Antisemitism precedes early Christianity - scholars reveal
Jewish persecution in ancient Greco-Roman society. This does not in any way
mitigate the fact that, the early Christian Church Fathers, unapologetically
made their racist views known in their writing - mirroring the stated views of
the founder of the Church, St. Paul. Gentile converts as early as the 2nd
century, reading the condemnation of the Jews in the New Testament, following
the Word of the Church, and in most cases, never knowing or understanding the
internal life of the Jewish community. As then, and as now, one never questions
the dictates of the Church for fear of heresy accusations or excommunication.
Reflecting on the venomous tone of St Paul, claiming divine
inspiration, writing the dogmas' of Original Sin and Atonement,
slandered the Jewish people with the same lethal stroke of the pen, describing
Jews as those who “displease God” destined to wander lost along the fringes of
society; and they are “enemies of mankind” – while other Christian Fathers
accuse them who worship Satan in their synagogues, rape their children and
sacrifice infants in honour of the Prince of Darkness.
Jewish persecution magnified propelling into the medieval
period in mass violence, committing unspeakable crimes, eerily leaning towards
attempted genocide – an eerie prequel to the Holocaust – Nazi’s Final Solution. The many years of
Christian antisemitism planted a diabolical seed, enabling the future popular
success of Nazism. Many Christians embraced Hitler's fascist ideology,
believing the Jews were the source their moral and economic downfall. Hence,
one reason among others, thousands of Christians stood motionless on the
sidelines in sustained silence, while millions of Jews were mercilessly
exterminated.
As said above, the final split between Jewish Christians
(Paul used the pejorative term, Judizers
and Gentile converts to Pauline Christianity by the 2nd century, was
the start of antisemitism in the Church. Again, the early Church Fathers,
through their slanderous writings, fuelled the racist hatred amongst the
Gentile converts.
We are perplexed, however, researching several theologians of
various Christian denominations, that none have pointed out St Paul’s
slanderous words against the Jews in Romans and Galatians, respectively. In
chapter 3, we quoted many negative versus which Paul recorded. To substantiate
our argument, these versus are worth repeating once again:
They (Jews) are all gone out of the way; they are together become
unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used
deceit; the poison of the asps is under their lips:
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness?
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways:
And the way of peace have they not known;
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law; that ‘every mouth may be stopped, and the world may become
guilty before God. (Rom: 3: 12-19)
Reading these versus again, one can rightfully declare that
these are slanderous accusations and judgments, which, James the Just directly
responded to in writing:
Speak not evil one of
another, brethren. He that speaketh evil
of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth
the law; but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a
judge.
There is one lawgiver,
who is able to save and to destroy; who
art thou that judgeth another? (James: 4:11-17)
To be sure, one could rightly point out that these versus are
in a specific context, that is, Paul arguing that with faith comes salvation,
and there is now no need for the Law. Even so, writing:
Destruction and misery are in their ways:
And the way of peace have they not known;
There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3: 12-19)
Take these lines to any corporate attorney worth their
degree, and the law suits would be filed at once. These are words of a
desperate man, lashing out because the Christian Jews refuse to accept his
heresy, as he is attempting to break away from the “Judizers”, and start his
new religion. Pauline doctrine in the second century was now Church dogma,
therefore, the Church Fathers would have read these versus, and like the severe
misogyny carried forward from Paul’s epistles to the Church Fathers, (See
chapter 4) his antisemitism is carried forward as well.
Scholars have dated the Gospel of John to have been written
between 90-100CE. It was during this time
that antisemitism amongst Gentile converts was well on the rise. John’s gospel
is more anti-Jew than the other three gospels combined. It is certain the
Church Father’s, including St Paul’s epistles, referred to John in all their
anti-Semitic writings. It is agreed by a majority of theologians, both Catholic
and in academic circles, that these words were not Jesus’ but John’s, who put
them there…this verse caused millions of Jewish deaths during the next 2000
years of western civilization. It reads:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for
he is a liar, and the father of it.
(John: 8: 44)
By the middle of the 2nd century, Pauline
Christianity (Gentile) slowly began to organize into what one would call a
global church. Moving forward, anti-Jewish attitudes settled into mainstream
doctrine, later becoming official
doctrine of the church. As Pauline Christianity posits Jesus as the Son of God,
this only further alienated Christian Jews, which, at this time, became a
central motif in anti-Jewish doctrine in the church. The notion of Jews as
“Christ-killers” infiltrated the mind-set in the majority of Christians. Jews
as Christ-killers (Deicide) was the
subject for most sermons for Bishops across the land. Deicide continues to be a held belief in other major churches –
Orthodox - Russian, Greek, Serbian and Bulgarian churches. Add the other
insipid inculcated notion that children of the devil flourishes throughout
Jewish culture, the absolute destruction of the Jews as a race edged very close
to reality, manifesting in the holocaust in the mid-20th century.
Church Fathers’ Legacy of Hate
These Jews killed Jesus and the prophets and for that reason they
displease God and are the enemies of all mankind. (Thessa: 2: 14-16)
Paul was known for his short temper and sudden emotional
bursts of anger. That being said, Paul boasts to be the mouth piece, a direct
conduit to the Son of God. As we argued, Paul was the source for the pathological
misogyny, expressed by most of the Church Fathers. (See chapter 5) Paul’s
anti-Semitism, too, quoted above is blatantly evident. Following the founders
lead, listed below are examples of anti-Jewish writings from the early Fathers
of the Church. Once more, it is apparent; Paul is the source for their venomous
rants:
Tertullian (160-225) in his anti-Jewish
discourse, De Oratain, writes:
“Though Israel may wash every day, it is never clean. Its hands…are always
stained, covered forever with the blood of the prophets and our Lord himself.”
Saint Gregory of Nyssa (331-396) It is
plain to the reader that Gregory ensures he covers all his bases in his
diatribe against the circumcised – Jews are: “…slayers of the Lord, murderers
of the prophets, enemies of God, haters of God, adversaries of grace, enemies
of their fathers’ faith, advocates of the devil, brood of vipers, slanderers,
scoffers, men of dark minds, leaven of the Pharisees, congregation of demons,
sinners, wicket men and haters of goodness.”
Origen (182-251) an Alexandrian educated
theologian, more often an insightful interpreter of scripture, his comments on
the Jews is arrogantly presumptuous: “…the blood of Jesus falls not only on the
Jews of that time, but on all generations up to the end of the world…rejection
of Jesus has resulted in their present calamity and exile…will never be
restored to their former condition.”
Saint Ephraim of Syrus
(306-373) refers to the Jews as “circumcised dogs” and “circumcised vagabonds.” “God’s punishment for the
Jews for reviling Jesus is banishment from their lands, and is now condemned to
wander over the whole face of the earth.”
Saint Cyphan (200-258) one of the first
Church Fathers to call the Jews “Christ-Killers.” Adding to the list, he calls
Jews hypocrites, villains, evil, and haters of God and rejected by Him. Jews
are a “…sinful nation weighed down with guilt, breed of evil doers, lawless
children.” He contends that the only way they can escape their curse is
conversion.
The conversion of
Constantine I, leading to the canonization of Church doctrine through the
Council of Nicaea, created a close link to government, thus opening certain
legislation, promulgating persecution of the Jews under Roman Law. The Church
Fathers slanderous propaganda of the Jews not only was embedded in doctrine,
but the Church ensured the Roman Empire was on side - Christianity was now the
State Religion, thus under these untenable circumstances, that is Church and
State combined, the Jewish people had not a chance.
The fourth century saw Jewish persecution by the Church reach
an unholy peak of suppression. Most scholars and biblical historians agree that
the most influential and damaging of the anti-Jewish writings and sermons came
from Saint John Chrysostom
(347-407). He is considered by the Church to be one of the most important early
Church Fathers, admired for his eloquent sermons. Given the title of Doctor of
the Church, teacher of the faith, revered for his holiness, and his written
Church doctrine, Pius X declared him the Patron of Preachers in 1901. These
accolades and titles were honoured, despite his fanatical, scorching and
hateful sermons against the Jews.
There are Eight Homilies against the Jews by Chrysostom,
which are so venomous and hateful, that they reach a level of the absurd. In these sermons, he wastes no
time getting right to his subject: the despicable, animal-like nature of the
Judaism. “…the Jewish people are driven by their drunkenness and plumpness to
the ultimate evil.” He decrees that all Christians must avoid contact with Jews
at all costs. “Their souls”, he writes, are where “demon souls dwell.” Moreover, he writes, their “synagogues are not
only brothels but theatres…a den of robbers and lodgings for wild beasts.” He
goes on to rant that these Jews sacrifice Christian children on their altars,
and where “mothers ate their own children.”
Chrysostom tells the
Jews that there is no hope for them at all. “Atonement” is certainly out of the
question – the Jews are damned. These shocking sermons caused Christians to run
out of their respective churches, having whipped his brethren into a mad
frenzy, where at one stage, the rioting Christians destroyed the great
synagogue of Antioch. He also accused Jews of “ritual murder”, bringing them to
task. Chrysostom’s’ rhetorical skills are similar to that of Adolf Hitler,
hypnotically manipulating his audience, inciting them to destruction and
murder. He was later canonized as a saint. The greater irony is his sermons
continue to be taught in seminaries today.
In 306 CE, the Council of Elvira decreed that Christians
and Jews could not intermarry, have sexual intercourse, or eat together.
The Council of Nicaea
(325) decreed that all conversation and fellowship with Jews was absolutely
forbidden.
Saint Ambrose
(340-397) Bishop of Milan, tradition records his famous hatred for Arianism.
His sermons, like Chrysostom, fostered madness,
inciting Christians to murder the Jewish people -
Pillage and destroy their synagogues. He called
synagogues, “a place of unbelief, a home of impiety,
a refuge of insanity, dammed by God himself.”
Rioting Christians in
Callinicos, (388) a well populated town along the Euphrates, (ordered by the
town Bishop) ransacked the Synagogue, burning it to the ground. Roman Emperor
Theodosius hears of the crime, and orders those responsible to be severely
punished. The Emperor orders the Bishop to re-build the Temple at the Bishops
expense. St Ambrose writes the
emperor – this infamous letter, a masterpiece of guile and persuasion,
manipulates the Emperor; he then relents and condones the crime.
A Gang of Christian monks, (413) allegedly after reading the sermons of
certain Church Father, run riot in the city of Palestine, burning torches in
hand and chanting anti-Jewish slogans, destroyed several synagogues, and
massacred Jews at the Western Wall.
Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is one of the more influential and
respected Fathers of the Catholic Church. He writes of the Jews: We contend
that Augustine’s belief’s about the Jews is no different than that of
Chrysostom in hype and racial vulgarity.
Augustine maintained
the theological rational of the “Theory of Substitution”. That is, briefly, the
New Israel of the church became a substitute of ancient Israel. He writes:
“…the house of Israel
which God has cast off… are themselves the builders of destruction and
rejecters of the cornerstone – Jesus the Lord Christ – distinguished between
one’s and His Jewish enemies.” (Emphasis mine)
In one of his more
popular books, “City of God”, Augustine writes:
“Judaism, since Christ,
is a corruption, indeed, Judas is the image of the Jewish People; their
understanding of Scripture is carnal; they bear the guilt for the death of the
saviour; for through their fathers they have killed Christ.”
The notion or crime of Deicide is used by the Church Fathers’
time and again. As said above, the central motif in most of these writings of
persecution of the Jewish people focuses on them as “Christ-Killers.” This
belief is still held by many in the Christian churches.
St Jerome (341-420) is one of the more popular of the
Church Fathers; a Doctor of the Church, he held the same beliefs as most of
these influential theologians. He writes:
“If you call a brothel,
(synagogue) a devil of vice, the devil’s refuge, Satan’s fortress, a place to
deprave the soul, an abyss of every conceivable disaster or whatever else you
will, you are still saying less than it deserves.”
The Code of the Emperor Justinian (529-593) decrees that in Christian Byzantine
society Jews cannot show themselves in the streets during Passover Week.
Agobard Archbishop of Lyons, (830)
writes anti-Jewish Pamphlets in which he refers to Jews as “sons of darkness.”
Pope Leo VII (c.937) encourages his newly appointed archbishop of Mainz to
expel all Jews who refuse to be baptised.
In Roven, Orleans, Limoges, Mainz, and probably Rome, (c.1010-1020) Jews
are converted by force, massacred, or expelled.
Pope Gregory VII (c. 1081) writes to King Alphonso of Spain
telling him that if he allows Jews to be lords over Christians, he is
oppressing the Church and exalting “the Synagogue of Satan.”
Massacres of Jews (1096) this incident takes place in the First
Crusade destroying entire Jewish communities in Mainz, Speyer, Worms, Cologne
and other cities. The Jewish chronicler reports: “The enemies stripped them
naked and dragged them off, granting quarter to none, save those few who accept
baptism. The number of the slain was eight hundred in these two days.” The
chronicler Guibert de Nogent reports that the Roven Crusaders said: “We desire
to go and fight God’s enemies in the east; but we have before our eyes certain
Jews, a race more inimical to God than any other.”
Jews are expelled from France; (1182) all their property is confiscated, and
Christian’s debts to them are cancelled with payment of one-fifth of their
value to the treasury.
The Fourth Lateran Council (1215), decrees that Jews are to wear
distinctive clothing, and on the three days before Easter, they are not to go
out in public.
The Council of Narbonne (1227) orders Jews to wear a round patch.
Thirty-four Jews (1235)
are burned to death in Fulda on a blood-libel
charge.
Note: “blood-libel”
refers to a centuries old false allegation that Jews murder Christians –
especially children – to use their blood for ritual purposes.
The Council of Albi (1254) orders Jews to wear a round patch.
The Council of Arles (1260) orders Jews to wear a round patch, but
not when travelling.
St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) most respected of theologians in
the Church. The churches most revered philosopher, known to have synthesised
Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology. He writes that the Jews, sin
is more in their unbelief, than the pagans, because they have abandoned the way
of justice – “after knowing it in some way.”
Jews in France (1283) are forbidden to live in the
countryside.
Jews are expelled (1290) from England and southern Italy.
The Jews of Rottingen (1298) are charged with profaning the Host,
are massacred and burned down to the last one.
“The Shepherds Crusade” (1320) a Christian chronicler records: “The
Shepherds laid siege to all the Jews who had come from all sides to take
refuge…the Jews defended themselves heroically…but their resistance served no
purpose, for the Shepherds slaughtered a great number of the besieged Jews by
smoke and fire…the Jews, realizing that they would not escape alive, preferred
to kill themselves…They chose one of their number (and) this man put some five
hundred of them to death, with their consent. He then descended from the castle
tower with a few Jewish children who still remained alive…They killed him by
quartering. They spared the children, whom they made Catholics by baptism.
Jews
(1421) are expelled from Austria.
Jews
(1424) are expelled from Friburg and Zurich.
Cardinal Carafe (1553) instigates a public burning of the
Talmud and other Jewish religious works in a square in Rome.
Pope Leo XII (1858) decrees: that Jews are to be confined to ghettos and
their property is to be confiscated.
Pius VII (1858) so
named the paedophile Pope, kidnapped 6 year old Edwardo, adopts the boy,
keeping him in a monastery. He refuses to give the boy back to his parents
because they will not convert to Catholicism. Despite leaders around the world
pleading for the Pope to return the boy back to his parents, he refuses.
Pius XII (1942)
Great Britain and The United States pressure the pope to condemn the Nazi
treatment of Jews. He responds on his Christmas address without mentioning the
Jews or the Nazis. The address is vague and hints of Darwinism.
Pius XII (1945)
Addressing the College of Cardinals after the European war, the pope speaks of
the hundreds of priests and religious who died in Nazi concentration camps, but
makes no mention of the Jews.
The Second Vatican
Council (1965) issues its Declaration
on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, “True,
authorities of the Jews and those followed their lead pressed for the death of
Christ; still, what happened in His passion cannot be blamed upon all Jews then
living, without distinction, nor upon the Jews of today… The Jews should not be
presented as repudiated or cursed God…The Church decries hatred, persecutions,
displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”
In chapter five we discussed the pathological misogyny in the
church, and its source, St. Paul. Following this line of argument, St. Paul
revealed a deep-seated hatred for the Jews – again, this pathological hate and centuries of Jewish
persecution, we believe, emanated from Christianity’s true founder, St. Paul.
For the early church, Judaism is the “father” religion in
which Christianity spawned; and, from a vile premise, attacked the patriarch,
forcing a terribly violent separation, therefore, so as to form an individual identity as a single religion. We can see this
phenomenon in the Reformation to Calvinism and the fundamentalists of the 20th
and 21st century. That is, generally, amidst the pain of separation,
there is a knee-jerk attack against the “father” religion, in order to fully
break ties, gaining its own individualism,
identity and personality. Indeed, studying other religions – Islam, Hinduism,
et al, we can observe this violent action through history in varying degrees.
In the four gospels of the New Testament, Jesus taught
humility, peace and love. The history of the Catholic Church is the opposite: a
past laden in prejudice, political machinations in the pursuit of power,
unspeakable violence and an ocean of the blood of heretics, martyrs, women and
the Jewish race. This is not the church of Jesus of Nazareth, but a religion so
far removed from Our Lords Words, in which war, violence and confusion across
populations reigns supreme. As a result of this false Christianity, we live our
lives in a false reality. (See
conclusion)
Our contention is that, building a major faith based on lies,
false teachings, creates a false reality,
where it is impossible to evolve spiritually. Further, as Jesus asked us to
observe, “By their fruits you shall know them”; one’s analysis of the Catholic
Church and its numerable sects, reveals fruits of a vile and wicked variety,
rife with guile, racism, confusion, murder and violence on a grand scale.
*
In this chapter we have attempted to illustrate the Christian
persecution of the Jewish people. The extent of the violence, in terms of
cruelty and intense violence has no other match in world history. This hatred
for Judaism over thousands of years is symptomatic of a collective,
institutionalized, psychopathy. Almost 2000 years later, the Catholic Church
did not “lay down their guns”, so to speak, until 1965, in the advent of
Vatican II. For many, the “Declaration” from the church is “a little too late.”
Next we examine Church Tradition, at the beginning, making
connections as to the reason(s) a false theology rather than the teachings of
Jesus was appropriated and followed. We ask the question: what fruits does the
church bare as a result of their works and actions over time? As stated above,
the fruits born from the churches long history are rotten, languishing in filth
and shrivelled beyond recognition.
Next we examine the connection between St Peter and St Paul.
The church tradition, focusing on these poster boy’s for the Catholic Church.
It was their over-arching influence from the start, that has given us
“Christianity” – the Church we see today – the Church of Hate.
From: "He that Deceiveth the Whole World." (Work in progress)
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