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And that all the apostles reject the faith of Ebion and considered it foreign to the character of their own preaching, is clear to everyone. 25. And how many things I have to say about the holy Paul, as they speak blasphemously of him? For first, they say he was a Greek and from the Gentiles, and later became a proselyte. How then does he say of himself that he is “a Hebrew of Hebrews, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee according to the law, being more exceedingly zealous of my paternal traditions”; and in another place he says, “Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I,” and he says, “circumcised on the eighth day and brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and a Hebrew of Hebrews.” And O the terrible wailings of the terrible serpents and the dragon-like hissings and the poisons of their empty talk. Whose testimony shall I accept? That of Ebion and those with him, or that of the holy Peter who says, “as my brother Paul wrote to you, which things are deep and hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable twist by their own ignorance”? And again the holy Paul himself testifies to Peter and those with him, saying, “James and John and Cephas, who seemed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship.” For even if he called himself a Tarsian, this by no means provides a pretext for those who hunt for words for their own destruction and that of those who are persuaded * to be so. For he also speaks of Barnabas, once called Joseph but renamed Barnabas, interpreted as son of consolation, a Levite, a Cypriot 1.367 by race. And by no means, because he was a Cypriot, was he not from Levi, just as the holy Paul, even if he came from Tarsus, was not foreign to Israel. For many having been dispersed in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes and in other times, when war occurred, and having been taken captive and † given into siege, some of the captives who were taken away remained in certain places, while others, departing for such a reason, dwelt each where he had settled. As also the holy Jeremiah said concerning Israel, just as this very thing of fleeing from the face of the enemy has often happened, that “even if you go to the Kittim, there will be no rest for you there either.” And it is clear to everyone that Kition is called the island of the Cypriots; for the Kittim are Cypriots and Rhodians. But also in Macedonia the race of both Cypriots and Rhodians dwelt; whence indeed also Alexander the Macedonian came. And for this reason it is recorded in the Maccabees that “a seed went forth from the land of the Kittim”; for Alexander the Macedonian was indeed from the seed of the Kittim. But returning again to the topic, having gone through the history concerning these things because of the underlying argument, I say that from the time of the exile many who inhabited other lands were of the seed of Israel by succession. For they were also called natives of each country, just as the daughters of Jethro announced the help of Moses to their father, how having driven away the shepherds he watered their sheep, and having gone they related this to their own father, and when he said, “Why have you come so quickly today?” they said to him, “An Egyptian man delivered us from the shepherds and drew water and watered our flocks,” and immediately he himself said to them, “Why did you not bring him here, that he might eat bread?” And who does not 1.368 know that Moses is the son of Amram and Jochebed, and Amram of Kohath, and Kohath of Levi, and Levi of Jacob, and Jacob of Isaac, and Isaac of Abraham? And by no means, from Moses being called an Egyptian, did the succession of his noble birth and seed fall away. But these who are from Ebion, having abandoned the way, being deceived, have given over their mind to many perverse ways and to an arduous path.

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πάντες δὲ οἱ ἀπόστολοι ὅτι ἀπαλλοτριοῦσι τὴν τοῦ Ἐβίωνος πίστιν καὶ ἀλλοτρίαν ἡγήσαντο τοῦ αὐτῶν κηρύγματος τοῦ χαρακτῆρος, παντί τῳ δῆλον. 25. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἁγίου Παύλου ὡς βλασφημοῦντες αὐτὸν λέγουσι πόσα ἔχω λέγειν; πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ λέγουσιν αὐτὸν Ἕλληνά τε καὶ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ὑπάρχειν, προσήλυτον δὲ γεγονέναι ὕστερον. πῶς οὖν αὐτὸς λέγει περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ὅτι «Ἑβραῖος ἐξ Ἑβραίων, ἐκ σπέρματος Ἀβραάμ, φυλῆς Βενιαμίν, κατὰ νόμον Φαρισαῖος, περισσοτέρως ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρχων τῶν πατρικῶν μου παραδόσεων»· καὶ ἐν ἄλλῳ τόπῳ λέγει «Ἰσραηλῖταί εἰσι, κἀγώ· σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ εἰσι, κἀγώ», καί φησι «περιτομῇ ὀκταήμερος καὶ ἀνατεθραμμένος παρὰ τοὺς πόδας Γαμαλιὴλ καὶ Ἑβραῖος ἐξ Ἑβραίων». καὶ ὦ τῶν δεινῶν ἑρπετῶν τὰ δεινὰ κωκύματα καὶ τὰ δρακοντοειδῆ συρίγματα καὶ τῆς κενοφωνίας τὰ δηλητήρια. τίνος δὲ λήψομαι τὴν μαρτυρίαν; Ἐβίωνος καὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτὸν ἢ τοῦ ἁγίου Πέτρου τοῦ λέγοντος «ὡς ἔγραψεν ὑμῖν ὁ ἀδελφός μου Παῦλος, ἅτινά ἐστι βαθέα καὶ δυσερμήνευτα, ἃ οἱ ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἀστήρικτοι διαστρέφουσι τῇ ἑαυτῶν ἀγνωσίᾳ»; πάλιν δὲ ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος μαρτυρεῖ καὶ αὐτὸς τοῖς περὶ Πέτρον λέγων «Ἰάκωβος καὶ Ἰωάννης καὶ Κηφᾶς, οἱ δοκοῦντες στῦλοι εἶναι, δεξιὰς ἔδωκαν ἐμοί τε καὶ Βαρνάβᾳ κοινωνίας». κἄν τε γὰρ Ταρσέα ἑαυτὸν εἴποι, οὐκ ἀπὸ τούτου πάντως δέδοται πρόφασις τοῖς λεξιθηροῦσι τὰ εἰς ἑαυτῶν καταστροφὴν καὶ τῶν πειθομένων * οὕτως ἔχειν. καὶ γὰρ καὶ Βαρνάβαν λέγει, Ἰωσήφ ποτε καλούμενον Βαρνάβαν δὲ μετακληθέντα, υἱὸν παρακλήσεως ἑρμηνευόμενον, Λευίτην Κύπριον 1.367 τῷ γένει. καὶ οὐ πάντως ἐπειδὴ Κύπριος ἦν, οὐκ ἦν ἀπὸ τοῦ Λευί, ὡς καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος, εἰ καὶ ἀπὸ Ταρσοῦ ὡρμᾶτο, οὐκ ἦν ἀλλότριος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. διασπαρέντων γὰρ πολλῶν ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις Ἀντιόχου τοῦ Ἐπιφανοῦς καὶ ἐν χρόνοις ἄλλοις, καθότι συνέβαινε πόλεμος, καὶ αἰχμαλωτισθέντων καὶ † δοθέντων εἰς πολιορκίαν, οἱ μὲν αἰχμάλωτοι ἀρθέντες ἐπέμειναν ἔν τισι τόποις, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς τοιαύτης αἰτίας ἀναχωρήσαντες κατῴκουν ἕκαστος ὅπου κατείληφεν. ὡς καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Ἰερεμίας ἔλεγε περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, καθάπερ πολλάκις τοῦτο αὐτὸ συμβέβηκε τὸ ἀποδιδράσκειν ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν πολεμίων, ὅτι «καὶ εἰς Κιτιεῖς ἐὰν ἀπέλθῃς, οὔτε ἐκεῖ σοι ἀνάπαυσις ἔσται». παντὶ δέ τῳ δῆλόν ἐστιν ὅτι Κίτιον ἡ Κυπρίων νῆσος καλεῖται· Κίτιοι γὰρ Κύπριοι καὶ Ῥόδιοι. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ τὸ γένος κατῴκηκε Κυπρίων τε καὶ Ῥοδίων· ὅθεν δὴ καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὡρμᾶτο ὁ Μακεδών. καὶ τούτου ἕνεκεν ἐμφέρεται ἐν τοῖς Μακκαβαίοις ὅτι «ἐξῆλθεν σπέρμα ἐκ γῆς Κιτιέων»· καὶ γὰρ ἐκ σπέρματος τῶν Κιτιέων Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μακεδών. ἀλλὰ γενόμενος πάλιν ἐν τῷ τόπῳ, διὰ τὸν ὑποπεσόντα λόγον διεξελθὼν τὴν περὶ τούτων ἱστορίαν, φημὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ τῆς μετοικήσεως πολλοὶ τὰς ἄλλας χώρας κατοικήσαντες τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἦσαν σπέρματος κατὰ διαδοχήν. ἐλέγοντο γὰρ καὶ ἑκάστης χώρας πατριῶται, ὡς καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες τοῦ Ἰοθὸρ τὴν ἀντίληψιν τοῦ Μωυσέως τῷ πατρὶ ἀπήγγειλαν, ὡς ἀποστήσας τοὺς ποιμένας ἐπότισεν αὐτῶν τὰ πρόβατα, καὶ πορευθεῖσαι περὶ τούτου ὑφηγοῦντο τῷ ἰδίῳ πατρί, τοῦ δὲ λέγοντος ὅτι «διὰ τί ἐταχύνατε σήμερον τοῦ ἐλθεῖν;» πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔφασαν ὅτι «ἀνὴρ Αἰγύπτιος ἐρρύσατο ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῶν ποιμένων καὶ ἤντλησε καὶ ἐπότισεν ἡμῶν τὰ θρέμματα», καὶ εὐθὺς ὁ αὐτὸς ἔφη πρὸς αὐτάς «διὰ τί οὐκ ἠγάγετε αὐτὸν ὧδε, ἵνα φάγῃ ἄρτον;» τίς δὲ οὐκ 1.368 οἶδεν ὅτι Μωυσῆς υἱὸς μὲν γίνεται τοῦ Ἀμρὰμ καὶ τῆς Ἰωχαβέτ, Ἀμρὰμ δὲ τοῦ Καάθ, Καὰθ δὲ τοῦ Λευί, Λευὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἰακώβ, Ἰακὼβδὲ τοῦ Ἰσαάκ, Ἰσαὰκ δὲ τοῦ Ἀβραάμ; καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ καλεῖσθαι τὸν Μωυσέα Αἰγύπτιον πάντως ἡ τῆς εὐγενείας καὶ τοῦ σπέρματος διέπεσεν ἀκολουθία. οὗτοι δὲ καταλείψαντες τὴν ὁδὸν οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἐβίωνος πεπλανημένοι ἐπὶ πολλὰς διεστραμμένας ὁδοὺς καὶ ἀνάντη τρίβον τὸν νοῦν ἐκδεδώκασιν.