From the time of Irenaeus (d. ca. 200), “Ebionites” was the term used for Jewish Christians in the lists of heretics drawn up by the church fathers. Originally it was the self-designation of a specific group that, adopting OT and postbiblical ideas, gave itself the title “the poor” (Heb. ʾebyônı̂m). From the time of Hippolytus (d. ca. 236) the Hebrew word was taken to refer to a supposed founder of the sect called Ebion. Besides the judgments of the Fathers, seven fragments of an Ebionite gospel have been preserved, which show similarity to the Synoptics. According to critical reco…