Ebionites
Ebionaioi ("the poor")
2nd – early 5th century
attested. Their existence as Torah-observant Jewish-Christian groups is attested. Their exact beliefs vary across hostile reports, and the label may cover several groups. The use of the Pseudo-Clementines for Ebionite theology rests on source-critical hypotheses.
Leaders
- No historical founder; "Ebion" is a fiction of the heresiologists
- Symmachus the translator (Ebionite per Eusebius)
Beliefs
Jesus was the Messiah and a righteous man chosen by God, and some held he was born naturally of Joseph and Mary, though Origen knew a group that accepted the virgin birth. They kept the Torah, including circumcision and the Sabbath, used a Hebrew or Aramaic gospel related to Matthew, and rejected Paul as an apostate from the Law. Epiphanius adds vegetarianism and the rejection of sacrifice, possibly under Elkasaite influence.
Home bases
No home base of its own is pinned in this drop.
Also named in earlier place batches: Kokaba; Pella; Beroea (Aleppo); Transjordan / Bashan (see Jewish-Christian places batch).
Spread
Known in Transjordan, Bashan, Nabataea and the Decapolis region, with reports from Cyprus and possibly Rome (Symmachus). Places are covered in the Jewish-Christian places batch.
Books
What happened to it
Disappears from the record by the 5th century. Modern hypotheses of Ebionite influence on early Islam, or survival in Arabia, are unproven.
Hostile sources
Irenaeus of Lyon. Against Heresies I.26.2 c. 180
Hostile; earliest systematic heresiology; ANF translation (public domain).
Origen. Against Celsus V.61; Commentary on Matthew 3rd c.
Hostile; distinguishes two kinds.
Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History III.27; VI.17 c. 313–325
Hostile toward heresies; quotes earlier documents verbatim. NPNF translation (public domain).
Epiphanius of Salamis. Panarion 30 c. 374–377
Hostile and often careless with groups he never met; no public-domain English translation located (F. Williams translation is in copyright). Link is an overview, not the text.
Jerome. Letter 112; Commentary on Matthew c. 400
Hostile.
Their own words
Ebionite authors. Gospel of the Ebionites (fragments in Epiphanius) 2nd c.
Insider fragments.
Symmachus. Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (fragments in the Hexapla) late 2nd c.
Insider (per Eusebius), fragments.