Symmachus the Ebionite

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Symmachus der Ebionit (late 2nd century ) was the author of one of the Greek versions of the Old Testament , which Origen, among other translations, et al. a. the Septuagint , into which Hexapla and Tetrapla were incorporated. Some fragments of Symmachus 'version, preserved in the remains of the Hexapla, allowed researchers to emphasize the purity and idiomatic elegance of Symmachus' Greek, which Jerome was impressed with when he translated the Bible into Latin ( Vulgate ).

The Ebionites were Jews , especially in Palestine , Syria and Cappadocia , who had accepted Jesus as Messiah . But they rejected the virginal birth and other dogmas which increasingly determined Pauline Christianity . The Ebionites were therefore condemned as heretics .

Symmachus also wrote unsustainable commentaries attacking the Matthew gospel . Origen states that he received this and other of Symmachus' comments from a certain Juliana, which he says she received from Symmachus himself ( Eusebius of Caesarea , Historia Ecclesiae . VI: xvii). Palladius ( Historia Laus lxiv) found the note from Origen in a “very old” manuscript: “ I found this book in the house of Juliana, the virgin from Caesarea (in Cappadocia), when I was hiding there; she said she had received it from the Jewish translator Symmachus himself. “Origen's stay with Juliana probably dates from the years 238–241, but Symmachus' version of the Scriptures was already known to Origen when he wrote his first commentaries (around 228). Epiphanius von Salamis found unreliable that Symmachus was a Samaritan who fell out with his own people who had converted to Judaism.

According to many authors who speak of Symmachus, he must have been an important man among the Ebionites, especially since "Symmachianer" remained a term that was still used by Orthodox in the 4th century for the Nazarenes and Ebionites, such as by the pseudo-Ambrose ( in the " Ambrosiaster ", the prologue to the letter to the Galatians ) and by Augustine of Hippo in his writings against the heretics.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c James Carleton Paget: Jews, Christians and Jewish Christians in Antiquity . Mohr Siebeck, 2010, ISBN 9783161503122 , p. 359.
personal data
SURNAME Symmachus the Ebionite
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Author of one of the Greek versions of the Old Testament
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century
DATE OF DEATH 2nd century or 3rd century