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considered the greatest intel
lect among the church fathers,
“Judaism, since Christ, is a
corruption: indeed Judas is the
image of the Jewish people;
their understanding of the
Scriptures is carnal: they bear
the guilt for the death of the
Saviour, for through their
fathers they killed the Christ."
This man of vast learning held
that the alleged cries of the
mob at the crucifixion: “His
blood will be upon us and our
children” were heard above
and adopted in heaven.
But these besmirches were
mild if compared with the vil
ifications of St. John Chrysos
tom. the troublemaker not only
for Jews and Queen Eudoxia
but even for some priests and
monks. This Syrian preacher
and ecclesiastic, who died in
exile, reached a height in
venomous vituperation that
places him in the category of
Hitler, Torquemada, Paul IV,
and the Nazi genocides. It must
have been distressing for the
devout Flannery to quote out
of Chrysostom’s eight sermons
against the Jews such morsels
about the synagogue as: “a
theatre and house of prostitu
tion. a cavern of brigands, a
repair of wild beasts, the domi
cile of the devil, a place of
shame and ridicule, an asylum
of perdition,” and so on. (Page
■48 "The Anguish of the Jews.”)
As for the Jews themselves
according to this bishop from
Antioch, they "are lustful,
rapacious, greedy, perfidious
bandits inveterate mur
derers, destroyers, impure and
impious men possessed by the
devil. . . . How can Christians
dare have the slightest con
verse with them, the most mis
erable of all men, who know
only one thing, to satisfy their
gullets, get drunk, to kill and
maim one another? .... They
have surpassed the ferocity of
wild beasts, for they murder
their offspring and immolate
them to the devil. . . . Indeed
Jews worship the devil: their
rites are criminal and impure;
their religion is a disease.” Is
it possible that this holy man
believed his own pious false
hoods, which were magnified
in the Christian world for
many centuries? Hitler no
doubt read these eight serm
ons and discovered that the big
lie is far more effective than
(he simple, unadorned truth.
But what brought on such
vicious sniping in the fourth
century bv the most articulate
of Christian theologians? Fath
er Flannery states: “The most
ominous development for the
history of anti-Semitism in
Christian antiquity was with
out question the definitive ela
boration of the theme of a di
vine curse or punishment up
on Jews for their role in the
crucifixion of Christ. The
theme broached in the third
century was fully elaborated
in the fourth. Chrysostom,
whose influence was great,
added much authority to the
deicidal theme by making it
central to his theology of Jud
aism.”
Yet why didn’t this deicide
charge come earlier? Christi
anity had already been in exis
tence for three centuries. The
answer lies on the surface rath
er than concealed in the womb
of history. When Christians
were weak and persecuted the
accusation of killing a, god
would have sounded absurd to
Jews and even to pagans. But
after Constantine' granted pre
ference status to Christianity
its leaders began to envisage a
church-state modeled after the
empire of the Caesars. Yet the
great victory seemed incom
plete without the participation
of the Jew’s, the people of the
Torah to w’hom God appeared
on Mt. Sinai. The church lead
ers, who became powerful,
were galled by the refusal of
the Jews to join them. Power
corrupts. The leadership, now
triumphant, decided to declare
W’ar upon pagans, and all in
transigents. In war the propo
nents utilize the weapons they
possess. It became a capital of
fense to worship the gods in
pagan temples. Yet Christians
could not, Hitler fashion, anni
hilate the brethren of Jesus
with fire and sword.
The theologians formulated
a weapon that would either
bring the Jew’s into their camp
or brand them as the most, de
spicable people on earth. Their
w'eapon became “the odious
assassination of Christ" for
which Chrysostom declares
“no expiation possible, no in
dulgence, no pardon — Ven
geance without end — Thus
the Jews, hated by God. will
live under the yoke of servi
tude without end — On Judg
ment Day God will say Depart
from me for you have had in
tercourse with my murderers.”
Flannery goes on to state:
“After Chrysostom, the theme
of deicidal punishment gained
wide currency and although
never accepted as a universal
dogmatic tradition in the
church. . . . for centuries it was
to supply a pseudo-theological
basis for myriad oppressions
and degradations of Jews. On
its basis misguided men con
sidered themselves called to as
sist the Almighty in effectu
ating His ‘curse’ and free to in
dulge their hostilities with a
divine seal of approval."
Should anyone question how
the ancient, respectful and
honorable word JEW became
in the Christian world a term
of reproach, a vile name, an
insult, he can find the answer
in Father Flannery’s most in
formative study, THE AGONY
OF THE JEWS.
22
The Southern Israelite
