Selections from the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis on the Jews

Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310–403 AD) was Bishop of Salamis in Cyprus and one of the most prolific heresiologists of the early Church. His magnum opus, the Panarion (“Medicine Chest”), catalogues and refutes eighty heresies. In the course of his systematic treatment of Jewish sects, Judaizing heresies, and heterodox Christologies, Epiphanius returns again and again to the theological status of the Jewish people after Christ — their rejection of the Messiah, the guilt of the Crucifixion, the abrogation of their Law and religious privileges, their dispersion as divine punishment, and their replacement by the Church as the true Israel. The passages below are drawn directly from the text, translated by Frank Williams (Brill, 2009 and 1994), and are organised by theme.

I. Supersessionism: The Law Fulfilled and the Jews Displaced

The Jews Displaced by the Gentiles

“Now since the Jews were guided by the type and did not reach the fulfillment which is proclaimed by the Law, by the prophets and others, and by every book (in scripture), they were put off the estate. And the gentiles came on, since Jews can no longer be saved unless they return to the grace of the Gospel. For every ordinance has been violated by them as each text says, in every scripture.”

— Panarion 4 (Judaism, continued), 7,1 — Book I

The Sentence Against Those Who Reject the Prophet (Christ)

“Their sentence is plain to see as Scripture says, ‘Whatsoever soul will not hearken unto that prophet shall be cut off from his tribe, and from Israel, and from under the heavens.’ In other words the Lord is to give a final, saving confirmation of the truths he has imparted mystically through the Law, and a person who does not listen to him, and refuses to, cannot be saved even though he keeps the Law. For the Law cannot perfect the man, since the ordinances in it have been written physically and their real fulfillment is in Christ.”

— Panarion 4 (Judaism, continued), 7,2–3 — Book I

All the Sacred Books Were a Pedagogue Until Christ

“All these sacred books taught Judaism and Law’s observances until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Jews would have been all right under the Law’s tutelage if they had accepted the Christ whom their pedagogue, I mean the Law, foretold and prophesied to them so as to learn, not of the Law’s destruction but of its fulfillment, by accepting Christ’s divinity and incarnation. For the types were in the Law, but the truth is in the Gospel.”

— Panarion 4 (Judaism, continued), 6,5–6 — Book I

The Law as Pedagogue: Types Replaced by Truth

“The Law provides for physical circumcision. This served for a time until the great circumcision, baptism, which cuts us off from our sins and has sealed us in God’s name. The Law had a sabbath to keep us for the great Sabbath, the rest of Christ, so that in Christ we might enjoy a Sabbath-rest from sins. And in the Law a lamb, a dumb animal, was sacrificed to guide us to the great, heavenly Lamb, slain for us and ‘for the whole world.'”

— Panarion 4 (Judaism, continued), 6,7–9 — Book I

The Throne of David Transferred to the Church

“But with the transfer of the royal throne the rank of king passed, in Christ, from the physical house of David and Israel to the church. The throne is established in God’s holy church forever, and has both the kingly and the high-priestly rank for two reasons.”

— Panarion 29 (Against Nazoraeans), 3,7–8 — Book I

He Is a Stumbling Block to the Jews, a Foundation of Salvation to Us

“Even if he should be called ‘stone,’ the ‘stone’ is not inanimate; this is a way of speaking, because he has become a stumbling block to the Jews, but a foundation of salvation to us. And he is called ‘cornerstone’ because he unites the Old and the New Testaments, circumcision and uncircumcision, as one body.”

— Panarion 69 (Against Arians), 35,4 — Books II & III

Judaism: The Mother of the Jews, Not the Lawful Wife

“There really are seventy-five concubines, and these five mothers of theirs — Hellenism, the mother of the pagans; Judaism, the mother of the Jews; the Samaritan sect, the mother of the Samaritans, and Christianity, from which the separated sects have been broken off like branches and are called by Christ’s name but are not his.”

— Panarion 80 (Against Massalians), 11,4 — Books II & III

Freed from the Error of Greeks and the Willful Worship of the Jews

“This is sufficient to free us from the error of the Greeks, the willful worship of the Jews, and the heresy of the sectarians.”

— Panarion, De Fide 30,8 — Books II & III

II. The Abrogation of Circumcision

Physical Circumcision Is Now of No Force

“If the previous circumcision had been for sanctification and the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, Sarah would have been deprived of the kingdom — and Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, Jochabed, Miriam the sister of Moses, and all the holy women. They could not have inherited the kingdom of heaven, since they could not have the circumcision of Abraham which, as the Ebionites tell it, God had given him. But if these have not been deprived of the kingdom of heaven though they have no circumcision, the physical circumcision of today is of no force.”

— Panarion 30 (Against Ebionites), 33,2–3 — Book I

Circumcision Cut Off Altogether and Abolished Through Christ

“The Lord has made it obsolete, as I have shown plainly through many testimonies. For he came and fulfilled it by giving us the perfect circumcision of his mysteries — not of one member only, but by sealing the entire body and cutting it off from sin. And not by saving one portion of the people, males alone, but by truly sealing the entire Christian people, men and women both.”

— Panarion 30 (Against Ebionites), 34,1–2 — Book I

He Was Circumcised So He Could with Reason Abolish Circumcision

“He was circumcised in the possession of full humanity, making all his provisions in truth — so that the Jews would have no excuse, as I said, and the Manichaeans and others would be refuted and so that, being circumcised himself, he could with reason abolish circumcision and show that another kind was greater. It was not as though he had no circumcision and was making one up for himself. He had one, but showed that there is no further need of this circumcision, but of the greater one.”

— Panarion 30 (Against Ebionites), 28,8–9 — Book I

Blood of Circumcision Finally Ceased to Flow

“With this child the blood of circumcision finally ceased to flow, as he says in the Gospel — when Greeks arrived to see him, approached Philip, and told him, ‘Show us Jesus’ … And the Lord replied at once, ‘Now hath come the glory of God,’ to show that physical circumcision, which had served for a while as a type, was passing away, but that uncircumcision in the flesh possesses a greater circumcision in spirit, since it sees Christ and has comprehended him in truth.”

— Panarion 30 (Against Ebionites), 27,7–8 — Book I

III. The Abrogation of the Sabbath

The Apostles Learned from Christ That the Sabbath Had Been Abolished

“Since the apostles had learned from their association with him and from his teaching that the Sabbath had been abolished, they plucked ears of grain on the Sabbath, rubbed them in their hands and ate them.”

— Panarion 30 (Against Ebionites), 32,3 — Book I

Christ Is the Great Eternal Sabbath; the Lesser Sabbath Was a Type

“He is the great, eternal Sabbath, of which the lesser, temporary Sabbath was a type. This served until his coming, had been prescribed by him in the Law, and was abrogated, and fulfilled in him, in the Gospel. For this is what he meant when he said, ‘The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.'”

— Panarion 30 (Against Ebionites), 32,8–9 — Book I

Circumcision Itself Broke the Sabbath — Both Were to Be Dissolved

“Not only did the priests themselves prophesy the Sabbath’s abrogation by not remaining idle; besides, circumcision itself broke the Sabbath … Thus the dissolution of both was predicted.”

— Panarion 30 (Against Ebionites), 32,10–11 — Book I

IV. The Tradition of the Elders (Oral Law) Condemned

The Savior Repeatedly Condemned the Pharisees for Their Traditions

“‘Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye have abandoned the weightier matters of the Law, judgment and mercy, and pay tithes of dill and mint and rue … Ye say, if a man shall say to his father and mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by which thou mightest be profited by me, he shall no longer honor his father, and ye have made the commandment of God of none effect through the tradition of your elders. And ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.'”

— Panarion 16 (Against Pharisees), 4,4–7 — Book I

The Traditions of the Elders Are Nowhere in Scripture

“You can’t show the part you think was written by the elders; this much is plain. The traditions of the elders are nowhere to be found in the Law. From your ignorance both of the books and of the truth you are imagining these by misrepresenting and altering the consequences of every kind of accurate knowledge. The traditions of the elders are called ‘repetitions’ by the Jews, and there are four of them. One is circulated in the name of Moses, a second in that of the person named Rabbi Aqiba, a third of Adda or Judah, and a fourth of the sons of Hasmonaeus.”

— Panarion 33 (Against Ptolemaeans), 9,2–4 — Book I

Isaiah Cried Out Against This Teaching for Doctrines the Commandments of Men

“‘That certain traditions of the elders have been intermingled with the Law the Savior also makes plain … And Isaiah cried this out when he said, ‘This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.'”

— Panarion 33 (Against Ptolemaeans), 4,11–13 — Book I

When Did the Tradition of the Elders Arise?

“If he says, ‘Ye hold the traditions of your elders and pass over the mercy and judgment of God,’ find out for how long he accuses them of doing this, and when the tradition of the elders arose! You will find that the tradition of Adda arose after the return from Babylon, but that the tradition of Aqiba had come into being even before the Babylonian captivities, and that of the sons of Hasmonaeus at the time of Alexander and Antiochus, 190 years before Christ’s incarnation.”

— Panarion 42 (Against Marcionites), Elenchus 26 — Book I

V. Deicide: The Jews‘ Guilt in the Crucifixion of Christ

The Jews Crucified the Savior

“It was not because sacred scripture said they would that the Jews crucified the Savior and Judas betrayed him; but because Judas would betray, and the Jews crucify him, sacred scripture foretold this in the Old Testament and the Lord in the Gospel.”

— Panarion 38 (Against Cainites), 7,1 — Book I

The Jews Are Not to Be Rewarded for Crucifying the Lord

“Hence Judas did not betray the Savior because of knowledge as these people say; nor are the Jews to be rewarded for crucifying the Lord, though we indeed have salvation through the cross. Judas did not betray him so that it would bring about our salvation, but from the ignorance, envy and greed of the denial of God.”

— Panarion 38 (Against Cainites), 6,1–2 — Book I

They Set On Him Like Mad Dogs

“When those who were awaiting the coming of Christ beheld their Master’s arrival … when they saw their Master’s arrival they did not know the appearance and marks of the truth … and at once said to him, first, ‘Who is this that speaketh blasphemies?’ But on another occasion they shamelessly ventured to say that he had a demon, and did not blush to call him a Samaritan as well. Finally, as I have said, they set on him like mad dogs, nailed his hands and struck him in the face, as a dog in its madness always fastens on the person before it and attacks his hands, and is not ashamed to scratch the faces of its owners.”

— Panarion 78 (Against Antidicomarians), 4,2–4 — Books II & III

They Gave Their Own Lord Up to Crucifixion

“They gave their own Lord up to crucifixion; and of the prophets, the household of that same Master, they sawed one in half, stoned another, and slew another with the sword. But their successors, the new Jews after them, are now behaving in the same way. The actual Jews by birth denied him; and those who, utterly mad and crack-brained, are now denying the truth of the Son’s perfect relation to the Father, maintain without intermission that he is a creature and something made, and different from the Father.”

— Panarion 78 (Against Antidicomarians), 4,5–6 — Books II & III

Judas Betrayed Him; Caiaphas Sentenced Him; the Jews Spat on Him

“When Pilate sat in judgment on him, a servant struck his jaw, Judas betrayed him, Caiaphas sentenced him, the Jews spat on him, and soldiers struck his head though he could have crushed heaven and earth with a nod. This was the arrogance, insolence, and vainglory of the men of the world; this was the ruler of the world, who fell to the earth.”

— Panarion 66 (Against Manichaeans), 67,7–8 — Books II & III

His Betrayal by Judas and Arrest by Jews

“He was truly with his parents on their journey … his betrayal by Judas and arrest by Jews, being brought to Pontius Pilate and condemned to death by him, his crucifixion … He truly bowed his head and expired.”

— Panarion 77 (Against Apollinarians), 35,5 — Books II & III

God Hath Made This Jesus Whom Ye Crucified Both Lord and Christ

“The one in Acts, ‘Be it known unto all you house of Israel that God hath made this Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ,’ and others like these.”

— Panarion 69 (Against Arians), 15,1–2 — Books II & III

Of This Generation All Righteous Blood Shall Be Required

“The Savior expressly pronounces the severe sentence against them by saying, ‘Of this generation all righteous blood shall be required, from the blood of righteous Abel which was shed at the beginning unto Zacharias the prophet, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.'”

— Panarion 38 (Against Cainites), 5,4–5 — Book I

The Blood of Abel unto the Blood of Zacharias

“‘And the blood that has been shed shall be required, from the blood of Abel unto that of the righteous Zacharias, which was shed between the temple and the altar.'”

— Panarion 66 (Against Manichaeans), 42,11 — Books II & III

Your Fathers Killed the Prophets

“‘Ye garnish the tombs of the prophets, and build the sepulchres of the just, and your fathers killed them.’ But where have prophets and just men come from, if not from the Father’s goodness?”

— Panarion 42 (Against Marcionites), 10,4 — Book I

Jerusalem Which Killest the Prophets

“‘It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem,’ and, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent, Often would I have gathered, as a hen, thy children,’ ‘Your house is left unto you desolate,’ and, ‘Ye shall not see me until ye shall say, Blessed.'”

— Panarion 42 (Against Marcionites), Scholion 41 — Book I

VI. The Jews as “Neo-Jews,” Murderers of the Lord, Enemies of Christ

Neo-Jews: Murderers of the Lord and Deniers of God

“These people, with their covert introduction of Judaism, have nothing more to say than the Jews do. They must be termed neo-Jews, and Samosatians, nothing but an alleged Christianity in name and supposition. By denying the God begotten of God, the only-begotten Son and the Word, they have become like those who denied him when he was here — God’s murderers, the murderers of the Lord, and the deniers of God.”

— Panarion 65 (Against Paul the Samosatian), 2,4–5 — Books II & III

These Neo-Jews Do Away with the Subsistence of the Word

“But these neo-Jews, these Samosatians, do away with the subsistence of the Word, showing that they too are murderers of the Lord and deniers of our Lord’s salvation.”

— Panarion 65 (Against Paul the Samosatian), 8,5–6 — Books II & III

A New Crop of Jews Springing Up Again

“This new crop of Jews who are springing up again — for they are votaries of the Jewish opinion and no different from Jews except merely in name — they seize, like adversaries, on something else ‘to entangle him in his talk,’ as the Gospel has said.”

— Panarion 69 (Against Arians), 63,1 — Books II & III

They Believe No More Than the Jews Do, Blind to the Truth

“They believe no more than the Jews do but are blind to the truth, and deaf to the divine word and the message of eternal life.”

— Panarion 65 (Against Paul the Samosatian), 3,4 — Books II & III

The Jews Will Be Put to Shame

“The disciples will learn that the Godhead is the same in the Old and the New Testaments; the Jews will be put to shame because the Only-begotten did not come to teach another God but to reveal his Godhead and that of his heavenly Father.”

— Panarion 69 (Against Arians), 30,4 — Books II & III

The Successors of the Jews Cast Christians Out of the Synagogue

“We no longer deny the Lord, even though the partisans of Arius and successors of the Jews cast us out of the Synagogue. For like the Jews, the Arians have agreed that whoever confesses the Lord must ‘be cast out of the Synagogue,’ showing that one who has recovered his sight is a reproach to those who cannot see. For if their Synagogue were not all blind, they would not eject someone whose eyes had been opened.”

— Panarion 69 (Against Arians), 81,4–5 — Books II & III

To the Jews a Stumbling Block, to the Greeks Foolishness

“The whole of our salvation, the life-giving mystery of Christ, is ‘to the Jews a stumbling block, to Greeks foolishness. But to us who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.'”

— Panarion 76 (Against Anomoeans/Aetians), 35,4 — Books II & III

VII. The Synagogue‘s Curse of Christians

The Jews Curse the Nazoraeans Three Times a Day

“Not only do Jewish people bear hatred against them; they even stand up at dawn, at midday, and toward evening, three times a day when they recite their prayers in the Synagogues, and curse and anathematize them — saying three times a day, ‘God curse the Nazoraeans.'”

— Panarion 29 (Against Nazoraeans), 9,2 — Book I

VIII. The Dispersion of the Jewish Sects After Christ

Christ’s Power Extinguished and Scattered the Seven Jewish Sects

“Right on their heels came the arrival in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, which overtook these seven sects at Jerusalem; his power extinguished and scattered them.”

— Panarion, De Incarnatione 1,1 — Book I

After Jerusalem’s Fall the Sects Were Dispersed and Dissolved

“After Jerusalem’s fall this, and the other sects which enjoyed a brief period of celebrity — I mean the Sadducees, Scribes, Pharisees, Hemerobaptists, Ossaeans, Nasaraeans and Herodians — lingered on until, at its time and season, each was dispersed and dissolved.”

— Panarion 19 (Against Ossaeans), 5,6–7 — Book I

Most of the Jewish Sects Have Been Eliminated

“These were the seven sects in Israel, in Jerusalem and Judaea, and the four I mentioned in ‘Samaritans’ in Samaria. But most of them have been eliminated. There are no Scribes any longer, no Pharisees, Sadducees, Hemerobaptists or Herodians.”

— Panarion 20 (Against Herodians), 3,1 — Book I

IX. The Nazoraeans Still Under a Curse; Jerusalem Closed Off

Those Who Cling to the Law Are Still Under a Curse

“They too are wrong to boast of circumcision, and persons like themselves are still ‘under a curse,’ since they cannot fulfill the Law. For how will they be able to fulfil the Law’s provision, ‘Thrice a year thou shalt appear before the Lord thy God, at the feasts of Unleavened Bread, Tabernacles and Pentecost,’ on the site of Jerusalem? For since the site is closed off, and the Law’s provisions cannot be fulfilled, it must be plain to anyone with sense that Christ came to be the fulfiller of the Law — not to destroy the Law but to fulfil the Law — and to lift the curse that had been pronounced on transgression of the Law.”

— Panarion 29 (Against Nazoraeans), 8,1–2 — Book I

If Ye Be Circumcised, Christ Shall Profit You Nothing

“And how can they fail to lose the grace of God, when the holy apostle Paul says, ‘If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing … whosoever of you do glory in the Law are fallen from grace?'”

— Panarion 29 (Against Nazoraeans), 8,7 — Book I

X. Against Celebrating Passover with the Jews

When They Feast, Mourn for Them with Fasting

“The same apostles say, ‘When they feast, mourn ye for them with fasting, for they crucified Christ on the day of the feast. And when they mourn on the Day of Unleavened Bread and eat with bitter herbs, then feast ye.'”

— Panarion 70 (Against Audians), 11,3 — Books II & III

With the Jews, Everything Is Worthless and Erroneous

“The Passover … cannot be celebrated unless the day of the equinox is past, although the Jews do not observe this or care to keep so important a matter precise; with them, everything is worthless and erroneous.”

— Panarion 70 (Against Audians), 11,2 — Books II & III

We Celebrate Not with the Enemies of Christ

“And if, as the Audians insist, the apostles’ ordinance was that we celebrate with the enemies of Christ, how much more must we celebrate with the church for the sake of concord, so as not to mar the harmony of the church?”

— Panarion 70 (Against Audians), 11,5 — Books II & III

XI. The Scribes and Pharisees: Originators of the Oral Tradition

The Scribes Repeated the Traditions of Their Elders

“Scribes, who were persons learned in the Law and persons who repeated the traditions of their elders. Because of their extra would-be religion they observed customs which they had not learned through the Law but had formulated for themselves, observances of the ordinance of the legislation.”

— Panarion (Anacephalaeosis I), 14,1 — Book I

XII. The Witness of History: Rulers from Judah Have Failed

Since the Rulers from Judah Had Come to an End

“All these things were accomplished beginning with Christ’s birth in Bethlehem … because the rulers descended from Judah had come to an end, and Herod had been made king — a gentile, though indeed a proselyte. And then Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judaea and began to preach, after the last of the anointed rulers descended from Judah and Aaron had come to an end.”

— Panarion 51 (Against Alogi), 22,20–21 — Books II & III

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