patristic testimonies reconsidered independent branch of Jewish Christianity. At the same time, their
Jewish-Christian profile appears to be so unique that it raises the ques-
tion whether they should also be given a name of their own. Because they
seem to have called themselves Ebionites, it would be natural to simply
call them Epiphanius’ Ebionites in order to keep in mind that they dif-
fered considerably from the Ebionites known to earlier church fathers.
Another possibility would be to call them Samaritan-Elchasaite Chris-
tians. In any case, it seems that to label these Ebionites as simply Jewish
Christians would not do justice to some of the very distinctive beliefs
they had developed when they did not accept the prophets and adopted
theBook of Elchasai.
.. TheNazarenes..................................................
... Introduction.............................................
The Jewish-Christian “heresy” of the Nazarenes was first discussed by
Epiphanius, the fourth-century bishop of Salamis. Although Epiphanius
dates the origin of the heresy back to the first century, it is striking
that none of his predecessors refers to a heretical sect called Nazarenes
whereas the Ebionites are often described by earlier heresiologists, start-
ing with Irenaeus. By the end of the fourth century, the only other father
who knows something about the Nazarenes, is his contemporary and
friend Jerome.
Scholars have explained this gap in the recorded history of the Naz-
arenes in various ways. The explanations can be roughly divided into
three categories, each connected to a particular concept of the overall
development of early Christianity.
.The Nazarenes were later, more tolerant Jewish Christians. Ferdinand
Christian Baur argued—in contrast to early heresiologists—that the
Ebionites were not originally a heretical sect but successors of the very
first Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. The Nazarenes, for their part, rep-
resented a later phase of Jewish Christianity, which had developed from
its strictly anti-Pauline stance to a more lenient attitude towards the gen-
tiles.^40
(^40) Baur thought that the teaching and the practices of the Ebionites were so close to the
very first Jewish Christianity that, in general, one could call the early Jewish Christianity
Ebionism. However, he also notes that it is more common to restrict the name Ebionites