community
Nasaraeans of Gilead, Bashan and Transjordan
northern Jordan / southern Syria (Galaaditis and Batanaea), Jordan / Syria · Jewish-Christian groups
32.712, 35.948
Approximate location. The map shows a region, not a pin.
Hostile source. Epiphanius, Panarion 18: a hostile heresiologist writing in the 370s.
Disputed. ATTESTED: only Epiphanius reports the group and its region. HYPOTHESES: (1) a link to the Mandaean Nasoraia (Lidzbarski, Rudolph, Macuch, Drower); (2) a pre-Christian origin; (3) a link between the name and the Nazirite vow (Hebrew nazir). Each is a scholarly proposal, not established fact. Many philologists derive the name from the root n-ṣ-r ('to keep/guard') or from Nazareth.
Nasaraeans of Gilead, Bashan and Transjordan
northern Jordan / southern Syria (Galaaditis and Batanaea)
Epiphanius (Panarion 18) describes the Nasaraeans as Jews from Gileaditis, Bashanitis and Transjordan who kept Jewish customs but refused animal sacrifice and meat and rejected parts of the Torah. He says they existed before Christ, and he treats them as a separate group from the Christian Nazoraeans of Panarion 29. Some scholars connect them with the Nasoraia, the priestly elite of the Mandaeans.
People and groups named here
- Nasaraeans (per Epiphanius)
Sources
- Nazarene (sect) (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Mandaeans (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Pleiades place 678143: Gala(a)ditis
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.