community
Nazareth (relatives of Jesus)
Nazareth, Israel · Jewish-Christian groups
32.701, 35.300
Attested. Africanus attests the family tradition. Epiphanius's claim that the town was entirely non-Christian may be overstated.
Julius Africanus names Nazareth, with Kochaba, as a home of the desposynoi, Jesus's relatives who kept his family memory alive. Epiphanius later claims the town had no Christians until Joseph of Tiberias built churches in the 4th century. Pilgrim churches followed in the Byzantine period.
Source stance: insider. Africanus is sympathetic. Epiphanius, for the later claim, is hostile toward Jewish Christians.
People and groups named here
- The desposynoi
- Joseph of Tiberias (4th-century church builder)
Sources
- Eusebius, Church History I.7.14 (Julius Africanus on the desposynoi of Nazareth and Kochaba)
Eusebius of Caesarea, tr. A. C. McGiffert, NPNF2 vol. 1 (1890), public domain; New Advent. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Nazareth
Catholic Encyclopedia (1911), public domain; New Advent. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Pleiades place 678299: Nazareth
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.