We wish we knew who actually used the Gospel. The name of the sect is from the Hebrew ebyonim, or ebionim (“the poor”); it was not founded, as later Christian writers stated, by a certain Ebion. Haer. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. The exact relationship of the Ebionites to the Dead Sea Community and/or the Essenes as well as the older sect known as the Rechabites is still a matter of conjecture, although more recent scholarship has tended to see basic similarities if not some type of direct relationship. I. xxvi. The Ebionites were one of several such sects that originated in and around Palestine in the first centuries ad and included the Nazarenes and Elkasites. Though it consisted mostly of Jews, Gentile Christians also sometimes attached themselves to it. Rev. [2] They regarded Jesus as the Messiah but not as divine.The Ebionites revered his brother James as the head of the Jerusalem Church and rejected Paul of Tarsus because he was an apostate towards the Law [citation needed]. April, 1864, page 569 sq.). 1:26 (Ante-Nicene Library, verse 97); Gieseler, Ueber die Nazarder und Ebioniten, in Archiv fur A.&N. Cels., V. 61) distinguishes between two branches of Ebionites, - those who denied and those who accepted the miraculous birth. LITERATURE. Organization of Ebionites. Bishop Horsley replied to Priestley in his Charge to the Clergy of St. Albans (1783), and in other tracts, collected in Tracts in Controversy with Dr. Priestley (Dundee, 1812, 3d ed.). Ebionites. No one doubts that the first followers of Jesus were all Jews. The Gospel of the Ebionites is the conventional name given by scholars to an apocryphal gospel extant only as seven brief quotations in a heresiology known as the Panarion, by Epiphanius of Salamis; he misidentified it as the "Hebrew" gospel, believing it to be a truncated and modified version of the Gospel of Matthew. The common Ebionites, who were by far the more numerous, embodied the Pharisaic legal spirit, and were the proper successors of the Judaizers opposed in the epistle to the Galatians. Here he distinction between Nazarenes and the Ebionites proper becomes apparent. 4. Evidently, they later found this unsatisfactory and developed their own literature—the Gospel of the Ebionites—although none of this text has survived. Ebionites (Greek: Ἐβιωναῖοι, Ebionaioi, derived from Hebrew אביונים ‎ ebyonim, ebionim, meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect who were vegetarians, viewed poverty as holy, believed in ritual ablutions, and also rejected of animal sacrifices. They are difficult to combat because they do not respect the written Word. It is true that Jesus was "christ," but so also would all be who fulfilled the Law. 2. 1, § 68, 214 sq. Ebionites. According to TERTULLIAN (De Praescr. 8-10. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. 11; Burton, Bampton Lectures (Oxford, 1829), notes 73-84. From the Catholic Encyclopedia. Little information exists on the Ebionites, and the surviving accounts are subject to considerable debate, since they are uniformly derived from the Ebionites’ opponents. Ecclesiastes in, 27) fancifully derives the name from "the poverty and meanness of the Elbionite doctrine concerning Christ." traces the Ebionitish tendency as far back as the Epistle to the Hebrews. — See, besides the works already cited, Irenaeus, Har. Disappointed in his hopes of advancement, Paul broke with the High Priest and sought fame by founding a new religion. Bibliography InformationMcClintock, John. A far abler advocate of the Socinian view is Baur, in his Christenthum d. drei erstess Jahrhunderte; Lehre v.d. Following schisms within the early Church, the graecized Hebrew term "Ebionite" was applied exclusively to Jewish Christians separated from the developing Pauline Christianity, and later in the fourth century … Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. They form the stepping-stone to Gnosticism. The Ebionites believed Jesus became the Messiah because he obeyed the Jewish Law. The Ebionites believed Jesus became the Messiah because he obeyed the Jewish Law. Baur's position is clearly stated, and refuted by professor Fisher (Am. Generally, the movement came to have a very negative view of Paul as an “apostate from the Torah,” though it is possible that in the 2nd and 3rd centuries there were branches of the Nazarenes who were more tolerant of Paul as the “apostle to the Gentiles,” but who as Jews, nonetheless, insisted on Torah observance. 1, § 68, 214 sq.). • Two varieties: the earlier group called Ebionites denied the divinity of Christ; the later Ebionites were a Gnostic sect who believed that matter was eternal and was God s body Catholic Encyclopedia. Those Jews who broke away to follow Jesus called themselves Nazarenes and later, Ebionites. 1. In many ways, Eisenman feels that the Ebionites were similar to the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls. "Baur agrees with the old Socinians in the statement that the Jewish Christianity of the apostolic age was Ebionite. What eventually became of the Ebionites remains a point of contention amongst historians. It first occurs in Irenaeus, Adv. Kircheng., 4:279 sq. Omissions? We know that the Ebionites believed Yeshu was born of a natural generation between Joseph and Mary; while some Nazarenes believed in a virgin birth. The term Ebionites derives from the Hebrew אביונים Evionim, meaning "the Poor Ones", which has parallels in the Psalms and the self-given term of pious Jewish circles. We have only these eight fragments that Epiphanius quotes. Ebionism has reappeared, since the Reformation, in Socinianism (q.v. The term "the poor" was at first a common designation for all Christians - a reference to their material as well their voluntary poverty. 2006. Paulinism of the Early Church. Doctrines. Pronunciation of Ebionites with 2 audio pronunciations, 5 translations, 2 sentences and more for Ebionites. On the other side, see N. Amer. The Ebionites also held Jerusalem in great veneration. (See Fisher, 1. c., for a criticism of this view, and for a brief but luminous sketch of Ebionism. The second class of Ebionites, starting with Essenic notions, gave their Judaism a speculative or theosophic stamp, like the errorists of the Epistle to the Colossians. : 1:116; 2:376; 3:175 et al. I. It first occurs in Irenaeus, Adv. c. 33) derives it from a founder, Edion, who maintained the authority of the Jewish law, and rejected the miraculous conception and divine nature of spirit. The first mention of the sect is in the works of the Christian theologian St. Irenaeus, notably in his Adversus haereses (Against Heresies; c. 180); other sources include the writings of Origen and St. Epiphanius of Constantia. We wish we had the whole Gospel. ; Martensen, Dogmatics (Edinburgh, 1866), § 128; Shedd, History of Doctrines, 1:106 sq. Origin The name Ebionite seems to be derived from Heb ˒eḇyôn, òpoor. Ebionite, member of an early ascetic sect of Jewish Christians. Most of the features of Ebionite doctrine were anticipated in the teachings of the earlier Qumrān sect, as revealed in the Dead Sea Scrolls. A link to all Patristic mention of the Ebionites is at this link-- the original Latin texts.. Ebionites On Authority of Apostles. 2. It continued into the fourth century, but at the time of Theodoret was entirely extinct. The pseudo-Clementine homilies teach a speculative form of Ebionism, essentially Judaizing in spirit and aim [ (See CLEMENTINES), 2, page 383]; and compare Schaff, Ch. The word Ebionites, or rather, more correctly, Ebionaeans, Ebionaioi, is a transliteration of the Aramean ABYONYA, meaning “poor men”. EBIONITES. By Mary Jane Chaignot. But the consequence of the legal stand-point soon showed itself. Thus they naturally repudiated Paul and his new doctrine entirely; for them Paul was a deceiver and … i.26.2), who gave no explanation of the term. xxxiii. Its members evidently left Palestine to avoid persecution and settled in Transjordan (notably at Pella) and Syria and were later known to be in Asia Minor and Egypt. The people who qualify for the first time as Ebionites are one or several Christian sects in certain writings of Irenaeus, even though this church father did not supply a good designation of meaning for that word. The sect seems to have existed into the 4th century. The Gospel of the Ebionites and the Hebrew Gospel. During the life of Jesus, Judaism was split into four main sects: Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots and Essenes. ; Burton, Ecclesiastes History, Lect. Rev. Ebionites Eb https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ebionites. ; Herzog, Real- Esacyklopadie, 3:621 sq. (b.) How to say Ebionites in English? t first appears in the writings of Irenaeus (Adv. Epiphanius traces the origin of Ebionitism to the Christians who fled to Pella after the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 66 (adv. Circumcision and the observance of the whole ritual law of Moses are necessary to salvation for all men. The early Ebionite literature is said to have resembled the Gospel According to Matthew, without the birth narrative. They do not appear to have been at any time numerous, and it is doubtful whether they ever obtained such consistency as to have a definite creed. ). They tend to disrupt Christian boards with their views unless the staff put their foot down. 2. The derivation first above given is now generally adopted. Haer., I, xxvi, 2… The sense of his Messianic calling first arose in him at his baptism by John, when a higher spirit joined itself to him. Harper & Brothers. 1844), page 362 sq. The first use of the word "Christian" is found in Acts 11:26, where it states the disciples in Antioch were called Christians. a sect of Judaizing Christians who received the doctrines of the Gospel very partially, and denied the divine nature of Christ. The discussion is not meaningful. Hist. They rejected the Virgin Birth of Jesus, instead holding that he was the natural son of Joseph and Mary. Other writers makes the derivation refer to Matthew 5:3 making "Ebionites" equivalent to "oppressed pious exiles" (Isaiah 25:4). Christology of the Early Church. 2). The former is a particularistic contraction of the Christian religion; the latter a vague expansion of it" (Church History, § 67). Origen (c. See also Waterland, Works, Oxf. By this name were designated one or more early Christian sects infected with Judaistic errors. Updates? 2000 years ago I lived as Jacob and was known as the brother of Yeshua. 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