chapter two
. He founded a monastery and spent the rest of his life there. Because
Jerome spent long periods of time in the East, it is reasonable to assume
that he had some reliable information about Christians who were called
Nazarenes there.
Jerome’s information about the Nazarenes can be classified into three
main categories: ) occasional references to Nazarene beliefs and prac-
tices in connection with the treatment of other topics, ) explicit descrip-
tions of the Nazarene biblical exegesis in Jerome’sCommentary on Isaiah,
and ) quotations from a gospel used by them. In this chapter, I focus on
the first two categories. The Nazarenes’ gospel tradition is treated in more
detail in Chapter ..
Jerome’s Occasional References and His Letter to Augustine
When assessing Jerome’s references to the Nazarenes, it should be kept
in mind that he wrote after Epiphanius’Panarionwas composed and
after he had been in contact with Epiphanius several times, especially
during their common journey to Rome in . Although Jerome does
not explicitly quote thePanarion, it is probable that, when he moved to
Palestine and started to refer to the Nazarenes, he was already influenced
by Epiphanius’ interpretation of the Nazarenes as “heretics.”
Most of Jerome’s references to the Nazarenes are to be found in con-
texts where he refers to or quotes writings that were used by the Naz-
arenes: a gospel that they used and a commentary on Isaiah. However,
occasional references to Nazarenes are also scattered around Jerome’s
large literary production. According to Jerome, Christians were called
Nazarenes because of Jesus’ home village (Sit. ). The Nazarenes are
cursed in the synagogues of the Jews (Comm. Am. .–;Comm. Isa.
.–, ., .–). The Nazarenes use the Gospel of Matthew in
Hebrew (Vir. ill. ). Jerome also tells how he has met Nazarenes and
received their writings (De vir. ill.,Comm. Matt. .–) and he refers
to the Nazarenes’ beliefs in his letter to Augustine (Epist. .).
As compared to Epiphanius, Jerome’s attitude towards Christians
called Nazarenes is much more positive. Jerome’s critical comments are
usually aimed at Ebion and the Ebionites but on one occasion he also
criticizes the Nazarenes. This is in his letter to Augustine in , where
Jerome defends his interpretation of Paul’s and Peter’s conflict in Antioch
(cf. Gal ).
As regards the scholarly discussion about the Nazarenes’ doctrine, the
letter to Augustine has played a central role since this quotation is the
onlyplacewhereonemightseeanexplicitreferencetotheNazarenes’