Ebion ( el, Ἐβίων) was the presumed
eponymous founder of an
early Christian
Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...
group known as the
Ebionites. The existent historical evidence indicates that the name "Ebionite" is derived from a Hebrew word, "ebion" (אביון) meaning "poor" and thus not from someone's name. Ebion is generally seen today as a purely literary figure, whose reputed existence in antiquity was used to explain where the Ebionites got their inspiration. However, once he had been accepted as real, a small tradition developed around him that lasted in early learned Christian circles for a few centuries.
Ebion according to the church fathers
Tertullian is the first writer noted for mentioning Ebion, which he does a number of times, mainly related to the notion that
Jesus was a man and not divine. As an example, Tertullian writes, if Jesus "were wholly the Son of a man, He should fail to be also the Son of God, and have nothing more than 'a Solomon' or 'a Jonas,'--as Ebion thought we ought to believe concerning Him." In a text called "''Against All Heresies''", an anonymous work once attributed to Tertullian, Ebion is referred to as the successor to
Cerinthus
Cerinthus ( el, Κήρινθος; fl. c. 50-100 CE) was an early Gnostic, who was prominent as a heresiarch in the view of the early Church Fathers.See, in particular, Irenaeus, ''Adversus haereses'', Book I, III and relative External links Contr ...
. This places Ebion in the early 2nd century and as part of a particular heretical tradition. By the time
Epiphanius wrote his text on heresies, "''The Panarion''", nearly a century after Tertullian, Ebion had received a birthplace, a hamlet called Cochabe in the district of
Bashan, was thought to have travelled through Asia, and even come to Rome.
Jerome believed that Ebion lived at the time of
John the Apostle and had been refuted by John for not believing Jesus existed before
Mary. He thought that Ebion translated the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
himself and refers to Ebion's baptism.
[Jerome, ''Dialogus Adversus Luciferianos'', 26.]
Notes
{{Reflist
References
Ebionitesfrom the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' a
New Advent
from Wm Smith's ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology''.
* ''Patristic evidence for Jewish-Christian sects'', By Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn, G. J. Reinink, Leiden: Brill, 1973.
2nd-century Romans
2nd-century Christianity
Early Jewish Christian sects
Heresy in ancient Christianity