The Gospel of the Hebrews (see "About titles" below), is a lost gospel that is only preserved in a few quotations in the Panarion of Epiphanius, a church writer who lived at the end of the 4th century AD, who goes on to say that. The work was earlier than that, however: Irenaeus attested to a Matthew already used by Ebionites (known as the Gospel of the Ebionites) late in the 2nd century. Irenaeus proceeds on to quote Papias as stating that Matthew wrote his gospel in Hebrew letters. This Gospel of the Hebrews was little known among the churches founded by Paul of Tarsus, for even among Paul's literate followers few were fluent in Aramaic, which was written in the same "square script" used to record Hebrew Epiphanius (clearly manifested) was the name of several early Christian scholars and ecclesiastics: Epiphanius of Salamis, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, died 410, author of Panarion Epiphanius of Constantinople, died 535, Patriarch of Constantinople 520—535 Epiphanius Scholasticus, known only as the assistant of Cassiodorus who compiled the Historiae Ecclesiasticae... Saint Irenaeus (c. ... The Ebionites (from Hebrew; Ebionim, the poor ones) were a sect of Judean followers of John the Baptizer and Jesus (Yeshua in Aramaic) who existed in Judea (later Palestine) during the early centuries of the Common Era. ... The Gospel of the Ebionites is a text sharing an affinity with the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Nazarenes. ... Papias (working in the 1st half of the 2nd century) was one of the early leaders of the Christian church, canonized as a saint. ... An early portrait of the Apostle Paul. ... Aramaic is a Semitic language with a four-thousand year history. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ...

About titles

The name Gospel of the Hebrews appears to have also been ascribed as a generic term for Judaeo-Christian gospels, and has lead to some confusion with the "Gospel of the Nazarenes", and the "Gospel of the Ebionites" and with the gospel of Matthew in Aramaic, called "Authentic Matthew", In their fragmentary states it is unfruitful to attempt to establish identities, derivations or connections except as noted in passing by mainstream Patristic writers. One point is clear: mainstream Christian writers withheld an authenticating name in labelling these gospels and intentionally characterized them solely by those who read them, perhaps giving a false impression of multiplicity. This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ... The Gospel of the Ebionites is a text sharing an affinity with the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Nazarenes. ...

The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908 considered that the Hebrews probably was the slightly modified Aramaic original of the Gospel of Matthew, written in Hebrew characters. The Gospel of Matthew (literally: according to Matthew, Grk: kata Maththaion) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. ...

Readership

In addition to Epiphanius, other mainstream Christian writers knew this text. Cyril of Jerusalem quoted from it. Eusebius mentions (Historia Ecclesiastica, IV.xxii.8) that the Gospel according to the Hebrews was known to the church historian Hegesippus, who history he was using as source material. Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis, II.ix.45) and Origen used it, according to Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, ii: Cyril of Jerusalem was a distinguished theologian of the early Church ( 315 - 386). ... Hegesippus (ca 110 A.D. - ca 180), was a Christian chronicler of the early Christian church and writer countering heresies. ... Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens), was the first member of the Church of Alexandria to be more than a name, and one of its most distinguished teachers. ... Origen was a Christian scholar and theologian and one of the most distinguished of the Fathers of the early Christian Church. ... , by Albrecht Dürer Jerome (about 340 - September 30, 420), (full name Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus) is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. ...

"Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetimes publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek though by what author is uncertain. The Hebrew itself has been preserved until the present day in the library at Caesarea which Pamphilus so diligently gathered., a city of Syria, who use it. In this it is to be noted that wherever the Evangelist, whether on his own account or in the person of our Lord the Saviour, quotes the testimony of the Old Testament he does not follow the authority of the translators of the Septuagint but the Hebrew. Wherefore these two forms exist: 'Out of Egypt have I called my son,' and 'for he shall be called a Nazarene.' "

Jerome identifies the writer and readers of this gospel as observant Jews, distinct from the culturally assimilated and Hellenized Jews, for whom the Greek Septuagint had been translated from Hebrew. Caesarea Palaestina, also called Caesarea Maritima, a town built by Herod the Great about 25 - 13 BC, lies on the sea-coast of Israel about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa, on the site of a place previously called Pyrgos Stratonos (Strato or Stratons Tower, in Latin Turris Stratonis). ... The Septuagint (LXX) is the name commonly given in the West to the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) produced in the third century BC. The Septuagint Bible includes additional books beyond those used in todays Jewish Tanakh. ...

Jerome took a lively interest in this book. More than once he mentions that he made translations of it into Greek and Latin, labours that might seem scarcely necessary, if the text differed trivially from the canonic texts. Unfortunately, even these translations have been lost. Jerome's commentary on canonic Matthew ( ch. 2) refers to "the Gospel which the Nazarenes and the Ebionites use which we have recently translated from Hebrew to Greek, and which most people call the Authentic Gospel of Matthew]]...". Unfortunately, Jerome makes the choice of identifying all these texts as the same, which most consider to be in error. , by Albrecht Dürer Jerome (about 340 - September 30, 420), (full name Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus) is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. ... Nazarene refers to certain sects of Jewish Christians. ...

The mainstream conclusion is that since the text was so similar to the canonical forms of both Greek and Latin Matthew, it was considered orthodox but was effectively redundant, and so eventually passed out of use.

Content

One of the unique features of the text, and one point where it differs from the canonical Gospel of Matthew, is that its reference to the Holy Spirit as being Jesus' mother. Origen, in commenting on the gospel of John, notes that "if any accept the Gospel according to the Hebrews, where the Saviour himself saith, 'Even now did my mother the Holy Spirit take me by one of mine hairs, and carried me away unto the great mountain Thabor', he will be perplexed." (from M. R. James's translation) M. R. James notes that he believes this comment springs from the fact that the word "spirit" in Hebrew is of the feminine gender. Two other translators, Throckmorton and Barnstone, concur, saying "Within Judaism, the Shekinah (or 'visible' cloud of the Presence) is a feminine word, thought to be Yahvah's feminine aspect; therefore, they called the Spirit the 'mother'." (from Throckmorton and Barnstone's translation) Some have suggested that this passage is, in fact, an identification of the Virgin Mary as being an incarnation of the Holy Spirit, although Mary's name does not explicitly appear in the passage quoted by Origen. The Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, in Trinitarian Christian belief, is God, the third Person of the Holy Trinity; the word Spirit commonly translates the Greek New Testament word pneuma. ... Origen was a Christian scholar and theologian and one of the most distinguished of the Fathers of the early Christian Church. ... In Christianity and Islam, Mary (Judæo-Aramaic מרים Maryām Bitter; Septuagint Greek Μαριαμ, Mariam, Μαρια, Maria; Arabic: Maryem, مريم) was the mother of Jesus of Nazareth who at the time of his conception was the betrothed wife of Joseph, awaiting the customary Home-Taking that would permit them to start living together...

Some modern scholars note from the extant fragments quoted by Epiphanius that much of this text was a harmony, composed in Greek, of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (and, probably, the Gospel of Mark as well), the most famous such harmony being the Diatessaron. Those scholars who hold the canonical Matthew to be the original view the Gospel of the Hebrews as an embellishment of it, making careful clarifications such as replacing "daily bread" with "bread for tomorrow" in the Lord's Prayer; embellishments are usually taken as indications that the text is not original, as it is less likely that a later version would choose to make texts more obscure. See diatessaron (interval) for the musical term. ... The Lords Prayer (sometimes known by its first two Latin words as the Pater Noster, in Greek as the , or the English equivalent Our Father) is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. ...

Ironically, we know just how long the lost Gospel of the Hebrews was: 2200 lines, just 300 lines shorter than the canonical Greek Matthew. The figure comes from the Stichometry of Nicephorus, appended by Nicephorus, the 9th century Patriarch of Jerusalem, to his Chronography. The Stichometry lists scriptural books, in three categories, each with the count of its stichoi (lines). Nicephorus lists the canon and the apocrypha, and a secondary list of books that are the antilegomena "disputed": The Revelation of John. the Revelation of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas and this Gospel of the Hebrews. Nicephorus I, Byzantine emperor 802-811 AD. Nicephorus II Phocas, Byzantine emperor 963-969 AD. Nicephorus III Botaniates, Byzantine emperor 1078-1081 AD. Saint Nicephorus Byzantine writer and patriarch, 758-829 AD, author of a famous Stichometry. ... Visions of John the Evangelist, as depicted in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. ... The recovered Apocalypse of Peter is in two translations of a lost original, one Greek, one Ethiopic, which diverge considerably. ... The Epistle of Barnabas is an epistle with twenty-one chapters, contained complete in the Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament. ...

Though modern commentators generally aver that its original title is unknown, Epiphanius is perfectly clear about what it was: "the Gospel that is in general use among them which is called "according to Matthew", which however is not whole and complete but forged and mutilated— they call it the Hebrews Gospel."

Of the lost text Epiphanius records in another place in his Panarion:

"And they [the Ebionites] receive the Gospel according to Matthew. For this they too, like the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus, use to the exclusion of others. And they call it according to the Hebrews, as the truth is, that Matthew alone of New Testament writers made his exposition and preaching of the Gospel in Hebrew and in Hebrew letters."

Again Epiphanius records: Cerinthus was the leader of a late first-century or early 2nd century sect, an offshot of the Ebionites yet similar to Gnosticism in some respects, interesting in that it demonstrates the wide range of conclusions that could be drawn from the life and teachings of Jesus. ...

"They say that Christ was not begotten of God the Father, but created as one of the archangels ... that he rules over the angels and all the creatures of the Almighty, and that he came and declared, as their Gospel, which is called Gospel according to Matthew, or Gospel According to the Hebrews" reports: "I am come to do away with sacrifices, and if you cease not sacrificing, the wrath of God will not cease from you." (Epiphanius, Panarion 30.16,4-5)

See also

• Gospel of the Ebionites
• Gospel of the Nazarenes

The Gospel of the Ebionites is a text sharing an affinity with the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Nazarenes. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, etc. ...

External links

• Early Christian Writings: Gospel of the Hebrews: translations of the fragments and introductory material
• Gospel of the Hebrews at Wikisource
• "The Development of the Canon of the New Testament": Gospel of the Hebrews, called mid-2nd century and placed in Alexandria, in spite of Jerome