THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY TOWARDS THE JEWS…PROTECTION AND PREJUDICE.

e    The continued existence of  the  Jewish people was thought to serve as a witness, a perpetual evidence of God’s curse upon unbelief , and of the truth of the scriptures. The attitude of society in general was that the Jews were to remain as continual wanderers among the nations because of their rejection of the Messiah. The premise supposed that the Jews live under “servtus perpetua”, a curse shown then in the destruction of the temple, their dispersion or enslavement under Roman society and by later authorities, and the final catastrophe of the Bar –Kokhba revolt of 135 A.D. This perpetual servitude and condemnation will remain until the end of the age . To preserve the “witness people” the Jews were to be protected by the civil and religious powers, even as they were kept in bondage.(A teaching held by Tertullian, Augustine and Jerome.)

    The church was thought to have “replaced” Israel in God’s dealings, and was thought to be the “new Israel”. The Jewish loss was the result of their rejection of their Messiah; consequently God had “rejected “ them as the “people of God” during this present age.( according to Augustine, Ignatius  and others.) The Jews were thought to be eternally and uniquely guilty of deicide, the crucifixion of the Son of God, according to Origen, Chrysostom and others.

   Yet the church owes a debt to the Jews, who wrote and preserved the Old Testament  writings, though they themselves are almost always blind to its inner spiritual truths. But they have acted as the “librarian “ for the church by treasuring the scriptures.

      The separation of the early church and Judaism occurred around 100 A.D., and more markedly after the rebellion in 135 A.D.,which Christians of Jewish origin did not support.  Before that time Jews viewed Christians as a disruptive sect within Judaism, and issued a curse against them,- the “Birkath-ha-Minim”,- a curse of the heretics. This was added to the 18 Benedictions by Samuel the Small, but it remained known only to a few academics and rabbis.

     This time was known the rabbis as the “ Yavneh period “ during which an intense examination of the Torah and all Jewish practices was undertaken in order to preserve Jewish identity. Total separation of Jews and Christians took place after 135 A.D., when the Jews were expelled from Jerusalem, a Gentile Christian bishop was installed in the “Roman city “ ( re-named  Aelia Capitolina.,- to commemorate the victory of the Roman “deities” over the invisible Yahweh of Jerusalem), and when Jews were alleged to have been engaged in the persecution of some of the first Christian martyrs,-e.g.- Polycarp in 150, and Pionius in 250 AD. ( See a later note on the martyrdoms of Christians during the Roman era.)