patristic testimonies reconsidered Ambrosius, a wealthy Alexandrian whom Origen had converted from
Gnosticism, became his patron and lifelong friend. Ambrosius provided
Origen with scribes and means which enabled him to become one of the
most prolific authors of Antiquity, esteemed both by his Christian and
non-Christian contemporaries. After , Origen settled in Palestine,
in Caesarea, but before that he had already made several trips to Rome
and Greece, and he had been called to an audience by the empress Julia
Mammaea at Antioch in . Origen’s survived literary production dates
mostly to the time he lived in Caesarea. He died during the Decian
persecutions (ca. ).
As regards Origen’s understanding of the Ebionites, it should be, first
of all, noted that Origen understood the name Ebionites as a general title
for all Jews who accepted Jesus but were not willing to forsake their Jew-
ish heritage (Cels. ..;Comm. Matt. .). Origen comments are also
very polemical because he often refers to the Ebionites—whose name he
takes as a reference to their poor intellect—in order to provide examples
of “poor” literal interpretation of scriptures. In his view, the Ebionites are
primary examples of interpreters who do not understand the deeper spir-
itual meaning of the text. Thus, his comments are often more like gener-
alizations concerning certain theological position, than observations of
the beliefs and practices of historical Ebionite communities.
Because Origen did not write any heresiology, his view of the Ebionites
has to be reconstructed from short remarks scattered throughout his
literary production. Because of this, it is also difficult to conclude if he was
familiar with the heresiologies that already existed by his time (Justin’s,
Irenaeus’ and Hippolytus’). Nevertheless, it is clear that he attributes to
the Ebionites the same basic beliefs and practices that can also be found
in Irenaeus’ and Hippolytus’ works. There are some verbal similarities
(see below) and the contents of his information coheres—with some
enlargements—so well with the Irenaean tradition that I am inclined to
assume Origen’s dependence on the earlier heresiologists, Hippolytus in
particular.
Origen shares with the Irenaean tradition the notions that Ebion-
ites require circumcision (Hom. Gen. .), follow Jewish customs (food
laws;Comm. Matt. .), do not believe in the virgin birth (Comm.
Matt. .), and are anti-Pauline (Hom. Jer. .). Origen also knows
that the Ebionites assumed Jesus to have been sent primarily to the
Israelites (Princ. ..). This agrees with the profile of Irenaeus’ Ebionites
whose religion was also centered on traditional Jewish identity markers,
circumcision, Jewish laws and Jerusalem, and who must have thought