jewish-christian gospels recovered thesameway.^45 From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until
three in the afternoon.^6 And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud
voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” [that is, “My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?”]67 47When some of the bystanders heard it, they said,
“This man is calling for Elijah.”^48 At once one of them ran and got a sponge,
filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.^49 But
the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”(^50) Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. (^51) At that
momentalintelofanenormoussizeintheTemplewasbrokenandsplit.
The earth shook, and the rocks were split.^52 The tombs also were opened,
and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.^53 After
his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and
appeared to many. Now when the centurion and those with him, who were
keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they
were terrified and said, “TrulythismanwasGod’sSon!”
In the Matthean context, the Lord’s Prayer is clearly presented as an alter-
native to Jewish prayers in synagogues. It is clear from Jerome’sCommen-
tary on Amosand hisLetter to Augustinethat he also had knowledge of
anti-Nazarene Jewish prayers. In a context where Jerome accuses Augus-
tine (Epist. .) of supporting Ebionite views, he notes that “Until now
a heresy is to be found in all parts of the East where Jews have their syna-
gogues;itiscalled“oftheMinaeans”andcursedbyPhariseesuptonow.
Usually they are named Nazarenes.” It is generally agreed that Jerome
refers here to an addition—known asBirkat ha-Minim—that was made
to the twelfth “blessing” of the JewishEighteen Benedictions.Somever-
sions of the “blessing” are also known to have included a reference to
notsrimthat is obviously a Semitic variant of Jerome’s Nazarenes.^68 Je-
rome refers to the same practice in hisCommentary on Amos(Comm.
Am. .–): “Until today they blaspheme the Christian people under
the name of Nazarenes.” Jerome refers to the prayer on a general level but
a more detailed description of the Jewish practice, to which the Nazarenes
may have contrasted Jesus’ teaching about prayer, is preserved by Epipha-
nius (Pan. ..):
(^67) The translation of Jesus’ words may have been unnecessary in a Semitic version.
(^68) Different versions of the prayer are quoted by Schäfer , –, who suggests
that thenotsrimwere included in the prayer in localities where the “Nazarenes” had
become a problem. In most cases, the “benediction” refers only to theminim.Scholars
have discussed whether the term refers to Christians in general or only to the “sect” of
the Nazarenes. However, if I have been on the right track in arguing that the kind of
separate sect Epiphanius characterizes in hisPanarion never existed, then the whole
discussion may be based on a misconception. For the discussion, see Horbury , –
; Kimelman , –; de Boer , .