NAZARENE (NAZOREAN). - Title attributed to Jesus and to Christians in the New Testament. The form N. (Ναζαρηνός) is read in Mk. 1:24; 10:47; 14:67; 16:6; Lk. 4:34; 24:19; the form Nazorean (Ναζωραῖος) in Mt. 2:23 (Vulg. Nazaraeus); 26:71; Lk. 18:37; Jn. 18:5, 7; 19:19; Acts 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 22:8; 26:9. In Acts 24:5 ff. Paul is accused as "ringleader of the sect of the Nazoreans." The title is connected with Nazareth (v.), where Jesus dwelt for the greater part of his private life.
According to Mt. 2:23 "Joseph (with Jesus and Mary) went to settle in Nazareth, a city of Galilee, so that what had been said by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazorean." Since this citation is not found ad litteram in the prophetic books, some, with Chrysostom (PG 57, 180 ff.), think that St. Matthew alludes to a lost prophecy. Others, with U. Holzmeister (in Verbum Domini, 17 [1937], pp. 21-26), hold that St. Matthew alludes to Is. 11:1, in which the Messiah is called nēser (flower, shoot). This word would have the same root as Nazareth, pronounced with s by the Arabs (en-Nāsirah) and by the Syrians in the versions of the Gospels (Nāsrat). Also in the rabbinic writings Jesus of Nazareth is called han-Nāsiri, and the Christians han-Nāsirim (with s). The plural "by the prophets" can be understood as "of category" (standing for the singular) or as including other passages in which the Messiah is called seed or shoot (semah: Jer. 23:3; 33:15; Zech. 3:8; 6:12).
Since Nazareth was a despised locality (Jn. 1:46), some think that St. Matthew alludes generically to the prophecies that present the Messiah as one despised (Is. 53; Ps. 21 etc.). Thus M.-J. Lagrange, F. Prat, A. Durand, D. Baldi. Others, insisting, believe that St. Matthew alludes to the prophecies that present the Messiah as a nāsir (Nazirite [v. NAZIRITE], consecrated, sanctified, prince: cf. Judg. 13:5-7; 16:17; Am. 2:11-12; Gen. 49:26, etc.). This would be the definitive opinion of St. Jerome, according to S. Lyonnet, in Biblica, 25 (1944), pp. 196-206.
E. Zolli (Christus, Rome 1946, p. 45) holds that the term derives from an Aramaic root nēser which would mean "to preach." He thus understands the (reconstructed Aramaic) text of Mt. 2:23: "So that what was said might be fulfilled: 'Among the prophets he [preacher par excellence] will be called n.'" The Christians would be called "n." in the sense of "preachers, declaimers."
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