MārūṮā's Testimony About The Šabtāyē, Christian ‘Observers of The Torah’ in The Fifth Century CE

• Published in: Journal of Semitic studies 2021, Vol.66 (1), p.77-95
• Main Author: Sánchez, Francisco Del Río
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-4480; 1477-8556
• DOI: 10.1093/jss/fgaa036

Abstract In his Catalogue of Heresies, Mārūṯā, bishop of Mayperqaṭ (d. c. 420), described a group of heretics who received the name of Šabtāyē, a term that can be translated as ‘Sabbathians’ or ‘Sabbath‐keepers’. They con‐sidered themselves as Christians but also defended the validity of the Torah. Many scholars have identified these Šabtāyē with the Σαββα‐τιανοί, the inner schism within the Marcionite church which began around the year 380 in Phrygia and Galatia: this article shows how there are some shreds of evidence that, taken together, suggest that this identification between the Šabtāyē and the followers of Sabbatius does not reflect the reality of the facts. On the other hand, Mārūṯā’s portrait of the Šabtāyē as it appears in his Catalogue of Heresies brings to mind the descriptions of the Ebionites and Nazarenes of many patristic excerpts. Furthermore, the praxis‐based description offered by the Bishop of Mayperqaṭ fits well with the definitions of ‘Jewish‐Christianity’ suggested by different modern authors.