chapter two
Epiphanius explicitly refers to Acts concerning the following points:
Jesus was called a Nazarene Acts : Pan. ..
Pan. ..
Quote from the Apostolic decree Acts :– Pan. ..
Paul as the “leader” of the Nazarenes Acts : Pan. ..
Paul’s “Nazarene confession” Acts :– Pan. ..
In addition, the wording of Acts influenced Epiphanius’ diction in several
places and he drew on Galatians and several other New and Old Testa-
ment passages in his refutation of the Nazarenes, as will be shown in the
course of the following discussion.
The Genesis of the Heresy of the Nazarenes: Epiphanius’ Three
Explanations
When Epiphanius lists the heresies inPanarion, one of his main concerns
is to show how they developed from each other. Therefore, the open-
ing lines of each chapter usually link the heresy to be treated with the
one that has been refuted in the previous chapter. A model for this com-
position was already provided by Irenaeus who traced the heresies he
discussed back to the activity of Simon Magus. Heresiologists who pre-
ceded Epiphanius—Irenaeus, Hippolytus and Pseudo-Tertullian—had
presented the heresies of Cerinthus and Ebion in that order. Epipha-
nius inserts the Nazarenes between these two, arguing that the Nazarenes
came after, or were contemporary with, the Cerinthians and that the
Ebionites were founded by a certain Ebion who came from the Nazarenes’
school.
In the beginning ofPanarion, Epiphanius still admits that he is not
sure whether the Nazarenes followed the Cerinthians or vice versa. This
does not prevent him from trying to locate stories in his sources that
would tell about the genesis of the Nazarenes with the result thatPanarion
now contains three different and—partly incompatible—explanations
of the genesis of the Nazarenes.
First, in the beginning ofPanarion, Epiphanius states that he does
not know when the Nazarene heresy began. According to Epiphanius,
after the Cerinthians
come Nazoreans, who originated at the same time or even before, or in
conjunction with them or after them. In any case they were contempo-
raries. I cannot say more precisely who succeeded whom. For, as I said,
these were contemporaries with each other, and had similar notions.
(Pan. ..; trans. Williams b).