chapter two
The tradition about the disciples’ flight to Pella before the conquest
of Jerusalem, as transmitted by Eusebius in hisEcclesiastical History
(Hist. eccl. .), is hardly historical as such. G. Lüdemann has shown
that the story can be understood as a foundation legend of a Jewish-
Christian community that was living in Pella.^60 If the Pella-tradition was
transmitted by Aristo of Pella, as Lüdemann suggests, then it is clear
that the Jewish-Christian community had settled in Pella in ce, at
the latest.^61 In any case, it is clear that, by the time of Epiphanius, Pella
was known as a local center of Jewish Christians who claimed to be the
successors of the early Jerusalem community.
Another question is whether or not the Jewish Christians living in
Kokaba/Chochaba and Pella were called Nazarenes. At least Epiphanius’
predecessors in the formative Catholic tradition presumably called the
Jewish Christians of Pella, who understood themselves to be the succes-
sors of Jerusalem community, Ebionites. Irenaeus already knew that the
Ebionites were “adoring Jerusalem as if it were the house of God.” Epipha-
nius himself also testifies that the Ebionites traced their name—ebion
means “poor” in Hebrew—back to the time of the Apostles by claiming
that they sold their properties and laid the money at the Apostles’ feet
(Pan. ..). Epiphanius’ own interpretation of the prehistory of the
Ebionites is in sharp contrast with this explanation since he traces the
genesis of the Ebionites back to the activity of Ebion, a former member
of the sect of the Nazarenes.
Although one cannot exclude the possibility that there were Jew-
ish Christians who were generally called Nazarenes in Pella and Kok-
aba/Chochaba in Epiphanius’ time, it is more likely that Epiphanius is
responsible for connecting the Nazarenes to these environs. Because
Epiphanius’Panariondepicts the Nazarenes as the first representatives
of heretical Jewish Christianity, they had to be connected to the places
where Jewish Christians were traditionally thought to be living.
(^60) Lüdemann , –, –, esp. .
(^61) Lüdemann , n. argues that the emigration must have happened before
. I agree with Lüdemann that, if the Pella tradition was transmitted by Aristo of Pella,
who wrote around –, the Bar Kokhba War (in ) cannot have been the disaster
that gave rise to the legend. However, in contrast to Lüdemann, I cannot see any apparent
reason why the legend could not be rooted in the flight of some members of the Jerusalem
community to Pella in the wake of the execution of James the Just. This happened a couple
of years before the disaster of , and if there were only a few members from Jerusalem,
it is perfectly possible that they survived when the Jews raided the town in revenge for
the killing of their compatriots in Caesarea (Josephus,Bell. .).