The flight to Pella is an early Christian tradition that the Early Church of Jerusalem fled to the city of Pella before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 during the First Jewish–Roman War. Pella was in the region of the Decapolis and across the Jordan River. The earliest surviving reference to this is from the fourth-century Church Father Eusebius of Caesarea; the 4th century writer Epiphanius of Salamis also cites this tradition. The flight to Pella probably did not include the Ebionites.G. Uhlhorn, "Ebionites", in: A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd ed. (edited by Philip Schaff), p. 684–685 (vol. 2).Cullmann, Oscar, "Ebioniten", in: Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, p. 7435 (vol. 2).
The authenticity of this tradition became a debated question in the 20th century. S. G. F. Brandon argued in 1951 that the flight to Pella most likely did not happen and that the original Jerusalem Church was wiped out, which to him would explain the loss in prestige of Jewish Christianity and the growth of Pauline Christianity as the dominant and organized form afterward. Gerd Lüdemann has argued that it was more likely Eusebius was recounting a 2nd-century legend by some Jewish Christian church in Palestine that sought to buttress its legitimacy by claiming a continuing link to the early Jerusalem Church. Still, many other scholars accept the basic parameters of such an escape as plausible.
Ancient sources The oldest source is from Eusebius's book Church History, published in the early 4th century (). He implies the flight happened before the First Jewish–Roman War (), rather than immediately before the siege. He also makes it part of a moral where wicked Jews are punished and Christians are saved.
The heresiologist Epiphanius of Salamis references it three times, writing in the late 4th century. It is not known whether Epiphanius had read Eusebius, or was relying on an independent, lost source; Gerd Lüdemann argues he was likely relying on Eusebius, while Craig Koester argues it was likely an independent tradition.
While not a direct source on an alleged flight to Pella, the late 1st century Gospel of Luke features some related verses. Luke 21 verses 20-22 can be read as hinting at something similar. It seems to be referring to the Jewish-Roman War, and says that when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies, those who are in Judea should flee into the mountains.
Historicity Traditionalist Christian scholars did not generally question the historicity of Eusebius's claim in the 19th century and before. The first major challenge came in 1951, where S. G. F. Brandon argued in his work The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church that the Jerusalem Christians were more likely to have been allied with the Zealots and still firmly Jewish; for Brandon, they would have held their ground and been destroyed with the other defenders of the city. According to Brandon, it was after the destruction of the Jewish Christian leadership in Jerusalem (the de-facto leaders of the earliest church) that the more universalist Pauline Christianity triumphed as the dominant form. In general, most scholars have been skeptical of the existence of such a Jewish Christian–Zealot alliance, but others have questioned the historicity of the flight to Pella on other grounds.
Gerd Lüdemann has also argued that the flight was most likely not historical. The most pressing issue is that Eusebius's reference is rather late, coming 250 years after the claimed event. Lüdemann does not think Eusebius fabricated the tradition himself, given that he only mentions it once and does not mention it in other passages where it would be relevant or to further some theological goal. However, in the theological disputes of early Christianity (and even medieval and modern Christianity), one of the most common ways to bolster the theological authority of a church was to claim direct descent from the apostles. This is seen in the multitude of pseudepigrapha, letters and documents falsely claiming the authorship of some apostle or other notable, trustworthy figure (and denounced by surviving writings of figures like Epiphanius). As such, a Christian group in Palestine could well have been incentivized to claim descent from the Early Church of Jerusalem, which would require continuity and the Jerusalem church somehow surviving the destruction of the city. This church's tradition then survived to be recorded by Eusebius – perhaps from the mysterious Ariston of Pella, a Jewish Christian mentioned elsewhere in his writings.
Craig Koester has argued that a Flight to Pella is plausible. He explains the lack of surviving early sources as related to the same thread the skeptics mention: the loss of prestige of Jewish Christianity that kept Jewish law, and the rise of Pauline Christianity as the dominant form of Christianity. Given that this happened, regardless of the reasons, there simply was little interest from pagans-converted-to-Christianity in the stories of the continuity of the Jewish Christian church, explaining the paucity of sources to Koester.
References
Further reading Brandon, Samuel G. F., The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church, (London: SPCK, 1957), p. 167-184. Bourgel, Jonathan, "The Jewish Christians’ Move from Jerusalem as a pragmatic choice", in: Dan Jaffé (ed), Studies in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity, (Leyden: Brill, 2010), p. 107-138. Pritz, Ray A., "On Brandon’s Rejection of the Pella Tradition", Immanuel 13 (1981), p. 39-43. Gray, Barbara C., "The Movements of the Jerusalem Church during the First Jewish War", Journal of Ecclesiastical History 24 (1973), p. 1-7. Gunther, John J., "The Fate of the Jerusalem Church. The Flight to Pella", Theologische Zeitschrift 29 (1973), p. 81-94. Sowers Sidney, "The Circumstances and Recollection of the Pella Flight", Theologische Zeitschrift 26 (1970), p. 305-320.