chapter seven

THE NAZARENE SECT AND THEIR HEBREW OR CHALDAIC VERSION OF THE GOSPEL OF ST MATTHEW

In addition to the reasons already given to show that St Matthew originally composed his Gospel in Chaldaic for Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, the example can also be given of the Nazarene sectarians, who used this very Hebrew or Chaldaic Gospel in their meetings.1 St Epiphanius, who reported accurately on this ancient sect, tells us that along with the New Testament they accepted all the books of the Old Testament in the Jewish Canon, namely the law, the Prophets and the Hagiographers; the only diference between the Jews’ doctrine ceremonies and theirs was that they believed in Jesus Christ.2 They publicly professed to believe in one God and his son, Jesus Christ; they were also fully uent in the Hebrew language. He observes also that these early Nazarenes who lived mainly in the city of Beroea, having spread all through lower Syria, were descendants of the early Christians, also called Nazarenes, who had left Jerusalem for Pella. Such were the origins, says St Epiphanius, of the sect of the Nazarenes.3 This corresponds closely with the evidence of early Church writers, who state that St Matthew preached the Gospel to Jews in Jerusalem and the whole of Palestine in their vernacular. It was preserved and read in the Churches and meetings of these Nazarene sectarians whose forebears were the early Christians in Jerusalem, and who spoke the same language as they did. St Epiphanius also said that the Jews had a moral hatred of the Nazarenes and that three times a day at their synagogue meetings they solemnly cursed

1 On the “Gospel of the Nazarenes,” see Ehrman—Pleˇse, Apocryphal Gospels, 201–209: “no Gospel went by that name until the ninth century … The sources have often confused the issue … by maintaining that it was the original (or edited) version of the Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew … And it is at least possible that it was a later translation of that Gospel into Aramaic … but it is more likely that the author of this apocryphon wrote his account in light of his knowledge of Matthew, or of the traditions that were known to Matthew” (201). 2 Epiphanius, Heresy 29 n. 7, 7 (Panarion, 1:117–118). 3 Ibid. 64 chapter seven them.4 May God curse the Nazarenes, they said. This imprecation of Jews against Christians under the name of Nazarenes is still to be found in their Books. St Jerome also refers to it in his commentary on the prophet Isaiah where, speaking of the Jews, he says: “Thrice every day, in all the synagogues, they curse the word Christian under the name of the Nazarenes.”5 Their hatred came from the fact that the Nazarenes were Jews just as they were, and accepted the whole of Moses’ law, but also preached that Jesus was the Messiah.6 So we must seek the original of the Gospel of St Matthew among the Nazarenes, who were descendants of the holy Christians in Jerusalem and preserved it in their churches. St Epiphanius seems convinced of this, saying blithely that they made use of the complete Hebrew Gospel of St Matthew, and that indubitably even in his own time they still had it written in Hebrew characters.7 He does wonder whether they had removed the genealogy of Jesus from this Gospel; the Ebionites used it too, and it was not in their version. But most probably the Nazarenes had not taken the genealogy out of their copies. For Cerinthus and Carpocrates, early heretics who also used the Hebrew Gospel of St Matthew at that time, used the genealogy in full, using it to prove that Jesus Christ had sprung “from the seed of Joseph and Mary.”8 St Jerome, who translated this Nazarene Gospel into Greek and Latin, tells us that the Sectarians still used it at their meetings in his own day.9 He had seen two copies, one kept in the Library of Caesarea, and had borrowed the other from the Nazarenes of Beroea in order to copy it.10 This was the copy he used for his translation. He also says that many people believed that this Hebrew Gospel, as used by the Nazarenes and the Ebionites, was the original by St Matthew.11 Whatever the case, it seems that the earliest Church writers referred to it as the true Gospel of St Matthew. Many believed it was St Ignatius Martyr’s source for these words addressed by our Lord to St Peter and which Ignatius quotes in his Epistle to the Smyrnians: “Touch me, and see that I am not a ghost.” Eusebius and St Jerome quote these words

4 Epiphanius, Heresy 29 n. 9, 1 (Panarion, 1:119). 5 Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 5:18–19 (PL 24:86). 6 Epiphanius, Heresy 29 n. 9, 1 (Panarion, 1:119). 7 Epiphanius, Heresy 29 n. 9, 4 (Panarion, 1:119). 8 Epiphanius, Heresy 30 n. 14, 1 (Panarion, 1:130). 9 Jerome, Against Pelagians book 3 §2 (PL 23:570b). 10 Jerome, on Matthew, Scriptores Ecclesiastici saecularibus litteris eruditi (PL 23:613). 11 Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 12:13 (PL 26:78).