Portal:Christianity/Selected article/May 2007

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The Ebionites (from Hebrew; אביונים, Ebyonim, "the Poor Ones") were an early sect of mostly Jewish disciples of Jesus, who flourished in and around the land of Israel, as one of several Jewish Christian communities coexisting from the 1st to the 5th century of the Common Era. Where they took their name from is unclear, since the word appears in several religious texts, such as the Dead Sea scrolls, the Epistle of James, and the Gospel of Luke which features one of Jesus' most well-known blessings: "Congratulations, you poor! God's domain belongs to you."

Since there is no authenticated archaeological evidence for the existence of the Ebionites, their nature and history cannot be definitely reconstructed from surviving references. The little that is known about them comes from critical references by early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church, who considered them to be "heretics" and "Judaizers". However, according to the few modern scholars who have studied their historicity, the Ebionites existed as a community distinct from early Christianity before and after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., but were marginalized and persecuted by gentile Christians despite the possibility that they may have been more faithful than Paul of Tarsus to the authentic teachings of the historical Jesus.

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