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The Ebionites As Depicted in the Pseudo-Clementine Novel

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The Ebionites As Depicted in the Pseudo-Clementine Novel 1783-08_JECS_06_Amersfoort 31-03-2009 13:43 Pagina 85 Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 60(1-4), 85-104. doi: 10.2143/JECS.60.1.2035276 © 2008 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. THE EBIONITES AS DEPICTED IN THE PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE NOVEL JAAP VAN AMERSFOORT* Ebionitism is one of the movements opposed as heretical by the authors of the Early Christian Church. This movement and its adherents, the Ebion- ites, were contested by all the heresy hunters. They are mentioned by Irenaeus in his opus magnum Adversus Haereses, where he primarily polemicizes against the Gnostics. He described the Ebionites as denying the divine nature of Jesus Christ and as holding him to be the human son of Joseph and Mary.1 They are also mentioned by Origen2 and the great heresy hunter Epiphanius of Salamis, for whom Ebionitism was one of sixty Christian heresies, for which he could provide an appropriate medicine from his medicine basket, the Panarion. He also believed that the Ebionites viewed Jesus as only human, the son of Joseph and Mary. The Ebionites were also considered heretics by authors of a later generation.3 IS “HERESY” A MEANINGFUL CONCEPT IN THE EARLY CHURCH? Whether Ebionites were correctly considered heretics depends on what is considered heresy. It is usually defined as a doctrine deviating from official doctrine of the Christian Church. It is doubtful, however, whether one can speak of an official doctrine of the Church in the first three centuries of the Christian era. In this period, there was a great variety of religious ideas. The * Jaap van Amersfoort is lecturer emeritus in the History of the Early Church and also taught Latin and Greek. 1 Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses III, 21; W.W. Harvey, Sancti Irenaei Episcopi Lugdunensis libros quinque adversus haereses II (Cambridge, 1857), p. 110: ‘quos sectati Ebionaei, ex Ioseph generatum eum dicunt’. 2 Origenes, C. Celsum II, 1; M. Marcovich, Origenis contra Celsum libri VIII, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, 54 (Leiden, 2001), p. 372, 28-30: ‘These are the two kinds of Ebionites, some confessing that Jesus was born of a virgin as we do and others who deny this but say that he was born like the other people’. 3 The Ebionites were mentioned and contested, for instance, by Jerome, Philastrius of Brescia, Augustine and Theodoret of Cyrrhus. 1783-08_JECS_06_Amersfoort 31-03-2009 13:43 Pagina 86 86 JAAP VAN AMERSFOORT local Christian churches differed from one another so much that what one church considered heretical another held to be orthodox. For instance, the Western part of the Roman Empire soon considered Gnosticism heretical, whereas the East did not condemn this movement. In the middle of the second century, the Church of Rome excommunicated Marcion as a heretic and returned all the money he had given to it.4 The Gnostic Valentinus taught freely in the Church of Alexandria, which was largely heretical accord- ing to Walter Bauer5 and where Gnostic doctrines were not considered incom- patible with orthodoxy. After some years he separated from the Church of Rome. According to Bauer, Gnostic heresies predominated in several local churches in the first centuries of our Christian era,6 though later orthodox church doctrine was spread from the West. Thus what was later called hereti- cal may have been a major component of the life and the doctrine of the Christian church. Research in this field cannot therefore be neglected. We are largely indebted for this insight to the eighteenth century church historian Gottfried Arnold for what he wrote in his Unparteiische Kirchen und Ketzer- historie.7 WHO WERE THE EBIONITES? The literature contains two definitions of Ebionite. Both set them in the Jewish Christian community. Irenaeus and Epiphanius considered them adher- ents of a movement within Jewish Christianity, namely the movement that holds Jesus to be only human, the natural son of Joseph and Mary. Another group within Jewish Christianity admitted the divine origin of Christ and the 4 Cf. Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem IV, 4, 3: ‘cum et pecuniam in primo calore fidei catholicae ecclesiae contulit, proiectam mox cum ipso, posteaquam in haeresim suam a nostra veritate descivit’. 5 Walter Bauer, Rechtgläubigkeit und Ketzerei im ältesten Christentum (Tübingen, 1934; 21964), p. 57: ‘Es gab also in Ägypten am Anfang des 2. Jahrhunderts – wie lange zuvor schon, entzieht sich unserer Kenntnis – Heidenchristen neben Judenchristen beider Reli- gion auf synkretistisch-gnostischer Grundlage ruhend, …’. 6 Among others in Syrian Edessa, where the Marcionite church would have been the ear- liest one, and in Asia Minor, where several Gnostic sects were active. 7 Gottfried Arnold, Gottfrid Arnolds unparteyische Kirchen- und Ketzer-Historie: vom Anfang des Neuen Testaments biß auf das Jahr Christi 1688 (Frankfurt a.M., 1700-1715). 1783-08_JECS_06_Amersfoort 31-03-2009 13:43 Pagina 87 THE EBIONITES AS DEPICTED IN THE PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE NOVEL 87 virgin birth.8 According to a second definition, the term Ebionites means all Jewish Christians. The word ebion means “poor, humble” and was associated with the poor of Jerusalem, i.e. the first Church of Jerusalem.9 According to Tertullian and Epiphanius, however, this term was associated with a certain Ebion, who founded this sect within Jewish Christianity.10 J.-M. Magnin treats this question in a series of four articles in the periodical Proche-Orient Chrétien, in which he also surveys the history of Jewish Christianity and sug- gests that the movement could be one of the roots of Islam.11 ORIGINS OF THE EBIONITE GOSPEL Epiphanius mentions that the Ebionites used a gospel called the Hebrew Gospel, which they claimed as the Gospel of St Matthew.12 He gives several quotations from this Gospel. Whether this Gospel is dependent on the canon- ical gospels, as Joseph Verheyden still recently stated,13 or whether it contains an independent tradition of the words of Jesus is a matter of debate. It cer- 8 On the Nazoraeans see Petri Luomanen, ‘Nazarenes’, in A Companion to Second-Century Christian “Heretics”, eds. Antti Marjanen and Petri Luomanen, Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae, 76 (Leiden – Boston, 2005), pp. 279-314. 9 Cf. Origenes, De Principiis IV, 3, 8; P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke V, de principiis, GCS, 22 (Leipzig, 1913), p. 334, 14-15: ‘id est Hebionitae, qui etiam ipso nomine pauperes appel- lantur (Hebion namque pauper apud Hebraeos interpraetatur)’. 10 Tertullianus, De praescr. haer. X, 8, CC, 1, p. 196, 19; De carne Christi 14, 5, CC, 2, p. 900, 35; Epiphanius, Panarion, 30, 2, 1; Karl Holl, Epiphanius, Ancoratus und Panarion I, GCS, 22 (Leipzig, 1913), p. 334, 7. 11 J.-M. Magnin, ‘Notes sur l’Ébionisme’, Proche Orient Chrétien, 23 (1973), pp. 232- 265; 24 (1974), pp. 225-250; 25 (1975), pp. 245-273; 28 (1978), pp. 220-248. On the Ebionites see also Simon C. Mimouni, Le judéo-christianisme ancien. Essais historiques, Patrimoines (Paris, 1998), pp. 257-286; Richard Bauckham, ‘The Origin of the Ebionites’, in The Image of the Judaeo-Christians in Ancien Jewish and Christian Literature, eds. Peter J. Tomson and Doris Lamberts-Petry, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Tes- tament, 158 (Tübingen, 2003), pp. 162-181; Sakari Häkkinen, ‘Ebionites’, in A Com- panion, pp. 247-278; Simon C. Mimouni, Les chrétiens d’origine juive dans l’antiquité, Présences du Judaisme, 29 (Paris, 2004), pp. 161-194. 12 Epiphanius, Panarion 30, 13, 1-2; Holl, I, pp. 348, 32 – 349, 4. 13 See his article ‘Epiphanius on the Ebionites’, in The Image of the Judaeo-Christians, pp. 182-208, here 189: ‘There can be little doubt about it that the author of GE must have been acquainted with at least the gospels of Matthew and of Luke. It is also quite obvious from the fragments that, as a rule, canonical Mt is the author’s primary source and guide. In so far, GE could be called “their gospel of Matthew”.’ 1783-08_JECS_06_Amersfoort 31-03-2009 13:43 Pagina 88 88 JAAP VAN AMERSFOORT tainly preserves synoptic material, so that it might be based on a gospel har- mony. Daniel A. Bertrand claimed that the Gospel of the Ebionites was a har- mony of the three Synoptic Gospels written before Tatian composed his Diatessaron,14 whereas the Gospel Harmony of Tatian made use also of the Gospel of St John. Bertrand thoroughly analysed the fragments to demon- strate elements of all three Synoptic Gospels, which were in the text sequence of Matthew. Moreover the text also contained some apocryphal elements. ‘L’EE considère les trois synoptiques, tandis que le Diatessaron englobe les qua- tre évangiles; le premier se règle sur Matthieu, cependant que le second préfère Jean (ou du moins superpose un cadre johannique à une trame matthéenne). En revanche ni l’un ni l’autre ne reculent devant l’intégration de données apocryphes neutres, comme les embellissements légendaires; et tous deux profitent même de leur travail rédactionnel pour introduire des corrections doctrinales, encratites notamment’.15 This theory of Bertrand has evoked various reactions. Philippe Henne questioned whether this gospel could be a harmony.16 He viewed the Gospel of the Ebionites as ‘une fausse harmonie, une vraie supercherie’, as an exam- ple of a modest but effective adaptation of the gospel text to existing tradi- tions. He dwells on the story of the baptism of Jesus, which was adapted to the views of the Ebionites. Their version of the story clearly denied that Jesus had a divine nature. ‘L’Évangile des Ébionites, tel qu’Épiphane le rapporte, est un bon exemple d’adap- tation discrète mais efficace de traditions préexistantes. Le baptême de Jésus, qui embarrasse les Évangiles synoptiques, devient sous la plume de l’auteur apoc- ryphe un récit narrant l’investiture messianique de Jésus et rejetant sa possible nature divine’.17 14 Daniel A.
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