30.16.4–5}} engaged in excessive ],<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30.19.28–30}} ] deemed obsolete or corrupt,<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30.18.7–9}} opposed ],<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30.16.4–5}}<ref name="Joseph 2017">{{Cite journal| author = Simon J. Joseph | title = 'I Have Come to Abolish Sacrifices' (Epiphanius, Pan. 30.16.5): Re-examining a Jewish Christian Text and Tradition | journal = New Testament Studies | publisher = New Testament Studies, Volume 63, Issue 1 | date = January 2017 | volume = 63 | pages = 92–110 | doi = 10.1017/S0028688516000345 | s2cid = 164739491 | doi-access = free }}</ref> practiced ]<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30.22.4}} and celebrated a commemorative meal annually<ref name="Ramsey 1912">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.2307/624138| author = W.M. Ramsey| title = The Tekmoreian Guest-Friends | journal=Journal of Hellenic Studies |volume=32 |pages=151–170| year = 1912| jstor = 624138| s2cid = 162190693| url = https://zenodo.org/record/1449930}}</ref> on or around ] with ] and water only, in contrast to the daily Christian ].<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30}}<ref>{{Cite book| author = Exarch Anthony J. Aneed| title = Syrian Christians, A Brief History of the Catholic Church of St. George in Milwaukee, Wis. And a Sketch of the Eastern Church| year = 1919| url = http://www.melkite.org/HolyCommunion.html| access-date = 28 April 2007| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070417161817/http://www.melkite.org/HolyCommunion.html| archive-date = 17 April 2007| df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Irenaeus5">{{cite book|author=Irenaeus of Lyon|title=Adversus Haereses|at=}}</ref> The reliability of Epiphanius' account of the Ebionites is questioned by some scholars.<ref name="Klijn & Reinink 1973"/>{{Page needed|date=February 2014}}<ref name="Van Voorst 1989">{{Cite book| author = Robert E. van Voorst| author-link = Robert E. Van Voorst| title = The Ascents of James: History and Theology of a Jewish-Christian Community| publisher = Society of Biblical Literature| year = 1989| isbn = 1-55540-294-1}}</ref> Modern scholar ], for example, argues that the ] views and practices he ascribes to some Ebionites originated in ] rather than ] and are characteristics of the Jewish ] sect, which Epiphanius mistakenly attributed to the Ebionites.<ref name="Pines1966"/>{{rp|p=39}}
.</ref>


While mainstream ] do suppose some ] 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 ] sect. ] argues that the conversion of some Essenes to Jewish Christianity after the ] may be the source of some Ebionites adopting Essene views and practices,<ref name="Schoeps 1969"/>{{Page needed|date=February 2014}} while some conclude that the Essenes did not become Jewish Christians, but still had an influence on the Ebionites.<ref name="Stendahl 1991">{{Cite book| author = Kriste Stendahl | title = The Scrolls and the New Testament | publisher = Herder & Herder | year = 1991 | isbn = 0-8245-1136-0}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2014}}
However, the reliability of Epiphanius' account of the Ebionites is questioned by some scholars.<ref name="Klijn & Reinink 1973"/><ref name=" Van Voorst 1989">{{Cite book| author = Robert E. van Voorst| authorlink = Robert E. Van Voorst| title = The Ascents of James: History and Theology of a Jewish-Christian Community| publisher = Society of Biblical Literature| year = 1989| isbn = 1555402941}}</ref> ], for example, argues that the ] views and practices he ascribes to some Ebionites originated in ] rather than ], and are characteristics of the ] sect, which Epiphanius mistakenly attributed to the Ebionites.<ref name="Pines 1966"/>


===On John the Baptist===
Another Church Father who described the Ebionites as departing from Christian Orthodoxy was ], who stated that the Ebionites believed that the prophets spoke only by their own power, and not by the power of the Holy Spirit.<ref name="Oden2006">{{cite book|author=Thomas C. Oden|title=Ancient Christian commentary on Scripture: New Testament|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=irWI6DUtPncC&pg=PA178&|accessdate=14 October 2010|year=2006|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=9780830814978|pages=178–}} 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"</ref>
In the '']'', as quoted by Epiphanius, ] and Jesus are portrayed as ].<ref name="Verheyden">{{cite book|author=J Verheyden|chapter=Epiphanius on the Ebionites|title=The image of the Judaeo-Christians in ancient Jewish and Christian literature|year=2003 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |editor1=Peter J. Tomson|editor2=Doris Lambers-Petry|isbn=3-16-148094-5|quote-page=188|quote=The vegetarianism of John the Baptist and of Jesus is an important issue too in the Ebionite interpretation of the Christian life.}}</ref><ref name="Ehrman 2005 on Gospel of the Ebionites">{{harvnb|Ehrman|2005|pp=102–103}} </ref><ref name="Ehrman 2003-ls">{{Cite book |first=Bart D. |last=Ehrman |author-link=Bart D. Ehrman |title=Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament|page=|publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2003 |isbn=0-19-514182-2|url=https://archive.org/details/lostscripturesbo00ehrm/page/13}} 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".</ref> Epiphanius states that the Ebionites had amended "locusts" ({{langx|grc|ἀκρίδες|akrídes}}) to "honey cakes" ({{langx|grc|ἐγκρίδες|enkrídes}}). This emendation is not found in any other New Testament manuscript or translation,<ref>{{cite book|title=Textual Apparatus of the UBS Greek New Testament|publisher=United Bible Societies|year=1993|postscript=none}} - with Peshitta, Old Latin etc.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=James A. Kelhoffer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzTcB8yMnrcC&q=The+diet+of+John+the+Baptist:+%22Locusts+and+wild+honey%22+in+synoptic+and+patristic+interpretation|title=The Diet of John the Baptist| year=2005 |isbn=978-3-16-148460-5|pages=19–21| publisher=Mohr Siebeck }}</ref> though a different vegetarian reading is found in a late ] of ]' '']''.<ref name="Mead 2007">{{cite book| author=G.R.S. Mead| title=Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book| quote-page=104| publisher=Forgotten Books| year=2007| isbn=978-1-60506-210-5| url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/gno/gjb/gjb-3.htm|quote=And when he had been brought to Archelaus and the doctors of the Law had assembled, they asked him who he is and where he has been until then. And to this he made answer and spake: ''I am pure; the Spirit of God hath led me on, and cane and roots and tree-food.''}}</ref> Pines and other modern scholars propose that the Ebionites were projecting their own vegetarianism onto John the Baptist.<ref name=Pines1966/>{{rp|p=39}}


The strict vegetarianism of the Ebionites may have been a reaction to the cessation of ] after the ] and a safeguard against the consumption of ] in a ] environment.<ref name="Klauck2003">{{cite book|author=Hans-Josef Klauck|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WoqXMHPY5EgC&pg=PA52|title=The Apocryphal Gospels: An Introduction|publisher=A&C Black|year=2003|isbn=978-0-567-08390-6|page=52–}}</ref> ], however, argues that Ebionite disdain for eating meat and the Temple sacrifice of animals is due to their preference for the ideal ] 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-] revelation, especially the time from ] to ].<ref name="Tabor 2006"/>
While mainstream ] do suppose some Essene influence on the nascent Jewish-Christian Church in some organizational, administrative and cultic respects, some scholars go beyond that assumption. Among them, some{{Who|date=September 2010}} hold theories{{Which?|date=September 2010}} which have been discredited and others which remain controversial.<ref name="Vermes 1992">{{Cite journal| author = ]| title = Brother James' Heirs? the community at Qumran and its relations to the first Christians (Times Literary Supplement) | year = 1992}}</ref>


===On Jesus the Nazarene===
Regarding the Ebionites specifically, a number of scholars have different theories on how the Ebionites may have developed from an Essene ] sect. Hans-Joachim Schoeps argues that the conversion of some Essenes to Jewish Christianity after the ] may be the source of some Ebionites adopting Essene views and practices;<ref name="Schoeps 1969"/> while some conclude that the Essenes did not become Jewish Christians but still had an influence on the Ebionites.<ref name="Stendahl 1991">{{Cite book| author = Kriste Stendahl | title = The Scrolls and the New Testament | publisher = Herder & Herder | year = 1991 | isbn = 0824511360}}</ref>
The Church Fathers agree that most or all of the Ebionites rejected many of the precepts central to ], such as Jesus' ], ], and ].<ref name="Klijn & Reinink 1973"/>{{Page needed|date=February 2014}} The Ebionites are described as emphasizing the ] as the biological son of ] and ], who, by virtue of his ] in perfectly keeping the ], was ] to fulfill the Hebrew scriptures.<ref name="Ehrman2005-lc">{{cite book |first=Bart D. |last=Ehrman |author-link=Bart D. Ehrman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHDNe8KmMAIC&pg=PA100 |title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew|publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2005 |orig-date=2003 |isbn=978-0-19-975668-1 |pages=100–103}}</ref>


Origen ('']'' 5.61)<ref>{{cite book|last=Schaff|title=A select library of Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian church|year=1904|quote-page=footnote 828|quote=That there were two different views among the Ebionites as to the birth of Christ is stated frequently by Origen (cf. e.g. Contra Celsum V. 61), but there was unanimity in the denial of his pre-existence and essential divinity, and this constituted the essence of the heresy in the eyes of the Fathers from Irenæus on.}}</ref> and Eusebius ('']'' 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 ].<ref>{{cite book|title=International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J|page=9|author=Geoffrey W. Bromiley|year=1982|chapter=Ebionites|postscript=none}} citing E.H.3.27.3 "There were others, however, besides them, that were of the same name, that avoided the strange and absurd beliefs of the former, and did not deny that the Lord was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit. But nevertheless, inasmuch as they also refused to acknowledge that he pre-existed, being God, Word, and Wisdom, they turned aside into the impiety of the former, especially when they, like them, endeavored to observe strictly the bodily worship of the law." Also source text at CCEL.org.</ref> ], while dependent on earlier writers,<ref>{{cite book|author=Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn, G. J. Reinink|title=Patristic evidence for Jewish-Christian sects|year=1973|quote-page=42|quote=Irenaeus wrote that these Ebionites used the Gospel of Matthew, which explains Theodoret's remark. Unlike Eusebius, he did not link Irenaeus' reference to Matthew with Origen's remarks about the 'Gospel of the Hebrews<span style="padding-right:.15em;">'</span>}}</ref> draws the conclusion that the two sub-sects would have used different gospels.<ref>{{cite book|author=Edwin K. Broadhead|title=Jewish Ways of Following Jesus: Redrawing the Religious Map of Antiquity|year=2010|quote-page=209|quote=Theodoret describes two groups of Ebionites on the basis of their view of the virgin birth. Those who deny the virgin birth use the Gospel of the Hebrews; those who accept it use the Gospel of Matthew.}}</ref> The Ebionites may have used only some or all of the ] as additional ] to the ]. However, Irenaeus reports that they only used a version of the '']'', which omitted the first two chapters (on the ]) and started with the ] by ].<ref name="Irenaeus"/>
However, ], in his book Panarion, 30:17:5, said the following: "But I already showed above that Ebion did not know these things, but later, his followers that associated with Elchasai had the circumcision, the Sabbath and the customs of Ebion, but the imagination of Elchasai".


The Ebionites viewed Jesus as a ] in the mold of a new "prophet like Moses" foretold in ] 18:15-19. They believed Jesus came to call all descendants of the ] who had strayed from the ], as well as potential converts from all Gentile nations, to repent and follow both the Law of Moses and his own ] in order to become righteous and merit entry into the coming ] on Earth.<ref name="Bauckham 2003">{{cite book| author=Richard Bauckham | title=The Image of the Judeo-Christians in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature | contribution = The Origin of the Ebionites | pages=162–181 | publisher=Brill, Peter J. Tomson and Doris Lambers-Petry eds.| year=2003 | isbn=3-16-148094-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bbWbMGekWoC&q=Richard+Bauckham+origin&pg=PA162 }}</ref><ref name="Viljoen 2006">{{Cite journal| first = Francois | last = Viljoen | title = Jesus' Teaching on the Torah in the Sermon on the Mount | journal = Neotestamentica | publisher = Neotestamenica / New Testament Society of Southern Africa | year = 2006 | volume = 40 | issue = 1 | pages = 135–155 | jstor = 43049229 }}</ref>
Doing so, Epiphanius made it clear that the original Ebionites were different from those heterodox Ebionites that he described.<ref>], Panarion, 30:17:5</ref> {{Citation needed|date=August 2010}}


According to Epiphanius alone, the Ebionites believed Jesus' mission as prophet and reformer included proclaiming the abolishment of ],<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30, 16, 4–5}}<ref name="Joseph 2017"/> rather than ] himself for them through intentional ]. Consequently, they did not believe Jesus suffered and died for the ] of the sins of Israelites or mankind. The Ebionites appear to have believed Jesus was ] for the cause of ending the Temple sacrificial system in order to establish a non-transactional and self-transformational form of worship based on authentic ] and ].<ref name="Bauckham 2003"/><ref name="Viljoen 2006"/> Rejecting the belief in a ], while embracing a belief in immortal human ]s, some Ebionites may have believed ] in a ], rather than a physical one.{{Sfn|Akers|2000|p=195–197}}{{Sfn|Atkins|2019|p=261}}
===John the Baptist===
The Gospel of the Ebionites might have been named after the followers of ],<ref name = "Poplin JtB as leader">Jeff Poplin, '''' and ''''</ref> and Jesus initially may have been amongst his followers.<ref name="Tatum">W. Barnes Tatum. , Sonoma, California: Polebridge Press, 1994, ISBN 0944344429, ff. 93, Chapter 5 ''John and Jesus: The Two Baptists'' subsection: ''Jesus as John's Disciple;'' </ref><ref name="Crossan, John Dominic 1998 p. 146">Crossan, John Dominic (1998). ''The Essential Jesus''. Edison: Castle Books; p. 146</ref><ref name="funk">Funk, et al. (1993), refer to John as Jesus' precursor and mentor. ];Hoover, Roy W. Hoover; & the ]. ''The Five Gospels.'' San Francisco: Harper. "Stages in the Development of Early Christian Tradition", p. 128</ref> The Ebionites shared many doctrines and practices with the ],<ref></ref> and possibly with those at ].<ref>The Qumran community referred to themselves by many epithets, including "the poor".</ref><ref name="Harris">] (1985) Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield, ISBN 1-55934-655-8 {{bibleverse||John|1:36–40}}</ref>


===On James the Just===
In the '']'', as quoted by ], ] and Jesus are portrayed as ]s.<ref name="Verheyden">J Verheyden, ''Epiphanius on the Ebionites'', in ''The image of the Judaeo-Christians in ancient Jewish and Christian literature'', eds Peter J. Tomson, Doris Lambers-Petry, ISBN 3161480945, pp. 188 "The vegetarianism of John the Baptist and of Jesus is an important issue too in the Ebionite interpretation of the Christian life. "</ref><ref name="Eisenman 1997 JohnTB as veggie">Eisenman (1997), pp. 240 "''John (unlike Jesus) was both a ‘Rechabite’ or ‘Nazarite’ and vegetarian''", 264 "''John would have been one of those wilderness-dwelling, vegetable-eating persons''", 326 "''They ate nothing but wild fruit milk and honey - probably the same food that John the Baptist also ate.''", 367 "''We have already seen how in some traditions "carobs" were said to have been the true composition of John's food.''", 403 "''his diet was stems, roots and fruits. Like James and the other Nazirites/Rechabites, he is presented as a vegetarian ..''", cf 295, 300, 331-2,.</ref><ref name="Tabor 2006 references to JohnTB in Gospel of the Ebionites and Slavonic Josephus">Tabor (2006) p.134 and footnotes p.335</ref><ref name="Ehrman 2003 on Gospel of the Ebionites">{{Cite book|author=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew|pages=102, 103|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=0-19-514183-0}} 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".</ref><ref name="Ehrman 2003 Gospel of the Ebionites translation">{{Cite book|author=Bart D. Ehrman|title=Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament|page=13|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=0-19-514182-2}}</ref> It is a matter of debate whether John was in fact a vegetarian (a notion reinforced by the "Slavonic version" of ])<ref name="Tabor 2006"/><ref></ref> or whether some Ebionites (or the related ] sect which Epiphanius may have mistaken for Ebionites) were projecting their vegetarianism onto him.<ref name="Pines 1966">{{Cite book| author = Pines, Shlomo| title = The Jewish Christians Of The Early Centuries Of Christianity According To A New Source | publisher = Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities II, No. 13| year = 1966 | isbn = 102-255-998}}</ref>
Some of the Church Fathers argue that the Ebionites revered ] and leader of the ], as the true successor to Jesus (rather than ]) and an exemplar of ].<ref name="Eisenman 1998">{{Cite book|author=Robert Eisenman| author-link=Robert Eisenman|title=James the brother of Jesus: the key to unlocking the secrets of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls|pages=36–7, 156, 224, 432, 495, 566, 674, 744, 781, 941|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1998|isbn=0-14-025773-X}}</ref> One of the popular primary connections of the Ebionites to James is that the '']'' in the ] literature are related to the Ebionites.<ref name="Van Voorst 1989"/> The other popularly proposed connection is that mentioned by ] in his 1794 edition of ], where he notes that we learn from fragments of ] that the Ebionites interpreted a prophecy of ] as foretelling the ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Whiston|first=W.|title=Antiquities|edition=2008|page=594}}</ref>


Scholars, including ],<ref name="Eisenman 1997 James as successor">{{Cite book|author=Robert Eisenman|author-link=Robert Eisenman|title=James, Brother of Jesus: The key to unlocking the secrets of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls|publisher=Viking|year=1997}} E.g. {{p.|154}}: "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." {{p.|156}}: "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.''"</ref><ref name="Eisenman 2006">{{cite book| author=Robert Eisenman| title=The New Testament Code| pages=| publisher=Watkins Publishing| year=2006| isbn=978-1-84293-186-8| url=https://archive.org/details/newtestamentcode00robe/page/34|quote-page=34|quote=These {{'}}''Ebionites''{{'}} are also the followers of James ''par excellence'', himself considered (even in early Christian accounts) to be the leader of {{'}}''the Poor''{{'}} or these selfsame {{'}}''Ebionites''<span style="padding-right:.15em;">'</span>}}; {{p.|145}}: "For James 2:5, of course, it is {{'}}{{em|the Poor of this world ({{'}}the Ebionim{{'}} or {{'}}Ebionites{{'}}) whom God chose as Heirs to the Kingdom He promised to those that love Him}}<span style="padding-right:.15em;">'</span>"; {{p.|273}}: "...{{'}}''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''{{'}})."</ref> {{ill|Pierre-Antoine Bernheim|fr|}},<ref>{{cite book|author=Pierre-Antoine Bernheim|title=James, Brother of Jesus|year=1997 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-02695-2|url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifeandtimes/stories/2009/2538660.htm|quote=The fact that he became the head of the Jerusalem church is something which is generally accepted.}} From an ABC interview with author.</ref> ], ],<ref name="Goulder 1995">{{cite book| author=Michael Goulder| title=St. Paul versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions| pages=107–113, 134| publisher=John Knox Press| year=1995| isbn=0-664-25561-2|quote-page=134|quote=So the 'Ebionite' Christology, which we found first described in Irenaeus about 180 is not the invention of the late second century. It was the creed of the Jerusalem Church from early times.}}</ref> ],<ref name="Luedemann 1996">{{cite book |first=Gerd |last=Ludemann | author-link=Gerd Ludemann |title=Heretics: The Other Side of Early Christianity| pages=52–56| publisher=John Knox Press| year=1996| isbn=0-664-22085-1| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHB9gYY_hdsC&q=heretics:+the+other+side+of+early+Christianity+Part+II:+The+Jewish+Christians+of+Jerusalem+after+the+Jewish+War&pg=PA52| access-date=27 March 2011|quote-pages=52–53|quote=Since there is a good century between the end of the Jerusalem community and the writing down of the report quoted above (by Irenaeus), of course reasons must be given why the group of Ebionites should be seen as an offshoot of the Jerusalem community. The following considerations tell in favor of the historical plausibility of this: 1. The name 'Ebionites' might be the term this group used to denote themselves. 2. Hostility to Paul in the Christian sphere before 70 is attested above all in groups which come from Jerusalem. 3. The same is true of observance of the law culminating in circumcision. 4. The direction of prayer towards Jerusalem makes the derivation of the Ebionites from there probable.}} {{p.|56}}: "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."</ref> ]<ref name="Painter 1999 Peter and James as Opponents of Paul">{{cite book| author=John Painter| title=Just James - The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition| pages=83–102, 229| publisher=Fortress Press| year=1999| isbn=0-8006-3169-2|quote-page=229|quote=A connection between early Jerusalem Christianity (the Hebrews) and the later Ebionites is probable.}}</ref> and ],<ref name="Tabor 2006"/> argue for some form of continuity of the Jerusalem church into the second and third centuries and that the Ebionites regarded James as their ].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Blessing of Africa: The Bible and African Christianity|author=Keith Augustus Burton|publisher=Intervarsity Press|year=2007|pages=116–117|isbn=978-0-8308-2762-6}}</ref><ref name="Dunn 1977">{{Cite book | author = James D. G. Dunn | author-link = James Dunn (theologian) | title = Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: an inquiry into the character of earliest Christianity | publisher = S.C.M. Press | year = 1997 | isbn = 9780334024040}}</ref>
===Jesus===
:''See also ]''
The majority of Church Fathers agree that the Ebionites rejected many of the precepts central to ], such as his ], ], ], ] ], and ].<ref name="Klijn & Reinink 1973"/> The Ebionites are described as emphasizing the ] and the humanity of Jesus as the biological son of both ] and ], who by virtue of his ], was ] by God to be the ] "] like ]" (foretold in '']'' 18:14–22) when he was ] with the ] at his baptism.<ref name="Maccoby 1987"/><ref name="Tabor 1998">{{Cite journal| author = ]| title = Ancient Judaism: Nazarenes and Ebionites| year = 1998 | url = http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/JDTABOR/ebionites.html| accessdate = 2006-09-31}}</ref>


Conservative Christian scholars, such as ], hold that James and his circle in the early Jerusalem church held a "]" (i.e. Jesus was a ]) while the Ebionites held a "]" (i.e. Jesus was a mere man ]).<ref>{{cite book|quote=We may now assert quite confidently that the self-consciously low christology of the later Jewish sect known as the Ebionites does not, as has sometimes been asserted, go back to James and his circle in the early Jerusalem church.|contributor=Richard Bauckham|contribution=James and Jesus|author1=Bruce Chilton|author2=Jacob Neusner|title=The brother of Jesus: James the Just and his mission|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=2001|pages=100–137, 135}}</ref> As an alternative to the traditional view of ] that the Jewish Jerusalem church gradually adopted the ] theology of the ], Bauckham and others suggest immediate successors to the Jerusalem church under James and the other relatives of Jesus were the ] who accepted ] as an "apostle to the Gentiles", while the Ebionites were a later ] of the early second century that rejected Paul.<ref name="Bauckham 1996">{{cite journal| author=Richard Bauckham| title=The Relatives of Jesus| pages=18–21| journal=]|volume=21|issue=2| date=January 1996| url=http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_relatives_bauckham.html| access-date=11 February 2011}} Reproduced in part by permission of the author.</ref><ref name="Bauckham 2003"/>
Of the books of the ], the Ebionites are said to have accepted only a Hebrew (or Aramaic) version of the '']'', referred to as the '']'', as additional ] to the ]. This version of ''Matthew'', ] reports, omitted the first two chapters (on the ]), and started with the ] by ].<ref name="Irenaeus"/>


===On Paul the Apostle===
The Ebionites believed that all Jews and ] must observe the ] in the Law of Moses,<ref name="Justin"/> in order to become ] and seek ],<ref>Hippolytus</ref> but these commandments must be understood in the light of Jesus' ],<ref name="Tabor 1998"/> revealed during his ], and other ].<ref name="Viljoen 2006">{{Cite journal| author = Francois P. Viljoen | title = Jesus' Teaching on the Torah in the Sermon on the Mount | publisher = Neotestamenica 40.1, pp. 135-155 | year = 2006}}{{Cite journal| title = Jesus' Teaching on the Torah in the Sermon on the Mount | url = http://www.geocities.com/neotestamentica/archive/401/401gviljoen-sample.pdf | accessdate=2007-03-13|format=PDF|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070616161924/http://www.geocities.com/neotestamentica/archive/401/401gviljoen-sample.pdf|archivedate=2007-06-16}}</ref> The Ebionites may have held a form of "]" positing that the ] had ushered in the ] so that the kingdom of God might be understood as present in an incipient fashion, while at the same time awaiting consummation in the ].<ref name="Maccoby 1987"/><ref name="Tabor 1998"/>
The Ebionites rejected the ],<ref name="CrossCross2005"/> and, according to Origen, they viewed Paul as an "]".<ref name="BirdDodson2011">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRkk20VIZS8C&pg=PA164|title=Paul and the Second Century|publisher=A&C Black|year=2011|isbn=978-0-567-15827-7|page=164–}}</ref> The Ebionites may have been spiritual and physical descendants of the "super-]s" — talented and respected Jewish Christian ] in favour of ] — who sought to undermine Paul in ] and ].<ref name="Ehrman 2014">{{Cite book|first= Bart D. |last=Ehrman | author-link= Bart D. Ehrman |title= How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee|publisher= HarperOne|year= 2014|isbn= 978-0-06-177818-6}}</ref>


Epiphanius relates that the Ebionites opposed Paul, who they saw as responsible for the idea that ] did not have to be ] or follow the ], and named him an ].<ref name="Irenaeus"/> Epiphanius further relates that some Ebionites alleged that Paul was a Greek who ] in order to marry the daughter of a ], but apostatized when she rejected him.<ref>" declare that he was a Greek He went up to Jerusalem, they say, and when he had spent some time there, he was seized with a passion to marry the daughter of the priest. For this reason he became a proselyte and was circumcised. Then, when he failed to get the girl, he flew into a rage and wrote against circumcision and against the sabbath and the Law." Epiphanius of Salamis, ''Panarion'' 30.16.6–9</ref><ref name="Luomanen 2007"/>{{rp|p=88}}
===James vs. Paul===
James, the brother of Jesus, was the leader of the Jerusalem church.<ref name ="Oxford:Jerusalem">Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article ''Jerusalem''</ref> Paul, ''Apostle to the Gentiles'', established many churches<ref>Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article ''Paul, St''</ref> and founded a Christian theology (see ]). At the ] (''c'' 49),<ref name ="Oxford:Jerusalem"/> Paul argued to abrogate Mosaic observances<ref>Cross, F. L., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005, article ''Acts of the Apostles''</ref> for his non-Jewish converts. When Paul recounted the events to the Galatians ({{bibleverse||Galatians|2:9-10}}), he referred only to the remembrance of the poor rather than conveying the four points of the council ({{bibleverse||Acts|15:19-21}}). The nature of the laws for the Gentiles described by James is contested (see ]).


==Writings==
Scholars who have studied the role of James in the Jerusalem Church, including Pierre Antoine Bernheim, ], ], John Painter, and ],<ref name="Eisenman 1997 James as sucessor">Eisenman (1997), p. 155-184.</ref><ref name="Tabor 2006 James over Peter">Tabor (2006), p. 222-223, 231.</ref><ref>], ], 1944. Page 577: ''James "the Just," "the brother of the Lord," became the head of the now reduced and impoverished church in Jerusalem Thereafter Judaic Christianity waned in number and power, Judaic Christianity survived for five centuries in a little group of Syriac Christians called Ebionim ("the poor"), who practiced Christian poverty and the full Jewish Law. At the end of the second century the Church condemned them as heretics.'' </ref><ref name="Painter 1999 Peter and James as Opponents of Paul">{{cite book| author=John Painter| title=Just James - The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition| pages=83–102,229| publisher=Fortress Press| year=1999| isbn=0-8006-3169-2}} p.229 "A connection between early Jerusalem Christianity (the Hebrews) and the later Ebionites is probable."</ref><ref name="Luedemann 1996">{{cite book| author=Gerd Luedemann| title=Heretics: The Other Side of Early Christianity| pages=52-56| publisher=John Knox Press| date=1996| isbn=0-664-22085-1| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=fHB9gYY_hdsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=gerd+luedemann+heretics:&source=bl&ots=GGWemqtrHs&sig=FOdm3ejKevUHooqaWH-EVG7fJag&hl=en&ei=WZNQTcPdA8HAswbAz8DfBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref><ref name="Goulder 1995">{{cite book| author=Michael Goulder| title=St. Paul versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions| pages=107-113,134| publisher=John Knox Press| date=1995| isbn=0-664-25561-2}} p.134 "So the 'Ebionite' Christology, which we found first described in Irenaeus about 180 is not the invention of the late second century. It was the creed of the Jerusalem Church from early times."</ref> argue that the Ebionites regarded ] as their leader, after Jesus' death.<ref>Pierre-Antoine Bernheim, ''James, Brother of Jesus'', ISBN 978 0 334026 95 2 from an ABC interview with author.</ref><ref name="JamesOverseer">James is traditionally considered the leader of the Jerusalem church. As such he appears in ] (15 and 21), ] (), ] (quoted by Eusebius in ''Church History'' I, 1, 3–4), ] (quoted by Eusebius in ''Church History'' II, 23, 4) and the ] (saying 12).</ref> rather than ]. Some scholars argue<ref name="Tabor 2006 Dynastic succession of James, Simon">Tabor (2006), p. 4-5, 79-80, 247, 249-251.</ref><ref>The Blessings of Africa: The Bible and African Christianity, Keith Augustus Burton, Intervarsity Press 2007, pp. 116,117. ISBN 978 0 8308 2762 5</ref> that the Ebionites claimed a dynastic ] for the ]. They opposed the ], who claimed that gentile Christians did not have to be ] or otherwise follow the ], and named him an ].<ref name="Irenaeus"/> Epiphanius relates that some Ebionites alleged that Paul was a Greek who ] in order to marry the daughter of a ] but apostatized when she rejected him.<ref>" declare that he was a Greek He went up to Jerusalem, they say, and when he had spent some time there, he was seized with a passion to marry the daughter of the priest. For this reason he became a proselyte and was circumcised. Then, when he failed to get the girl, he flew into a rage and wrote against circumcision and against the sabbath and the Law " - Epiphanius of Salamis, ''Panarion'' 30.16.6-9</ref><ref name="Luomanen 2007">{{cite book|author=Petri Luomanen|title=Jewish Christianity Reconsidered|page=88|publisher=Fortress Press|editor=Matt Jackson-McCabe|year=2007|isbn=978-0-8006-3865-8}}</ref> Other scholars, such as ], dispute this in part by arguing that the immediate successors to the Jerusalem Church under James and the relatives of Jesus were the Nazoraeans, who accepted Paul, while the Ebionites were a later offshoot of the early second century.<ref name="Richard Bauckham 2003">{{cite book| author=Richard Bauckham| title=The Image of the Judeo-Christians in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature| pages=162-181| publisher=Brill, Peter J. Tomson and Doris Lambers-Petry eds.| date=2003| isbn=3-16-148094-5| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9bbWbMGekWoC&pg=PA162&lpg=PA162&dq=Richard+Bauckham+origin&source=bl&ots=9PT3n0EqcF&sig=EpFU0oPlkbcfHAefVxrpQWgW_co&hl=en&ei=22hVTfCbHsGBlAflwvyQBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Richard%20Bauckham%20origin&f=false|accessdate=2011-02-11}} see particularly pp.174-175</ref><ref name="Richard Bauckham 1996">{{cite paper| author=Richard Bauckham| title=The Relatives of Jesus| pages=18-21| publisher=Themelios 21.2| date=January 1996| url=http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/article_relatives_bauckham.html| accessdate=2011-02-11}} Reproduced in part by permission of the author.</ref>
No writings of the Ebionites have survived outside of a few quotes by others and they are in uncertain form.<ref name="Britannica"/> The ], two third century Christian works, are regarded by general scholarly consensus as largely or entirely ] 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 '']'' 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.<ref name="Koch 1976"/> Some scholars also speculate that the core of the '']'', beneath a polemical medieval ] overlay, may have been based upon an Ebionite or gnostic document.<ref name="Toland 1718">{{cite book|author-link=John Toland|author=John Toland|title=Nazarenus, or Jewish, Gentile and Mahometan Christianity|year=1718}}</ref> The existence and origin of this source continues to be debated by scholars.<ref name="Blackhirst 2000">{{Cite journal| author = Blackhirst, R.| title = Barnabas and the Gospels: Was There an Early ''Gospel of Barnabas''?|journal=Journal of Higher Criticism|volume=7|number=1|pages=1–22| year = 2000| url = http://depts.drew.edu/jhc/Blackhirst_Barnabas.html| access-date = 11 March 2007}}</ref>


] classifies the Ebionite writings into four groups.<ref name="Arendzen 1909">{{Cite CE1913|author=J.P Arendzen|year=1909|wstitle=Ebionites}}</ref>
==Ebionite Writings==
Few writings of the Ebionites have survived, and these are in uncertain form. The ], two 3rd century Christian works, are regarded by general scholarly consensus as largely or entirely ] 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 '']'' 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.<ref name="Koch 1976"/> Some scholars also speculate that the core of the '']'', beneath a polemical medieval ] overlay, may have been based upon an Ebionite or gnostic document.<ref name="Toland 1718">], ''Nazarenus, or Jewish, Gentile and Mahometan Christianity'', 1718.</ref> The existence and origin of this source continues to be debated by scholars.<ref name=" Blackhirst 2000">{{Cite journal| author = Blackhirst, R.| title = Barnabas and the Gospels: Was There an Early Gospel of Barnabas?, Journal of Higher Criticism, 7/1, p. 1–22.| year = 2000| url = http://depts.drew.edu/jhc/Blackhirst_Barnabas.html| accessdate = 2007-03-11}}</ref>


===Gospel of the Ebionites===
The ] classifies the Ebionite writings into four groups:<ref name="Arendzen 1909">{{CathEncy|wstitle=Ebionites}}</ref>
Irenaeus stated that the Ebionites used the '']'' exclusively.<ref>''"Those who are called Ebionites accept that God made the world. However, their opinions with respect to the Lord are quite similar to those of ] and ]. They use ''Matthew's gospel'' only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the Law."'' - Irenaeus, ''Haer'' 1.26.2</ref> ] wrote that they used only the '']''.<ref name="Eusebius IV">Eusebius of Caesarea, '''', .</ref> From this, the minority view of ] and ] ] claim that there was only one Hebrew gospel in circulation, Matthew's ''Gospel of the Hebrews''. They also note that the title '']'' was never used by anyone in the early church.<ref>{{cite book|author=James R. Edwards|title=The Hebrew Gospel & the Development of the Synoptic Tradition|year=2009|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co|page=121}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Nicholson|title=The Gospel according to the Hebrews|year=1879|postscript=none}}, reprinted print on demand BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009. {{pp.|1|81}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=William Whiston|author2=H. Stebbing|title=The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus|postscript=none}}, reprinted Vol. II, Kessinger Publishing, 2006. {{p.|576}}.</ref> Epiphanius contended that the gospel the Ebionites used was written by Matthew and called the "Gospel of the Hebrews".<ref>They too accept the Matthew's gospel, and like the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus, they use it alone. They call it the ''Gospel of the Hebrews'', for in truth Matthew alone in the New Testament expounded and declared the ''Gospel in Hebrew'' using Hebrew script. - Epiphanius, ''Panarion'' 30.3.7</ref> Because Epiphanius said that it was "not wholly complete, but falsified and mutilated",<ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=30.13.1}} writers such as ] and ] consider it a different "edition" of Matthew's Hebrew Gospel;<ref>{{cite book|author=Walter Richard Cassels|title=Supernatural Religion - An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation|year=1877|postscript=none}}, reprinted print on demand Read Books, 2010. Vol. 1, {{pp.|419|422}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Pierson |last=Parker
|author-link=Pierson Parker|title=A Proto-Lukan Basis for the Gospel According to the Hebrews|journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|volume=59|number=4|year=1940|pages=471–478|doi=10.2307/3262407 |jstor=3262407 }}</ref> however, internal evidence from the quotations in ''Panarion'' 30.13.4 and 30.13.7 suggest that the text was a ] originally composed in Greek.<ref name="Gospel of the Ebionites - The Complete Gospels p.436 1994">{{cite book| title=The Complete Gospels| page=| publisher=Polebridge Press, Robert J. Miller ed.| year=1994| isbn=0-06-065587-9| url=https://archive.org/details/completegospels00robe/page/436}}</ref>


Mainstream scholarly texts, such as the standard edition of the ] edited by ], 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Walter Funk|title=The Gospel of Jesus: according to the Jesus Seminar|publisher=Polebridge Press|year=1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=F.L. Cross|author2=E.A. Livingston|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|year=1989|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=438–439}}</ref>
====]====
Irenaeus stated that these early Ebionite communities used ] exclusively.<ref>''"Those who are called Ebionites accept that God made the world. However their opinions with respect to the Lord are quite similar to those of Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They use ''Matthew's gospel'' only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the Law."'' - Irenaeus, ''Haer'' 1.26.2</ref> ] later wrote that they used only the ].<ref name="Eusebius IV">Eusebius of Caesarea, </ref> From this Edwards and 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.<ref>James R. Edwards, ''The Hebrew Gospel & the Development of the Synoptic Tradition'', 2009 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 2009. pp 121</ref><ref>Nicholson ''The Gospel according to the Hebrews'', BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009. pp 1-81</ref><ref>William Whiston & H. Stebbing, ''The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus'', Vol II, Kessinger Publishing, 2006. p 576
</ref>


===Clementine literature===
Epiphanius contended that the gospel the Ebionites used, was written by Matthew and called the ''Gospel of the Hebrews''.<ref>They too accept the Matthew's gospel, and like the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus, they use it alone. They call it the ''Gospel of the Hebrews'', for in truth Matthew alone in the New Testament expounded and declared the ''Gospel in Hebrew'' using Hebrew script. - Epiphanius, ''Panarion'' 30.3.7</ref> Because Epiphanius said that it was "not wholly complete, but falsified and mutilated...",<ref>Epiphanius, ''Panarion'' 30.13.1</ref> scholars such as Cassels, Theodoret and Parker consider it a different "edition" of Matthew's ]; the Ebionites having added some of their oral tradition or ] (See ]).<ref>Walter Richard Cassels, ''Supernatural Religion - An Inquiry Into the Reality of Divine Revelation'', Read Books, 2010. Vol. 1, p 419- 422</ref><ref>Pierson Parker, ''A Proto-Lukan Basis for the Gospel According to the Hebrews'', Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 59, No. 4, 1940. pp 471</ref> 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.<ref name="Gospel of the Ebionites - The Complete Gospels p.436 1994">{{cite book| title=The Complete Gospels| page=436| publisher=Polebridge Press, Robert J. Miller ed.| year=1994| isbn=0-06-065587-9}}</ref>
The collection of ] known as the ] 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 ]; their connection with the ]; and their antagonism to ], as well as ] doctrines. Scholar ] 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".<ref name="Van Voorst 1989"/> Despite this assertion, he expresses reservations that the material is genuinely Ebionite in origin.


===Symmachus===
The Jesus Seminar has argued that this work should now be called by the neologism, the ''Gospel of the Ebionites''. This hypothetical term is not mentioned in any catalogs of the Early Church.<ref>Robert Walter Funk, ''The Gospel of Jesus: according to the Jesus Seminar'', Publisher Polebridge Press, 1999.</ref><ref>F.L. Cross and E.A. Livingston, ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church,'' © 1989, Oxford University Press, p. 438 - 439.</ref>
Symmachus produced a translation of the ] in ], which was used by Jerome and is still extant in fragments, and his lost '']'',<ref name="Eusebius VI">Symmachus' Hypomnemata is mentioned by ] in his '']'', 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 ], 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."; ], '']'', chapter 54; {{cite book|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250106.htm|title=Church History|at=VI, 17}}</ref><ref>], '']'', .</ref> 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.<ref name="Skarsaune 2007">{{cite book |first=Oskar |last=Skarsaune |author-link=Oskar Skarsaune| title=Jewish Believers in Jesus| pages=448–450| publisher=Hendrickson Publishers| year=2007| isbn=978-1-56563-763-4}} Skarsaune argues that Eusebius may have only {{em|inferred}} 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).</ref>


===Elcesaites===
====]====
] reported that a Jewish Christian, ], appeared in Rome teaching from a ] 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.<ref>
The collection of ] 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 also in the ''Recognitions'' attributed to Clement. They form an early Christian didactic fiction to express Jewish Christian views, i.e. the primacy of ], their connection with the ], and their antagonism to ], as well as ] doctrines. Scholar ] 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".<ref name=" Van Voorst 1989"/> Despite this assertion, he expresses reservations that the material is genuinely Ebionite in origin.
{{cite book |title=The Revelation of Elchasai: Investigations into the Evidence for a Mesopotamian Jewish Apocalypse of the Second Century and its Reception by Judeo-Christian Propagandists |date=1985 |author-link=Gerard Luttikhuizen |first=Gerard |last=Luttikhuizen |location=Tubingen |series=Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 8 |page=216 }}</ref> Shortly afterwards, ] recorded a sect, the ], with the same beliefs.<ref>Antti Marjanen, Petri Luomanen ''A companion to second-century Christian "heretics"'' p336</ref> Epiphanius claimed the Ebionites also used this book as a source for some of their beliefs and practices (''Panarion'' 30.17).<ref name="Koch 1976"/><ref>'']'', IX, 14–17. {{harvnb|Luttikhuizen|1985}}: "Epiphanius deviates so strikingly from Hippolytus' account of the heresy of Alcibiades that we cannot possibly assume that he is dependent on the Refutation."</ref><ref name="Epiphanius"/>{{rp|at=19, 1; 53, 1}} Epiphanius explains the origin of the name Elchasai to be ] ''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 ], probably in Babylonia in 116–117.<ref name="Luomanen 2007"/>{{rp|p=96, 299, 331:note 7}}


==Religious and critical perspectives==
====]====
Symmachus produced a translation of the ] in ], which was used by Jerome and is still extant in fragments, and his lost '']'', written to counter the canonical Gospel of Matthew. Although lost, the Hypomnemata<ref name="Eusebius VI">Symmachus' Hypomnemata is mentioned by ] in his '']'', 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.''"; ], ]'', chapter 54, </ref><ref>], '']'', .</ref> 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.<ref name="Skarsaune 2007">{{cite book| author=Oscar Skarsaune| title=Jewish Believers in Jesus| pages=448-450| publisher=Hendrickson Publishers| date=2007| isbn=9781565637634}} Skarsaune argues that Eusebius may have only ''inferred'' 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)</ref>


====]==== ===Christianity===
The mainstream Christian view of the Ebionites is partly based on interpretation of the polemical views of the ], who portrayed them as ] for rejecting many of the ] views of Jesus and allegedly having an improper fixation on the ] at the expense of the ].<ref name="Arendzen 1909"/> In this view, the Ebionites may have been the descendants of a ] sect within the early ] which broke away from its proto-orthodox theology possibly in reaction to the ] compromise of 50 CE.<ref name="Daniélou 1964">{{Cite book| author = Jean Daniélou| title = The theology of Jewish Christianity: The Development of Christian doctrine before the Council of Nicea | publisher = H. Regnery Co | year = 1964 | asin = B0007FOFQI| author-link = Jean Daniélou }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2014}}
The Book of Elchesai or ] ''Hayil Kesai'', meaning "Hidden Power" (see Pan. 19.2.2) is believed to have been written originally in Aramaic as a Jewish apocalypse, probably in Babylonia, in 116-117 CE. It was reported by Hippolytus to have been brought to Rome in c. 230 CE by Alcibiades of Apamea.<ref>Luomanen (2003) pp.96,299,331:note 7</ref> Those who accepted its doctrines and new practices were called Elcesaites. Epiphanius claimed the Ebionites also used this book as a source for some of their beliefs and practices (Pan. 30.17).<ref name="Koch 1976"/><ref>], '']'', IX, 14-17.</ref><ref>Epiphanius, ''Panarion'', 19, 1; 53, 1.</ref>


===Islam===
==Religious perspectives==
] charges Christianity with having distorted the pure ] of the God of Abraham through the doctrines of the ] and through the ] of ]s. Paul Addae and Tim Bowes write that the Ebionites were faithful to the original teachings of the ] and thus shared ]' humanity and also rejected proto-orthodox theories of ].<ref name="Baus 1980">
The mainstream Christian view of the Ebionites is based on the polemical views of the Church Fathers who portrayed them as ] for rejecting many of the central ], and allegedly having an improper fixation on the ] at the expense of the ].<ref name="Arendzen 1909">{{Cite book| author = Arendzen, J.P. | title = Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V.: Ebionites | publisher = Robert Appleton Company | year = 1904}}</ref> In this view, the Ebionites may have been the descendants of a ] sect within the early ] which broke away from its ].<ref name="Daniélou 1964">{{Cite book| author = ]| title = The theology of Jewish Christianity: The Development of Christian doctrine before the Council of Nicea | publisher = H. Regnery Co | year = 1964 | id = ASIN B0007FOFQI}}</ref>
{{Cite book| author = Karl Baus | title = From the Apostolic Community to Constantine | pages = 155 | publisher = Crossroad | year = 1980 | isbn = 978-0-824-50314-7}}
</ref> Furthermore, the Islamic view of Jesus is compatible the view of a minor sect within the Ebionites who embraced rather than denied the virgin birth of Jesus.<ref name="al-Ashanti 2005">{{Cite book| author = Abdulhaq al-Ashanti & Abdur-Rahmaan Bowes (Paul Addae and Tim Bowes 1998)| title = Before Nicea: The Early Followers of Prophet Jesus | publisher = Jamia Media | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-9551099-0-6}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2014}}<ref>{{Cite CE1913|author=J.P Arendzen|year=1909|wstitle=Ebionites|quote=Those who accepted the virginal birth seem to have had more exalted views concerning Christ and, besides observing the Sabbath, to have kept the Sunday as a memorial of His Resurrection. The milder sort of Ebionites were probably fewer and less important than their stricter brethren, because the denial of the virgin birth was commonly attributed to all. (Origen, Horn. in Luc., xvii.) St. Epiphanius calls the more heretical section Ebionites, and the more Catholic-minded, Nazarenes.}}</ref>


] observes that the Christianity which ], 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 ] views":<ref name="Schoeps 1969"/>{{rp|137}}
The mainstream Jewish view of the Ebionites is that they were ] due to their refusal to see Jesus as a ] and failed ] but also for wanting to include their gospel into the ] of the ].<ref name="Maccoby 1987"/>


{{blockquote|Thus we have a paradox of world-historical proportions, viz., the fact that Jewish Christianity indeed disappeared within the Christian church, but was preserved in Islam and thereby extended some of its basic ideas even to our own day. According to Islamic doctrine, the Ebionite combination of Moses and Jesus found its fulfillment in Muhammad.|author=Hans Joachim Schoeps|source=''Jewish Christianity''<ref name="Schoeps 1969"/>{{rp|140}}}}
Mainstream Islam charges mainstream Christianity with having ]. Some in the Muslim community believe that the Ebionites (as opposed to Christians they encountered) were faithful to the original teachings of Jesus with shared views about Jesus' humanity, though the ] conflicts with the Ebionites' views regarding the virgin birth and the crucifixion.<ref name="al-Ashanti 2005">{{Cite book| author = Abdulhaq al-Ashanti & Abdur-Rahmaan Bowes | title = Before Nicea: The Early Followers of Prophet Jesus | publisher = Jamia Media | year = 2005 | isbn = 0955109906}}</ref>


], a Palestinian Christian scholar in the field of ], counters that there is no evidence that the Ebionites remained until the 7th century, much less that they had a presence in ].<ref name="Irfan">]. ''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.</ref>
Some scholars (secular or from mainstream Christianity) are acknowledging the recent emphasis on the Jewishness of Jesus and his earliest followers, and commenting on how they reconcile the Jewish Jesus with the Christ of their faith.<ref name="Loader, William">{{Cite journal| author = William Loader| title = Jesus the Jew | url = http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/JJew.html | accessdate = 2007-08-05}}</ref> On the other hand, some Christian ] have criticized the ] as having resulted in a "revival of the Ebionite heresy".<ref name="Bromling 1995">{{Cite journal| author = Brad Bromling | title = Jesus: Truly God and Truly Human | publisher = Apologetics Press | year = 1995 | url = http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/263| accessdate = 2007-08-05}}</ref>


===Neo-Ebionites=== ===Judaism===
The ] group ] favorably mentions the historical Ebionites in their literature in order to argue that "]", as promoted by missionary groups such as ], is ] misrepresenting itself as Judaism.<ref name="Kravitz 2001">{{Cite book| author = Bentzion Kravitz| title = The Jewish Response to Missionaries: Counter-Missionary Handbook | publisher = ] International | year = 2001}}</ref> 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 ] from the belief in the divinity of Jesus.<ref name="Messianic Leaders Deny Yeshua">{{Cite web| author = Moshe Koniuchowsky| title = 'Messianic' Leaders Deny Yeshua in Record Numbers| year = 2007| url = http://yourarmstoisrael.org/Editorials/?page=MESSIANIC_LEADERS_DENY&type=2| access-date = 21 July 2007| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070812083612/http://yourarmstoisrael.org/Editorials/?page=MESSIANIC_LEADERS_DENY&type=2| archive-date = 12 August 2007| df = dmy-all|work=yourarmstoisrael.org}}</ref><ref name="New Galatians">{{Cite web| author = James Prasch| title = You Foolish Galatians, Who Bewitched You? A Crisis in Messianic Judaism?| year = 2007| url = http://www.moriel.org/articles/sermons/new_galatians.htm| access-date = 21 July 2007| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040811203131/http://moriel.org/articles/sermons/new_galatians.htm| archive-date = 11 August 2004| df = dmy-all|publisher=Moriel Ministries}}</ref>
There are a number of internet groups which claim to be successors of the original Ebionites, such as the '''Ebionite Jewish Community''', founded in 1995. The group's founder, Shemayah Phillips, had briefly been a member of the ] in 1985, before becoming an Ebionite. The Ebionite Jewish Community is a part of the ] movement, and includes in its specific beliefs a denial of the divinity of Christ and a rejection of ]ism, and sees ] as a ].<ref>{{Cite book|url= http://books.google.com/?id=AMUpn_AK8iQC&pg=PA133&dq=%22Ebionite+Jewish+Community%22#v=onepage&q=%22Ebionite%20Jewish%20Community%22&f=false|title= The Concise Guide to Today's Religions and Spirituality|author= Walker, James K. |year= 2007|work= |publisher= Harvest House Publishers|accessdate=16 September 2010|isbn= 9780736920117}}</ref>

==See also==
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==References== ==References==
{{Reflist|2}} {{Reflist}}


==Literature== ==Literature==
*{{Cite book |last=Akers |first=Keith |title=The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity |date=2000 |publisher=Lantern Books}}
*Rev. J. M. Fuller, "Ebionism and Ebionites", in Henry Wace (ed.), ''A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies.'' ISBN 1565634608
*{{Cite book |last=Atkins |first=J.D. |title=The Doubt of the Apostles and the Resurrection Faith of the Early Church: The Post-resurrection Appearance Stories of the Gospels in Ancient Reception and Modern Debate |date=2019 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck}}
*G. Uhlhorn, "Ebionites", in: Philip Schaff (ed.), ''A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology'', 3rd ed. (1894), p.&nbsp;684–685 (vol. 2).
*{{Cite book| author = Wilson, Barrie| title = How Jesus Became Chrisitan - The early Christians and the transformation of a Jewish teacher into the Son of God | publisher = Orion | year = 2008 | isbn = 978 0 297 85200 1}} *{{Cite book| author = Butz, Jeffrey | title = The Secret Legacy of Jesus| publisher = Inner Traditions | year = 2010| isbn = 978-1-59477-307-5}}
*{{cite book|author=G. Uhlhorn|chapter=Ebionites|editor=Philip Schaff|title=A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology|edition=3rd|year=1894|pages=684–685|volume=2}}
*{{Cite book| author = ]| title = ] | publisher = Viking | year = 1997 | isbn = 1842930265}}
*{{Cite book|last=Goranson|first=Stephen|chapter=Ebionites|editor=D Freedman|title=The Anchor Bible Dictionary|location=New York|publisher=Doubleday|year=1992|volume=2|pages=260–1}}
*{{Cite book| author = ] | title = ]: A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity| publisher = Simon & Schuster | year = 2006| isbn = 0743287231}}
*{{cite book|author=J. M. Fuller|chapter=Ebionism and Ebionites|editor=Henry Wace|title=A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies|year=1999 |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |isbn=1-56563-460-8}}
*{{Cite book| author = Wilson, Barrie| title = How Jesus Became Christian - The early Christians and the transformation of a Jewish teacher into the Son of God | publisher = Orion | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-297-85200-1}}


==Primary sources== ==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Ebionite}} {{Wiktionary|Ebionite}}
{{Wikisource|Ebionites according to the Church Fathers}} {{Wikisource|Ebionites according to the Church Fathers}}
* {{Cite AmCyc|wstitle=Ebionites |short=x}}
* (archived website of a modern Ebionite revival group founded by Shemayah Phillips in 1985)
*


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Latest revision as of 14:26, 9 December 2024

Early Christian sect This article is about the early Jewish Christian sect. For the gospel associated with them, see Gospel of the Ebionites.
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Ebionites (Ancient Greek: Ἐβιωναῖοι, romanizedEbiōnaîoi, derived from Hebrew אֶבְיוֹנִים, ʾEḇyōnīm, 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, whose name may have been taken from the first group of people mentioned in the Beatitudes of Jesus as blessed and meriting entry in the coming Kingdom of God on Earth.

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 FathersIrenaeus, Origen, Eusebius, and Epiphanius of Salamis — who saw the Ebionites as distinct from other Jewish Christian sects, such as the Nazarenes.

The Church Fathers generally agree on key points about the Ebionites, such as their voluntary poverty and rejection of proto-orthodox Christian beliefs in Jesus' divinity, pre-existence, and virgin birth; they argue the 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 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 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.

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 (one, some or all of the Jewish–Christian gospels), and their lifestyle practices (religious vegetarianism, ritual washing, etc.). These variations reflect the esoteric and evolving 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 (c. 180 CE). 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 both in histories of Christianity for "Ebionites" (אביונים‎) and for almsgiving to the needy at Purim.

History

Map of the Decapolis showing the location of Pella.

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 rather than a schismatic sect.

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. 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. 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. Epiphanius states that the Ebionites had amended "locusts" (Ancient Greek: ἀκρίδες, romanizedakrídes) to "honey cakes" (Ancient Greek: ἐγκρίδες, romanizedenkrídes). 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 keeping 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. However, Irenaeus reports that they only used a version of the Gospel of Matthew, 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 his 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 believed Jesus was crucified for the cause of ending the Temple sacrificial system in order to establish a non-transactional and self-transformational 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, Pierre-Antoine Bernheim [fr], Will Durant, Michael Goulder, Gerd Ludemann, 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.

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. 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 in Koine Greek, which was used by Jerome and is still extant in fragments, and his lost Hypomnemata, 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.

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 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":

Thus we have a paradox of world-historical proportions, viz., the fact that Jewish Christianity indeed disappeared within the Christian church, but was preserved in Islam and thereby extended some of its basic ideas even to our own day. According to Islamic doctrine, the Ebionite combination of Moses and Jesus found its fulfillment in Muhammad.

— Hans Joachim Schoeps, Jewish Christianity

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.

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

  1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ebionites" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 842.
  2. ^ "Ebionites". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  3. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. 2005. pp. 526–. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
  4. ^ James D. Tabor (2006). The Jesus Dynasty: The Hidden History of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-8723-4.
  5. A Companion to Second-Century Christian 'Heretics'. BRILL; 2008. ISBN 90-04-17038-3. p. 267–.
  6. ^ Klijn, AFJ; Reinink, GJ (1973). Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects. Brill. ISBN 90-04-03763-2.
  7. Hegg, Tim (2007). "The Virgin Birth — An Inquiry into the Biblical Doctrine" (PDF). TorahResource. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-21. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
  8. Jeffrey Butz (2010). The Secret Legacy of Jesus. Inner Traditions. ISBN 978-1-59477-307-5. p. 124: In fact, the Ebionites and the Nazarenes are one and the same; p. 137: "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."; p. 137: "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."
  9. ^ Ehrman, Bart D. (2005) . Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford University Press. pp. 100–103. ISBN 978-0-19-975668-1.
  10. Kohler, Kaufmann (1901–1906). "EBIONITES (from = 'the poor')". In Singer, Isidore; Alder, Cyrus (eds.). Jewish Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2020-09-30. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  11. ^ Hyam Maccoby (1987). The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity. HarperCollins. pp. 172–183. ISBN 0-06-250585-8, an abridgement.
  12. ^ Petri Luomanen (2007). Matt Jackson-McCabe (ed.). Jewish Christianity Reconsidered. Fortress Press. ISBN 978-0-8006-3865-8.
  13. ^ Shlomo Pines (1966). The Jewish Christians Of The Early Centuries Of Christianity According To A New Source. Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities II, No. 13. OCLC 13610178.
  14. Antti Marjanen, Petri Luomanen "A companion to second-century Christian "heretics" p250 "It is interesting to note that the Ebionites first appear in the catalogues in the latter half of the second century. The earliest reference to the Ebionites was included in a catalogue used by Irenaeus in his Refutation and Subversion ..."
  15. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible 2000 p. 364 "EBIONITES Name for Jewish Christians first witnessed in Irenaeus (Adv. haer. 1.26.2; Gk. ebionaioi) ca. 180 ce".
  16. Origen. Contra Celsum. II, 1.
  17. "Philip Schaff: ANF04. Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second - Christian Classics Ethereal Library". www.ccel.org.
  18. ^ G. Uhlhorn. "Ebionites". In Philip Schaff (ed.). A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology. Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). pp. 684–685.
  19. ^ O. Cullmann. "Ebioniten". Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Vol. 2. p. 7435.
  20. The Oxford English-Hebrew Dictionary. ISBN 9780198601722.
  21. ^ Justin Martyr. Dialogue with Trypho. 47.
  22. ^ Irenaeus of Lyon. Adversus Haereses. I, 26; III,21.
  23. Origen. De Principiis. IV, 22.
  24. ^ Epiphanius of Salamis. Panarion.
  25. ^ Glenn Alan Koch (1976). A Critical Investigation of Epiphanius' Knowledge of the Ebionites: A Translation and Critical Discussion of 'Panarion' 30. University of Pennsylvania.
  26. Hakkinen, Sakara. "Ebionites," in Marjanen, Antti, and Petri Luomanen, eds. A Companion to Second-Century Christian'Heretics. Vol. 76. Brill, 2008, 257–278, esp. 259
  27. Some scholars see the title present already in Paul's references to a collection for the "poor" in Jerusalem (Gal.1:10). But in Rom.15:26 Paul distinguishes this sect from the other Jerusalem believers by speaking of "the poor among the saints." In 2 Cor.9:12 Paul further confirms the economic, or literal, aspect by speaking of the collection as making up for "the deficiencies of the saints". E. Stanley Jones, '"Ebionites", in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Amsterdam University Press, 2000 p. 364.
  28. ^ Henry Wace & William Piercy (1911). A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  29. Eusebius, Church History 3, 5, 3; Epiphanius, Panarion 29,7,7-8; 30, 2, 7; On Weights and Measures 15. On the flight to Pella see: Jonathan Bourgel (2010). "The Jewish Christians' Move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice". In Dan Jaffé (ed.). Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity. Leyden: Brill. pp. 107–138.
  30. ^ Klijn, A.F.J.; Reinink, G.J. (1973). Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects. Leiden: E.J. Brill. p. 29. ISBN 978-9-00403763-2. OCLC 1076236746. (citing Epiphanius' Anacephalaiosis 30.18.1.)
  31. Adolf von Harnack (1907). "Chapter VI. The Christianity of the Jewish Christians". The History of Dogma. ISBN 978-1-57910-067-4.
  32. Brandon, S. G. F. (1968). The fall of Jerusalem and the Christian church: A study of the effects of the Jewish overthrow of A. D. 70 on Christianity. S.P. C.K. ISBN 0-281-00450-1.
  33. Gregerman, Adam (2012-02-09). "It's 'Kosher' To Accept Real Jesus?". The Forward. Archived from the original on 2016-04-27. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  34. Gibbon, Edward (2003). The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Random House, NY. Chapter 15, pp. 390–391. ISBN 0-375-75811-9.
  35. Adler, Marcus N. (1907). The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary. Phillip Feldheim. pp. 70–72.
  36. al-Shahrastani, Muhammad (2002). The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects, William Cureton edition. Gorgias Press. p. 167.
  37. ^ Schoeps, Hans-Joachim (1969). Jewish Christianity: Factional Disputes in the Early Church. Translation Douglas R. A. Hare. Fortress Press.
  38. Thomas C. Oden (2006). Ancient Christian commentary on Scripture: New Testament. InterVarsity Press. pp. 178–. ISBN 978-0-8308-1497-8. Retrieved 14 October 2010. 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".
  39. ^ Simon J. Joseph (January 2017). "'I Have Come to Abolish Sacrifices' (Epiphanius, Pan. 30.16.5): Re-examining a Jewish Christian Text and Tradition". New Testament Studies. 63. New Testament Studies, Volume 63, Issue 1: 92–110. doi:10.1017/S0028688516000345. S2CID 164739491.
  40. W.M. Ramsey (1912). "The Tekmoreian Guest-Friends". Journal of Hellenic Studies. 32: 151–170. doi:10.2307/624138. JSTOR 624138. S2CID 162190693.
  41. Exarch Anthony J. Aneed (1919). Syrian Christians, A Brief History of the Catholic Church of St. George in Milwaukee, Wis. And a Sketch of the Eastern Church. Archived from the original on 17 April 2007. Retrieved 28 April 2007.
  42. Irenaeus of Lyon. Adversus Haereses. V, 1.
  43. ^ Robert E. van Voorst (1989). The Ascents of James: History and Theology of a Jewish-Christian Community. Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 1-55540-294-1.
  44. Kriste Stendahl (1991). The Scrolls and the New Testament. Herder & Herder. ISBN 0-8245-1136-0.
  45. J Verheyden (2003). "Epiphanius on the Ebionites". In Peter J. Tomson; Doris Lambers-Petry (eds.). The image of the Judaeo-Christians in ancient Jewish and Christian literature. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 3-16-148094-5. p. 188: The vegetarianism of John the Baptist and of Jesus is an important issue too in the Ebionite interpretation of the Christian life.
  46. Ehrman 2005, pp. 102–103 102, 103 Probably the most interesting of the changes from the familiar New Testament accounts of Jesus comes in the Gospel of the Ebionites description of John the Baptist, who, evidently, like his successor Jesus, maintained a strictly vegetarian cuisine.
  47. Ehrman, Bart D. (2003). Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament. Oxford University Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-19-514182-2. 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".
  48. Textual Apparatus of the UBS Greek New Testament. United Bible Societies. 1993 - with Peshitta, Old Latin etc.
  49. James A. Kelhoffer (2005). The Diet of John the Baptist. Mohr Siebeck. pp. 19–21. ISBN 978-3-16-148460-5.
  50. G.R.S. Mead (2007). Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book. Forgotten Books. ISBN 978-1-60506-210-5. p. 104: And when he had been brought to Archelaus and the doctors of the Law had assembled, they asked him who he is and where he has been until then. And to this he made answer and spake: I am pure; the Spirit of God hath led me on, and cane and roots and tree-food.
  51. Hans-Josef Klauck (2003). The Apocryphal Gospels: An Introduction. A&C Black. p. 52–. ISBN 978-0-567-08390-6.
  52. Schaff (1904). A select library of Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian church. p. footnote 828: That there were two different views among the Ebionites as to the birth of Christ is stated frequently by Origen (cf. e.g. Contra Celsum V. 61), but there was unanimity in the denial of his pre-existence and essential divinity, and this constituted the essence of the heresy in the eyes of the Fathers from Irenæus on.
  53. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (1982). "Ebionites". International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: E-J. p. 9 citing E.H.3.27.3 "There were others, however, besides them, that were of the same name, that avoided the strange and absurd beliefs of the former, and did not deny that the Lord was born of a virgin and of the Holy Spirit. But nevertheless, inasmuch as they also refused to acknowledge that he pre-existed, being God, Word, and Wisdom, they turned aside into the impiety of the former, especially when they, like them, endeavored to observe strictly the bodily worship of the law." Also source text online at CCEL.org.
  54. Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn, G. J. Reinink (1973). Patristic evidence for Jewish-Christian sects. p. 42: Irenaeus wrote that these Ebionites used the Gospel of Matthew, which explains Theodoret's remark. Unlike Eusebius, he did not link Irenaeus' reference to Matthew with Origen's remarks about the 'Gospel of the Hebrews'
  55. Edwin K. Broadhead (2010). Jewish Ways of Following Jesus: Redrawing the Religious Map of Antiquity. p. 209: Theodoret describes two groups of Ebionites on the basis of their view of the virgin birth. Those who deny the virgin birth use the Gospel of the Hebrews; those who accept it use the Gospel of Matthew.
  56. ^ Richard Bauckham (2003). "The Origin of the Ebionites". The Image of the Judeo-Christians in Ancient Jewish and Christian Literature. Brill, Peter J. Tomson and Doris Lambers-Petry eds. pp. 162–181. ISBN 3-16-148094-5.
  57. ^ Viljoen, Francois (2006). "Jesus' Teaching on the Torah in the Sermon on the Mount". Neotestamentica. 40 (1). Neotestamenica / New Testament Society of Southern Africa: 135–155. JSTOR 43049229.
  58. Akers 2000, p. 195–197.
  59. Atkins 2019, p. 261.
  60. Robert Eisenman (1998). James the brother of Jesus: the key to unlocking the secrets of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Penguin Books. pp. 36–7, 156, 224, 432, 495, 566, 674, 744, 781, 941. ISBN 0-14-025773-X.
  61. Whiston, W. Antiquities (2008 ed.). p. 594.
  62. Robert Eisenman (1997). James, Brother of Jesus: The key to unlocking the secrets of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Viking. E.g. p. 154: "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." p. 156: "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."
  63. Robert Eisenman (2006). The New Testament Code. Watkins Publishing. pp. 34, 145, 273. ISBN 978-1-84293-186-8. p. 34: These 'Ebionites' are also the followers of James par excellence, himself considered (even in early Christian accounts) to be the leader of 'the Poor' or these selfsame 'Ebionites'; p. 145: "For James 2:5, of course, it is 'the Poor of this world ('the Ebionim' or 'Ebionites') whom God chose as Heirs to the Kingdom He promised to those that love Him'"; p. 273: "...'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')."
  64. Pierre-Antoine Bernheim (1997). James, Brother of Jesus. SCM Press. ISBN 978-0-334-02695-2. The fact that he became the head of the Jerusalem church is something which is generally accepted. From an ABC interview with author.
  65. Michael Goulder (1995). St. Paul versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions. John Knox Press. pp. 107–113, 134. ISBN 0-664-25561-2. p. 134: So the 'Ebionite' Christology, which we found first described in Irenaeus about 180 is not the invention of the late second century. It was the creed of the Jerusalem Church from early times.
  66. Ludemann, Gerd (1996). Heretics: The Other Side of Early Christianity. John Knox Press. pp. 52–56. ISBN 0-664-22085-1. Retrieved 27 March 2011. pp. 52–53: Since there is a good century between the end of the Jerusalem community and the writing down of the report quoted above (by Irenaeus), of course reasons must be given why the group of Ebionites should be seen as an offshoot of the Jerusalem community. The following considerations tell in favor of the historical plausibility of this: 1. The name 'Ebionites' might be the term this group used to denote themselves. 2. Hostility to Paul in the Christian sphere before 70 is attested above all in groups which come from Jerusalem. 3. The same is true of observance of the law culminating in circumcision. 4. The direction of prayer towards Jerusalem makes the derivation of the Ebionites from there probable. p. 56: "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."
  67. John Painter (1999). Just James - The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition. Fortress Press. pp. 83–102, 229. ISBN 0-8006-3169-2. p. 229: A connection between early Jerusalem Christianity (the Hebrews) and the later Ebionites is probable.
  68. Keith Augustus Burton (2007). The Blessing of Africa: The Bible and African Christianity. Intervarsity Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-0-8308-2762-6.
  69. James D. G. Dunn (1997). Unity and Diversity in the New Testament: an inquiry into the character of earliest Christianity. S.C.M. Press. ISBN 9780334024040.
  70. Richard Bauckham (2001). "James and Jesus". The brother of Jesus: James the Just and his mission. By Bruce Chilton; Jacob Neusner. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 100–137, 135. We may now assert quite confidently that the self-consciously low christology of the later Jewish sect known as the Ebionites does not, as has sometimes been asserted, go back to James and his circle in the early Jerusalem church.
  71. Richard Bauckham (January 1996). "The Relatives of Jesus". Themelios. 21 (2): 18–21. Retrieved 11 February 2011. Reproduced in part by permission of the author.
  72. Paul and the Second Century. A&C Black. 2011. p. 164–. ISBN 978-0-567-15827-7.
  73. Ehrman, Bart D. (2014). How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee. HarperOne. ISBN 978-0-06-177818-6.
  74. " declare that he was a Greek He went up to Jerusalem, they say, and when he had spent some time there, he was seized with a passion to marry the daughter of the priest. For this reason he became a proselyte and was circumcised. Then, when he failed to get the girl, he flew into a rage and wrote against circumcision and against the sabbath and the Law." Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion 30.16.6–9
  75. John Toland (1718). Nazarenus, or Jewish, Gentile and Mahometan Christianity.
  76. Blackhirst, R. (2000). "Barnabas and the Gospels: Was There an Early Gospel of Barnabas?". Journal of Higher Criticism. 7 (1): 1–22. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
  77. ^ J.P Arendzen (1909). "Ebionites" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
  78. "Those who are called Ebionites accept that God made the world. However, their opinions with respect to the Lord are quite similar to those of Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They use Matthew's gospel only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the Law." - Irenaeus, Haer 1.26.2
  79. Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, III, 27, 4.
  80. James R. Edwards (2009). The Hebrew Gospel & the Development of the Synoptic Tradition. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. p. 121.
  81. Nicholson (1879). The Gospel according to the Hebrews, reprinted print on demand BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009. pp. 1–81.
  82. William Whiston; H. Stebbing. The Life and Works of Flavius Josephus, reprinted Vol. II, Kessinger Publishing, 2006. p. 576.
  83. They too accept the Matthew's gospel, and like the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus, they use it alone. They call it the Gospel of the Hebrews, for in truth Matthew alone in the New Testament expounded and declared the Gospel in Hebrew using Hebrew script. - Epiphanius, Panarion 30.3.7
  84. Walter Richard Cassels (1877). Supernatural Religion - An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine Revelation, reprinted print on demand Read Books, 2010. Vol. 1, pp. 419–422.
  85. Parker, Pierson (1940). "A Proto-Lukan Basis for the Gospel According to the Hebrews". Journal of Biblical Literature. 59 (4): 471–478. doi:10.2307/3262407. JSTOR 3262407.
  86. The Complete Gospels. Polebridge Press, Robert J. Miller ed. 1994. p. 436. ISBN 0-06-065587-9.
  87. Robert Walter Funk (1999). The Gospel of Jesus: according to the Jesus Seminar. Polebridge Press.
  88. F.L. Cross; E.A. Livingston (1989). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. pp. 438–439.
  89. 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; Church History. VI, 17.
  90. Jerome, De viris illustribus, 54.
  91. Skarsaune, Oskar (2007). Jewish Believers in Jesus. Hendrickson Publishers. pp. 448–450. ISBN 978-1-56563-763-4. Skarsaune argues that Eusebius may have only inferred 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).
  92. Luttikhuizen, Gerard (1985). The Revelation of Elchasai: Investigations into the Evidence for a Mesopotamian Jewish Apocalypse of the Second Century and its Reception by Judeo-Christian Propagandists. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 8. Tubingen. p. 216.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  93. Antti Marjanen, Petri Luomanen A companion to second-century Christian "heretics" p336
  94. Philosophumena, IX, 14–17. Luttikhuizen 1985: "Epiphanius deviates so strikingly from Hippolytus' account of the heresy of Alcibiades that we cannot possibly assume that he is dependent on the Refutation."
  95. Jean Daniélou (1964). The theology of Jewish Christianity: The Development of Christian doctrine before the Council of Nicea. H. Regnery Co. ASIN B0007FOFQI.
  96. Karl Baus (1980). From the Apostolic Community to Constantine. Crossroad. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-824-50314-7.
  97. Abdulhaq al-Ashanti & Abdur-Rahmaan Bowes (Paul Addae and Tim Bowes 1998) (2005). Before Nicea: The Early Followers of Prophet Jesus. Jamia Media. ISBN 0-9551099-0-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  98. J.P Arendzen (1909). "Ebionites" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Those who accepted the virginal birth seem to have had more exalted views concerning Christ and, besides observing the Sabbath, to have kept the Sunday as a memorial of His Resurrection. The milder sort of Ebionites were probably fewer and less important than their stricter brethren, because the denial of the virgin birth was commonly attributed to all. (Origen, Horn. in Luc., xvii.) St. Epiphanius calls the more heretical section Ebionites, and the more Catholic-minded, Nazarenes.
  99. 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.
  100. Bentzion Kravitz (2001). The Jewish Response to Missionaries: Counter-Missionary Handbook. Jews for Judaism International.
  101. Moshe Koniuchowsky (2007). "'Messianic' Leaders Deny Yeshua in Record Numbers". yourarmstoisrael.org. Archived from the original on 12 August 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2007.
  102. James Prasch (2007). "You Foolish Galatians, Who Bewitched You? A Crisis in Messianic Judaism?". Moriel Ministries. Archived from the original on 11 August 2004. Retrieved 21 July 2007.

Literature

  • Akers, Keith (2000). The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity. Lantern Books.
  • Atkins, J.D. (2019). The Doubt of the Apostles and the Resurrection Faith of the Early Church: The Post-resurrection Appearance Stories of the Gospels in Ancient Reception and Modern Debate. Mohr Siebeck.
  • Butz, Jeffrey (2010). The Secret Legacy of Jesus. Inner Traditions. ISBN 978-1-59477-307-5.
  • G. Uhlhorn (1894). "Ebionites". In Philip Schaff (ed.). A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology. Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). pp. 684–685.
  • Goranson, Stephen (1992). "Ebionites". In D Freedman (ed.). The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 2. New York: Doubleday. pp. 260–1.
  • J. M. Fuller (1999). "Ebionism and Ebionites". In Henry Wace (ed.). A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies. Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 1-56563-460-8.
  • Wilson, Barrie (2008). How Jesus Became Christian - The early Christians and the transformation of a Jewish teacher into the Son of God. Orion. ISBN 978-0-297-85200-1.

External links

Beliefs condemned as heretical by the Catholic Church (list)
Antiquity This 1711 illustration for the Index Librorum Prohibitorum depicts the Holy Ghost supplying the book burning fire.
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