a Jewish-Christian sect of the first century, who separated themselves from that branch of the Nazarenes that remained faithful to the apostolic doctrine. They differed from the Nazarenes in this, that they asserted the permanent obligation of the whole Mosaic law, and on this account they retained circumcision, and highly valued the Pentateuch. They regarded Christ as a mere man; and used a translation of the Gospel of Matthew in Greek characters, but in the Syro-Chaldaic dialect. At a later period they adopted other books attributed to St James, St Peter, and Clement. Epiphanius and Tertullian both derive the name from Ebion, a disciple of Cerinthus, who is said to have founded the sect. Others derive it from the Hebrew Ebionim, i.e. poor people, a name at first either given to the Christians by the Jews, or probably assumed by the former on account of their poverty. They originally planted themselves at Pella, on the other side of Jordan, and gradually spread from thence into the Decapolis, Peraea, and Syria. They were afterwards merged with the Ebessites. The ancient authorities on the subject of the Ebionites are Origen, Epiphanius, and Eusebius. See also the dissertations of Mosheim, Credner, Detmer, and Walch.