Editing Ebionites (section)

===Emergence===
The earliest reference to a sect that might fit the description of the later Ebionites appears in [[Justin Martyr]]'s ''[[Dialogue with Trypho]]'' (c. 155-60).{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} Justin distinguishes between [[Jewish Christian]]s who observe the [[Law of Moses]] but do not require its observance upon others and those who believe the Mosaic Law to be obligatory on all.<ref name="Justin">{{cite book|author=Justin Martyr|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01283.htm|title=Dialogue with Trypho|at=47}}</ref> [[Irenaeus]] (c. 180) was probably the first to use the term ''Ebionites'' to name a sect he labeled heretical "[[Judaizers]]" for "[[Legalism (theology)|stubbornly clinging to the Law]]".<ref name="Irenaeus">{{cite book|author=Irenaeus of Lyon|title-link=Against Heresies (Irenaeus)|title=Adversus Haereses|at=[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103126.htm I, 26]; [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103321.htm III,21]}}</ref> [[Origen]] (c. 212) remarks that the name derives from the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word ''evyon'', meaning 'poor'.<ref>{{cite book|author=Origen|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04124.htm|title=De Principiis|at=IV, 22}}</ref> [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] (c. 310–320 – 403) gives the most complete account in his [[heresiology]] called ''[[Panarion]]'', denouncing eighty heretical sects, among them the Ebionites.<ref name="Epiphanius">{{cite book|author=Epiphanius of Salamis|title=Panarion|title-link=Panarion}}</ref>{{rp|at=30}}<ref name="Koch 1976">{{Cite book| author = Glenn Alan Koch| title = A Critical Investigation of Epiphanius' Knowledge of the Ebionites: A Translation and Critical Discussion of 'Panarion' 30| publisher = University of Pennsylvania| year = 1976}}</ref> Epiphanius mostly gives general descriptions of their religious beliefs and includes quotations from their [[#Writings|gospel]]s, which have not survived. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the Ebionite movement "may have arisen about the time of the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem]]" (70 CE).<ref name="Britannica"/> The tentative dating of the origins of this sect depends on Epiphanius writing three centuries later and relying on information for the Ebionites from the ''[[Book of Elchasai]]'', which may not have had anything to do with the Ebionites.<ref>Hakkinen, Sakara. "Ebionites," in Marjanen, Antti, and Petri Luomanen, eds. ''A Companion to Second-Century Christian'Heretics''. Vol. 76. Brill, 2008, 257–278, esp. 259</ref>

[[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] talks of his collection for the "poor among the saints" in the Jerusalem church, but this is generally taken as meaning the poorer members of the church as a whole.<ref>Some scholars see the title present already in Paul's references to a collection for the "poor" in Jerusalem (Gal.1:10). But in Rom.15:26 Paul distinguishes this sect from the other Jerusalem believers by speaking of "the poor among the saints." In 2 Cor.9:12 Paul further confirms the economic, or literal, aspect by speaking of the collection as making up for "the deficiencies of the saints". E. Stanley Jones, '"Ebionites", in ''Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible,'' Amsterdam University Press, 2000 {{p.|364}}.</ref>

The actual number of sects described as Ebionites is difficult to ascertain, as the contradictory [[patristic]] accounts in their attempt to distinguish various sects sometimes confuse them with each other.<ref name="RGG"/> Other sects mentioned are the [[Carpocratians]], the [[Cerinthus|Cerinthians]], the [[Elcesaites]], the fourth century [[Nazarene (sect)|Nazarenes]] and the [[Sampsaeans]], most of whom were Jewish Christian sects who held [[Fathers of Christian Gnosticism|gnostic]] or other views rejected by the Ebionites. Epiphanius, however, mentions that a sect of Ebionites came to embrace some of these views despite keeping their name.<ref name="Wace 1911">{{Cite book| author = Henry Wace & William Piercy | title = A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography | year = 1911 | url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html?term=Ebionism%20and%20Ebionites| access-date = 1 August 2007}}</ref>

As the Ebionites are first mentioned as such in the second century, their earlier history and any relation to the first [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jerusalem church]] remains obscure and a matter of contention. There is no evidence linking the origin of the later sect of the Ebionites with the [[First Jewish-Roman War]] of 66–70 CE or with the Jerusalem church led by [[James, brother of Jesus|James]]. [[Eusebius]] relates a tradition, probably based on [[Aristo of Pella]], that the early Christians left Jerusalem just prior to the war and [[Flight to Pella|fled to Pella]],<ref>Eusebius, ''Church History'' 3, 5, 3; Epiphanius, ''Panarion'' 29,7,7-8; 30, 2, 7; On Weights and Measures 15. On the flight to Pella see: {{cite book|author=Jonathan Bourgel|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/4909339|chapter=The Jewish Christians' Move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice|editor=[[Dan Jaffé]]|title=Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity|location=Leyden|publisher=Brill|year=2010|pages=107–138}}</ref> [[Jordan]] beyond the [[Jordan River]], but does not connect this with Ebionites.<ref name="Uhlhorn">{{cite book|author=G. Uhlhorn|chapter=Ebionites|title=A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology|edition=3rd|editor=Philip Schaff|pages=684–685|volume=2}}</ref><ref name="RGG">{{cite book|author=O. Cullmann|chapter=Ebioniten|title=Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart|page=7435|volume=2}}</ref> They were led by [[Simeon of Jerusalem]] (d. 107) and during the [[Second Jewish-Roman War]] of 115–117, they were persecuted by the Jewish followers of [[Bar Kochba]] for refusing to recognize his messianic claims.<ref name="Wace 1911"/> As late as Epiphanius (310–403), members of the Ebionite sect resided in [[Nabatea]], and [[Paneas]], [[Moab]]itis, and Kochaba in the region of [[Bashan]], near [[Daraa|Adraa]].<ref name= "Klijn1973">{{cite book |last1=Klijn |first1=A.F.J.|author-link1=Albertus Klijn |last2=Reinink |first2=G.J.|title=Patristic Evidence for Jewish-Christian Sects |date=1973 |publisher=[[E.J. Brill]]|location=Leiden |page=29 |language=en |oclc=1076236746|isbn=978-9-00403763-2}} (citing Epiphanius' ''Anacephalaiosis'' 30.18.1.)</ref> From these places, they dispersed and went into [[Asia-Minor|Asia]] (Anatolia), [[Rome]] and [[Cyprus]].<ref name= "Klijn1973"/>

According to Harnack, the influence of [[Elchasaites]] places some Ebionites in the context of the [[Gnosticism#Persian Gnosticism|gnostic movements widespread in Syria and the lands to the east]].<ref name="RGG"/><ref name="Harnack">{{cite book|author=Adolf von Harnack|author-link=Adolf von Harnack|title=The History of Dogma|chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19612/19612-h/19612-h.htm#SEC_I_VI_I|chapter=Chapter VI. The Christianity of the Jewish Christians|year=1907|isbn=978-1-57910-067-4}}</ref>