chapter four
know, the Hebrews of the early Jerusalem community, with James as their
leader, had relatively peaceful relations with the temple and its cult.^40
There is one peculiar feature in Epiphanius’ discussion of the Ebionites
which has perhaps not received enough attention. According to Epipha-
nius, the Ebionites accepted only the Pentateuch.^41 It is difficult to imag-
ine that Epiphanius would have invented this idea because it does not
quite accord with the earlier reports about the Ebionites. Epiphanius
also relates the Ebionites critical attitude towards the prophets in a form
which indicates that he conversed with them personally (Pan. ..;
..–). Because the Ebionites accept only the Pentateuch, Epiphanius
concludes that their founder Ebion—in reality, a fictitious person but
Epiphanius probably believed that he existed—must have been a Samar-
itan (Pan. ..). It is clear that the assumption about the Ebionites’
Samaritan background is based on Epiphanius’ own reasoning but that
does not necessarily mean that his suggestion is so wide of the mark (see
above Chapter ..).
We can also approach the problem of the Samaritan Christians from
the viewpoint of another loose end. What happened to the Samaritans
who became Christians thanks to the Hellenists’ missionary work among
them?^42 According to Acts, the execution of Stephen resulted in the
dispersion of the Hellenists (“all others except the Apostles”) all around
Judea and Samaria (Acts :–).^43 Philip, who was first in rank among
the Hellenists after Stephen’s execution, headed first to the Samaritans
and had success among them.^44 Undoubtedly, the criticism of the temple
(^40) It is sometimes assumed that the destruction of Jerusalem would have caused the
Jewish Christians to change their attitude to the worship in the Temple. Thus, for instance,
Lüdemann , . There is no doubt that the events of ce and ce had their
effect on Jewish and Christian opinions about the temple. Yet it seems (likely) that those
who had a positive attitude towards the worship usually ended up reinterpreting its
significance, instead of starting to think that the whole thing was misconstrued from the
very beginning.
(^41) Pan. ..; ..–. The Ebionites even rejected parts of the Pentateuch (Pan.
..–).
(^42) According to Justin,Apol. , almost all the Samaritans followed Simon. However,
this comment seems simply to repeat Acts :– and is hardly historically accurate.
Theissen , –, esp. n. , , links Philip’s mission in Samaria to Johannine
Christianity.
(^43) Those who were “dispersed” are usually thought to have been the Hellenists. See,
Pesch , , .
(^44) According to Pesch , –, Luke probably found a story about Philip’s
mission among the Samaritans in his sources because it does not cohere with his overall
view of the mission.