A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

A DICTIONARY
OF
GREEK AND R-OMAN BIOGRAPHY
AND
MYTH OLOGY.~
EBION. EBION.
EA'RINUS, FLA'VIUS, a favourite eunuch of that the sect was flourishing in the time of Jerome
the emperor Domitian, in praise of whose beauty (A. D. cir. 400), though with its opinions much
there are several epigrams of Martial, and a poem modified and Christianized, inasmuch as- it did not
of Statius. (Dion Cass. lxvii. 2; Mart. Epigr. ix. desire to force the ceremonial law upon the Gen12, 13, 14, 17, 18; Stat. Silv. iii. 4.) tiles, and fully admitted the authority of St. Paul.
E'BION ('ElwOv), the real or supposed founder It is needless to trace its progress farther, for in
of the sect of Christians called Ebionites, by which fact Ebionism is only the type of a system which,
name, at least after the time of Irenaeus, were de- in different forms, and adapted to various circumsignated all those who, though professing Christ's stances, has reappeared from time to time in almost
religion, thought it necessary to continue the ob- all ages of the Church. - With regard to Ebion
servance of the Mosaic law. The Ebionite doctrine himself, his existence is very doubtful.. The first
therefore was a mere engrafting of Judaism upon person who asserts it is Tertullian, who is followed
Christianity. Generally speaking, the followers of by Augustine, Jerome, Epiphanius, and Theodoret.
this sect considered our Lord as a man chosen by The latter, however (Haer. 14ab. ii. 218), after
God to the office of Messiah, and furnished with saying, Tav'rTs TieSs pdhaayy-os lp~ev'E6lwv, adds,
the divine power necessary for its fulfilment at the 7Jv 7r'rwxdov 8 oeouWs ol'EepaloL irporaayopeIovowv,
time of his baptism, which rite was performed by which may be compared with the derivation given
John, as the representative of Elijah. They in- for the name of the sect by Origen (contr. Cels. ii.
sisted on the necessity of circumcision, regarded 1), who considers it formed from the Hebrew
the earthly Jerusalem as still God's chosen -city, word Ebion, poor, and knows of no such person as
and denounced St. Paul as a latitudinarian and a the supposed founder Ebion. Modern writers, esheretic. (See, for the latter statement, Orig. Jerem. pecially Matter (Ifistoire du GC-oslieisme, vol. ii.
Homil. xviii. 12.) It is, however, very difficult p. 320) and Neanlder (in an appendix to his Geneto distinguish accurately the various shades of these tisclke Entwickelunq der vornehmnsten Gnostischle Sysopinions, or to state at what time any particular teme, Berlin, 1818, and also in his Kirchengesclichte,
form of them was prevalent. Irenaeus certainly i. p. 612, &c.) deny Ebion's existence; though
confounded varieties of opinion almost sufficient to Lightfoot says, that he is mentioned in the Jeconstitute their holders two distinct sects, whereas rusalem Talmud - as one of the founders of
Origen (c. Cels. v. 61) divides the Ebionites into sects. The authorities on both sides of the questwo classes, those who denied our Lord's miracu- tion are given by Burton. (Bamnpton Lectures, note
lous conception, and those who allowed it; the lat- 80.) If we: reject the existence of Ebion, we must
ter admission of course implying, that the peculiar adopt Origen's derivation, though not with the exoperation of the Holy Spirit on the man Jesus de- planation which he suggests, that it refers to the
veloped itself from the very commencement of his poverty of the Ebionite creed; for such a name
life, instead of first beginning to act at the parti- could not have been chosen by themselves, since it
cular time of his consecration to the Messianic would have been in that sense a reproach; nor
mission.. The first traces of Ebionism are doubt- given by the Christians of Gentile origin, who
less to be found in the New Testament, where we would not have chosen a title of Hebrew derivarecognize this doctrine as that of the Judaizing tion. It is better to suppose that the- name Ebionteachers in Galatia (Gal. iii. 1, &c.), the deniers of ites was originally applied to an ascetic sect, and
St. Paul's apostleship at Corinth (2 Cor. xi. 5, &c.), gradually extended to all the Judaizing Christians.
the heretics opposed in the Epistle to the Colossians, For some of the ascetic Ebionites thought it wrong
and perhaps of those mentioned by St. John. (1Jol. to possess anything beyond that which was absoii. 18, on which see Liicke, Commentar fiber die lutely necessary for their daily subsistence, holding
Briefe desEvang. Johannes.) The " Clementines,"a that the present world, not in its abuse, but in its
collection of homilies embodying these views, is very nature, is the exclusive domain -of Satan.
probably a work of the 2nd century; and we find This is Neander's explanation. [G. E. L. C:.J
VOL. II..-1