Flight to Pella

The fourth-century Church Father Eusebius of Caesarea and Epiphanius of Salamis cite a tradition that before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 the early Christians had been warned to flee to Pella in the region of the Decapolis across the Jordan River. The flight to Pella probably did not include the Ebionites.

The authenticity of this tradition has been a much debated question since 1951 when S. G. F. Brandon in his work The Fall of Jerusalem and the Christian Church argued that the Christians would have been allied to their compatriots, the Zealots; only after the destruction of the Jewish community would Christianity have emerged as a universalist religion. The Christian–Zealot alliance has hardly been taken seriously, but the historicity of the flight to Pella has been controversial ever since.

The early Apostolic Christians were well aware of Jesus' prophecy in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 regarding the abomination of desolation, the surrounding of Jerusalem by the Roman Army, prior to its destruction. The army mysteriously retreated, which showed the Christians the sign they were looking for to escape to Pella, before the Romans returned to destroy the city:

Matthew 24:15-20 KJV:

Luke cites the same exposition, making clear that Jesus is prophetically referring to the Roman Army, surrounding, departure and return:

Luke 21:20-24 KJV:

In chapter 10 of his book on the Apostolic Christian 7th Day Sabbath: History of the Sabbath, J. N. Andrews cites the historians, including Josephus, that verify the departure of the Christians whilst the Romans are mysteriously departing, noting that the Jewish forces hounding the Roman army were therefore too busy to prevent the Christians escaping to Pella.

• 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.
• Koester, Craig, "The Origin and Significance of the Flight to Pella Tradition", Catholic Biblical Quarterly 51 (1989), p. 90-106.
• Sowers Sidney, "The Circumstances and Recollection of the Pella Flight", Theologische Zeitschrift 26 (1970), p. 305-320.