Discourses against Judaizing Christians

Preface

PREFACE This translation of st. John Chrysostom's eight Discourses Against Judaizing Christians presents to English readers some very important documents from fourth-century Antioch in Syria. Their importance stems from two factors. First, Judaizing must have caused a perilous situation for the Antiochene Christians; hence, the Discourses offer evidence for the Church historian. Second, these Discourses have occasioned subsequent charges of. anti-Semitism which make Chrysostom a contributing cause to every argument and weapon used against the Jews in every pogrom for the last sixteen hundred years. Hence, Chrysostom's accusers have given to the Discourses a relevance which transcends any anti-Semitic situation local to Antioch. Antioch was a most important city all during the fourth century as well as long before and after it. Therefore, it seems important for the whole history of anti-Semitism to publish these contemporary documents, which reflect so vividly the climate of that metropolis at that time. It is in this spirit that they are here offered for the first time in an English translation in book form. ix x ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM Every translation should, in some sense, be a new creation. I shall create only insofar as I attempt to offer these discourses in a new idiom which is as faithful to Chrysostom's Greek as current English usage permits. My introduction and notes will try to present Chrysostom's position at Antioch and the problem he faced from those members of his flock who were leading their religious life on two fronts. The notes will also try to show Chrysostom's use of Scripture in the light of the latest advances in biblical scholarship. Not only is the idiom new but so also is the title, although this has not come into being out of absolute nothing. Traditionally these homilies have been called Kata Ioudaion, which in Latin becomes Adversus Iudaeos, i.e., Against the Jews. This title misrepresents the contents of the Discourses, which clearly show that Chrysostom's primary targets were members ofhis own congregation who continued to observe the Jewish feasts and fasts. Since the Discourses were delivered in a Christian church to a Christian congregation with few, if any, Jews actually present, I have not hesitated to add "Christians" to the title. That Chrysostom's polemics are aimed at Judaizers is borne out also in titles found in earlier editions and in the manuscripts. All these points will be discussed in their proper place in the introduction. It is true that Chrysostom could hardly have delivered the Discourses in their present form after Vatican II's "Declaration on the Church's Attitude Toward Non-Christian Religions" (Cf. Acta apostolicae sedis 58 (1966) 74044). Chrysostom held the position, which was common for centuries, that all Jews are responsible for Christ's passion and death, that they have been repudiated and cursed by God, and that they stand condemned out of the mouths of their own prophets. His position on these points is no longer tenable. Even if he was motivated by an overzealous pastoral spirit, many of his remarks are patently anti-Semitic. For these objectively unchristian acts he cannot be excused, even if he is the product of his times. Nonetheless, the Discourses are of great relevance both for an PREFACE xi understanding of the Judaizing movement in the Church and for the history of the whole question of anti-Semitism. It is to this purpose that they are here published. Xavier University Cincinnati, Ohio Paul W. Harkins ...