chapter three
... JeromeandtheNazarenes’GospelTraditions..........
If Jerome did not get a complete copy of a gospel from the Nazarenes,
what did he get from them? One possible interpretation has been pre-
sented in Thomas P. Halton’s translation that was published in the Fathers
of the Church series:^51
the Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library
at Caesarea which Pamphilus the martyr so diligently gathered. I have
also had the opportunity of having the volumedescribedto me by the
Nazoreans of Beroea, a city of Syria, who use it. (Vir. ill. ; italics added).If the Nazarenes only described the contents of their gospel to Jerome,
that would solve many problems. Is Halton’s translation correct? The
Latin runs:Mihi quoque a Nazareis qui in Veria, urbe Syriae hoc uolumine
utuntur, describendi facultas fuit. In Latin “describe” can mean “to copy,”
“to sketch,” and also “to describe.” For me, it is difficult to read the Latin so
that the Nazarenes would have described the gospel to Jerome. However,
I think it is possible to understand that the Nazarenes provided Jerome
an opportunity to describe the gospel. This interpretation also suits the
context very well, because “describing” is precisely what Jerome does in
the next sentences, where he goes on by explaining how it can be seen “in
this [gospel]” (in quo) that testimonies of the Old Testament are quoted
according to the Hebrew text. Had Jerome really wanted to point out that
he had transcribed or copied the entire gospel, he could have used verbs
like “exscribo”, or “transcribo.”
If the above interpretation of the Latin text is correct, then the Naza-
renes would have provided Jerome with some notes or fragments on the
basis of which he was able to “describe” what there was in their gospel.
When and from whom did Jerome get the information?^52 Becauseheonly
got notes from the gospel, that may have happened almost any time but
most likely at the same time he was compiling materials for his other
compilations. At any rate, it is believable that the original source of the
information was—to Jerome’s knowledge—in Beroea in Syria. He often
(^51) Halton , .
(^52) If Jerome himself (or his stenographers) had copied the gospel, one possible date
would be the time he spent around Antioch. This possibility is usually rejected on the
grounds that Jerome would have been unlikely to have kept silent so long had he possessed
a copy of Matthew in Aramaic/Syriac. I agree that Jerome’s silence indicates that he did
not possess a copy of the whole gospel but it is not impossible that he may have had
some notes. Nevertheless, in the final analysis, it is more probable that he came across the
information from the Nazarenes when he was in Jerusalem.