city
Pella
Tabaqat Fahl, Jordan, Jordan · Jewish-Christian groups
32.450, 35.616
Hostile source. Eusebius is a neutral-to-insider church historian. Epiphanius, who ties Pella to the 'heretical' Nazoraeans and Ebionites, is a hostile heresiologist.
Disputed. DISPUTED TRADITION. The flight is reported only by 4th-century writers (Eusebius, Epiphanius), possibly drawing on Aristo of Pella. Some scholars (e.g. S. G. F. Brandon, G. Lüdemann) see it as a later founding legend. Others accept a historical core. The later Byzantine church at Pella is attested.
A Decapolis city. Later Christian writers said Jerusalem believers fled here during the Jewish revolt. The report is late and not confirmed by archaeology. Eusebius says the Jerusalem church was warned by an oracle to leave the city before the war of 66-70 and settled in Pella, a Decapolis city east of the Jordan. Epiphanius repeats the story and makes Pella the starting point of the Nazoraeans and Ebionites. Pella later had a bishop and Byzantine churches, which have been excavated.
People and groups named here
- Aristo of Pella (2nd-century writer)
- The Jerusalem church (per Eusebius)
Sources
- Eusebius, Church History III.5.3 (flight to Pella); III.20 (relatives of Jesus)
Eusebius of Caesarea, tr. A. C. McGiffert, NPNF2 vol. 1 (1890), public domain; New Advent. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Flight to Pella (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Pleiades place 678326: Pella/Berenice/Philippeia
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
Cited notes
66. Eusebius reports that the Jerusalem church left for Pella in Perea before the war of 66-70.
Eusebius, Church History III.5.3 (NPNF2 1) · Verified in the source note
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.