[5] The name Gospel of the Nazarenes was first used in Latin by Paschasius Radbertus (790–865), and around the same time by Haimo, though it is a natural progression from what Jerome writes.
[11] Today, all that remains of its original text are notations, quotations, and commentaries from various Church Fathers including Hegesippus, Origen, Eusebius and Jerome.
[13] This aligns with Jerome's assessment, in which he stated, "Matthew, also called Levi, apostle and aforetime publican, composed a gospel of Christ at first published in Judea in Hebrew for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed, but this was afterwards translated into Greek, though by what author is uncertain.
After Tertullus the name does not appear again, apart from an unclear reference in Eusebius' Onomasticon, until a similar name, "Nazoreans", is distinguished by Epiphanius in his Panarion in the 4th century.
[16] By the 4th century, Nazarenes are generally accepted as being the first Christians that adhered to the Mosaic law and who were led by James the Just, the brother of Jesus.
[17] Concerning its origin, Jerome relates that the Nazarenes believed that the Hebrew Gospel he received while at Chalcis was written by Matthew the Evangelist.
'It is scarcely to be assumed that in it we are dealing with an independent development of older Aramaic traditions; this assumption is already prohibited by the close relationship with Mt.
The Talmudic evidence for early Christian gospels,[citation needed] combined with Papias' reference to the Hebrew "logia" (Eusebius, Church History III .
[citation needed] Its place of origin might be Alexandria, Egypt since two of its principal witnesses, Clement and Origen, were Alexandrians.