Saturday, June 27, 2026

Pythagorean Fish Story is origin of Gospel of John fish story

 https://compassionatespirit.com/wpblog/2022/04/04/fish-stories-about-pythagoras/

 This is similar, though not identical, to the “miraculous catch” story in John 21:4-11. Jesus (after his resurrection) instructs the disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, and they have a huge haul of fish—153 fish, to be exact.

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The number “153” is not an isolated scrap of information about the influence of Pythagoras on the early Christians. In fact, it is not even the strongest evidence. We can trace a strong connection between the Pythagoreans and the Jewish Christian Ebionites, who of all the early Christian groups seem to understand the teachings of Jesus the best. The Pythagoreans were vegetarian and against animal sacrifice; the Jewish Christian Ebionites were also vegetarian and opposed to animal sacrifice. Indeed, for the Ebionites vegetarianism was part of the gospel message: all Christians should be vegetarian.

Other Pythagorean ideas also found a voice within early Christianity: communalism, voluntary poverty, abstinence from alcohol, and rejection of making oaths, were all found in the Ebionites. (See Charles Vaclavik’s The Vegetarianism of Jesus Christ throughout; The Lost Religion of Jesus, p. 39-40, 166, 214; and Disciples, chapters 6 and 7.)

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