The Bible has a special attitude towards Jews. The Holy Scriptures call them the people of God. And the text of the Book of Books itself was written in the bosom of this culture. Prophets, patriarchs, great kings, apostles, even Jesus Christ himself all belong to the Jewish race.
The most important shrines are located in Israel. And that is why it is surprising that Christianity, which has swept the whole world, is so unpopular in its homeland.
Why don't Jews believe in Christianity? Are there any exceptions among them? How do Jewish Christians who recognize the New Testament live today?
Jews do not believe in Christianity, Judaism has a different view of sin, the role of the Messiah, relations with enemies
Since then, the chosenness of the Jews by God has been one of the cross-cutting thoughts in the Holy Scriptures. The entire Old Testament, and the New Testament as well, is about events in the life of the people of Israel. Great kings, prophets, apostles, and the Messiah himself are descendants of Abraham and Jacob.
For many years, the Jews remained the guardians of the Word of God, they were opposed to the pagan peoples and waited for the fulfillment of the great prophecy - the coming of the Messiah.
Jesus is the Messiah for Christians, but not for Jews. This is one of the main differences between their religions
But it is difficult to clearly determine what the mission of God’s chosen people is. This is especially difficult to do when applied to today's Jews. They do not recognize the Bible, which means, from a Christian’s point of view, they can only have a nominal chosenness of God.
Are the old dogmas still relevant today, or has the status of the Jews become obsolete when Christianity became a universal religion? There is debate about this, but more often than not, biblical interpreters deny modern Jews their special role.
Christianity and Judaism have a common foundation - the Old Testament (Tanakh among the Jews).
The scriptures in the two traditions are different: there are differences in the texts and in the structure of the book, but in general the basis of the religions is the same.
The main contradiction between Christianity and Judaism rests on the New Testament. Jews don't recognize him. How did this happen?
The central prophecy of the Old Testament is the coming of the Messiah. In Russian, Messiah means “anointed one.” The Jews' attitude towards him is appropriate: this is a king, a leader, some grandiose person who will come with the first important mission - to save the Jews.
He will free them from the oppression of other backgammon. And secondly, the coming of the Messiah will give impetus to great favorable changes in the world:
“And all the nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and they will no longer learn to fight.”
(Isa. 2:4)
But it is not only the attitude towards the Messiah that is the cause of disagreement between Christians and Jews. There are others:
- human sinfulness from birth. Christianity believes that man, being the heir of Adam, is already born in sin. To redeem him, he must be baptized. But the Jews believe that only a person himself can decide whether to sin or not. What happened to his ancestors before him is their business and cannot influence his descendants. From birth everyone is innocent;
Jews, unlike Christians, believe that man is sinless from birth.
- salvation is only through accepting Christ. Christianity claims that only the Savior can provide redemption for man. The Jews believe that each person is capable of being saved by his own actions if he leads a righteous life;
- forgiveness of all sins. Christianity involves forgiveness of any sin. Judaism believes that God has the right to forgive only those sins that offend Him personally. As for bad deeds that are directed against other living beings, it is not within His authority to give forgiveness for this. To get rid of a sin that is directed against another, it is necessary to do good to him and achieve forgiveness;
- divinity of Jesus Christ. For the Jews, Christ is not only not the Messiah, but also not God, and not the son of God. And his teaching itself is a fallacy. It is close to traditional Judaism, but still different;
- dealing with bad people. Christianity calls for patience and not to fight, not to do evil. Judaism looks at this differently and allows, in order to protect its interests, for example, life or health, not to endure bullying, but to respond with an appropriate countermeasure. Enemies must be treated fairly - according to their deeds.
One of the misconceptions is that a believer in Judaism must necessarily be a Jew.
Judaism
one of the most ancient religions in the world
This is not true at all. Judaism is the same religion where the main thing is a person’s relationship with God and others, and not his nationality.
See also the article Religion of Armenians
However, the above contradictions do not allow us to put an equal sign between Christianity and Judaism.
Culture and science
Guard of Zionism.
Open letter from Metropolitan Anthony (Melnikov) to priest Alexander Menu
For a long time, Father Alexander, I have been observing your activities. You don’t know me, and I haven’t seen you until recently, although I’ve been hearing about you for many years. I knew that you are a baptized Jew and serve as an Orthodox priest. This combination does not confuse me at all, just like any Orthodox person, because anti-Semitism is not in the very nature of Orthodoxy. But first by accident, and then specifically getting acquainted with your articles, major works and your actions, I discovered in your words and deeds something that is in no way compatible with either your position in the Orthodox Church or with genuine love for the Jewish people. I treat you with sincere fatherly care and would not have written this letter and taken care of its distribution if your activity had not ultimately forced me to do so.
Don’t blame me, Father Alexander, I’ll have to really explain myself to you. For the point is not so much in you as a God-created person, but in those visible and invisible forces that control you. The conventional collective name for these forces is Zionism. I call this name conventional because in fact Mount Zion is the holy mountain of God. But the name of this mountain was used to deceive the uninitiated by forces deeply hostile to God and every shrine and the Jewish people themselves. Hiding behind holy names and concepts, the Zionists want to deceive not only the “goyim,” that is, all non-Jews, but first of all their own people, the Jews. Zionism is nothing more than the practical implementation of the secret aspirations of the religion of Talmudic Judaism.
Modern Judaism is not just one of the religions of one of the peoples of the earth. The spiritual essence of Judaism is quite clearly revealed in the Gospel. To the Jews who stubbornly refused to believe in Christ crucified and risen as the promised Messiah, the Son of God who came in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said: “If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham; And now you seek to kill Me, the Man who told you the truth, which I heard from God: Abraham did not do this; You are doing the works of your father.” “If God were your father, you would love Me, because I proceeded and came from God.” “Your father is the devil, and you want to do the lusts of your father; he was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him; when he speaks a lie, he speaks his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies; But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me” (John 8:39-44). So, the word about Judaism, which does not recognize Christ as the Son of God and the true Messiah, is said: “Your father is the devil,” and added: “Behold, your house is left empty” (Matthew 23:38). A house in the sense of the words of Holy Scripture is, first of all, a church, in this case the Jewish church.
It is known how throughout history in certain circles of Israel, even before the coming of Christ the Savior, the worship of the devil began, first spiritually, and then this worship of the prince of darkness became quite definite and conscious. True, such conscious devil-worship was and remains the lot of very few especially dedicated spiritual leaders and teachers of Israel. For the rest of the Jewish people, it is considered sufficient only that this people do not believe in Christ crucified and risen, and in everything else, let them think that they worship the God of Abraham and Jacob and honor the law of Moses, which, however, is radically distorted in the interpretation of Talmudic Judaism. Thus, under the guise of the religion of the Old Testament, under the guise of worship of the One True God, it was possible to create hidden worship of the devil, Satan or Lucifer, who fell from the sky to Dennitsa, as he is sometimes called.
Jewish teachers had to resort to lying in every possible way in order to keep the masses of the Jewish people ignorant of the truth for almost two thousand years. But of course, the spirit of hidden worship of the devil could not help but affect the consciousness, spiritual life, behavior, and social aspirations of both the Jewish people raised in Judaism and those peoples of the earth among whom the Jewish people found themselves scattered after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The deceived Jews were led to believe that God's promises in the Old Testament were still valid for this people, that nothing had changed in the ancient faith of Israel, and that He was still God's chosen people. At the same time, Judaism hid and continues to hide from the Jewish people that in the depths of this religion they worship not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but the devil. For Orthodoxy, this secret of Judaism is no longer a secret.
Why is Judaism deceiving the Jewish people? Because for the devil it is especially important to turn the Jewish people, in ancient times truly God’s chosen people - and through them, if possible, all other peoples - away from the true God and make them a people opposed to God. This is called: establishing the abomination of desolation in a holy place. Therefore, modern Judaism and Zionism, which arose on its basis, are the worst enemies of the Jewish people in particular, and then, through them, of all the peoples of the world.
For Zionism, the interests of the Jewish people, which it supposedly expresses and protects, are only a demagogic screen to cover up its true goals: to lead Israel and other peoples to complete spiritual and physical destruction. In terms of these goals, the most important task of Zionism, as well as various organizations such as Freemasonry and other secret and open societies, is to bring the Jewish people and, if possible, all humanity under the rule of the Antichrist, who will reign in Israel as the messiah. A lot is known about this false messiah, his spiritual signs and symptoms. It is enough to remember only the words of the Savior: “I came in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me; but if another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (John 5:43). This one who comes in his own name, as the earthly ruler of Israel and the whole world, is the “Messiah” whom the Zionists are waiting for and whose coming they are now actively preparing. This is the Antichrist.
To prepare for his coming and for humanity to bow to him as a worthy political leader and leader, Zionism uses various means. Firstly, these are attempts to concentrate in the hands of Zionism the main gold of the world and the main levers of economic and political control. Secondly, this is the deliberate creation of all kinds of instability in the world, political, economic, moral, etc. Thirdly, it is an undermining of trust among all nations in their state, national power, so that the peoples, entangled in endless problems, will joyfully accept the Israeli “Messiah,” who seems to be able to satisfy everyone and everything.
Finally, the most important task of Zionism is the fight against Christianity and, above all, against Orthodoxy as the most faithful guardian of the gospel truth. The fight against Orthodoxy seems absolutely necessary for Zionism also because recently more and more intelligent people who are seeking, including Jews by nationality, began to find the fullness of spiritual truth and righteousness in Orthodoxy, to be baptized and become true sons and daughters of Orthodoxy, for Anti-Semitism is alien to the Orthodox faith. Our Church knows that there are genuine “Israelites in whom there is no guile or falsehood” (John 1:47) and there are “those who say about themselves that they are Jews, but they are not, but are the synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2, 9). The Orthodox Church accepts people without distinction of their nationality, and people here find both the fullness of undistorted dogma and the only true way of life in God by faith.
Therefore, Zionism is especially interested in having its own “guards” in the Orthodox Church who would meet people who are sincerely moving towards the truth and would escort them far from it, trying, however, to assure them that they are leading them correctly, namely to Orthodoxy. The task of such “guards” is to preach lies under the guise of truth, to fill the souls of people with views and sentiments favorable to Zionism under the Orthodox guise. You, Father Alexander, are such a “postman” of Zionism in Orthodoxy. This is your specific place in the complex and diverse system of Zionism. This is your long-standing, thoughtful and voluntarily undertaken mission. And I know that you yourself know this well.
Before considering your spiritual essence and methods of action, a few words about the special, purely religious means of Zionism in its intrigues against Orthodoxy. The first means can be called negative: this is all sorts of corruption of Orthodoxy. Not least important here are attempts to prove the need for the unification of Orthodoxy with Catholicism, which is conceived not simply as good relations between churches, but as the penetration of the Catholic spirit, way of thinking and life into the environment of Orthodoxy.
In recent years, the closest alliance has emerged between Zionism and the authorities of the Catholic Church. This is largely due not only to the double game they play with each other, but also to a certain spiritual community. For example, Catholic church policy is oriented towards acquiring global spiritual dominance. This directly follows from some essential features of the Catholic worldview: the desire for external activity in the world, for influencing the course of purely worldly affairs, for world power. To infect the Orthodox with Catholic sentiments means to arouse in them a spirit of external activity, a thirst for political struggle, and participation in the bustle of purely worldly affairs. Why this is necessary will become clear from the further contents of the letter, but for now we will note one significant statement of yours, Father Alexander.
In your interview with the samizdat magazine “Jews in the USSR,” which we will discuss separately, you openly stated that the Western Catholic Church is really close to the Jewish consciousness, in particular, in its spirit of activity, energy, and active practical character. Strange as it may seem at first superficial glance, Zionism and Catholicism at this point actually acquired some spiritual kinship. But attempts to introduce the same spirit of activity into Orthodoxy also have their own special calculation. If Mary (Orthodoxy) is told the Marfino (Catholic) state of vanity, then the good part will be taken away from Mary (Luke 10).
The positive religious means that Zionism uses boil down to the following: people are strongly indoctrinated that the modern Jewish people, who, because of Judaic deception, still reject the true Christ, still remain God's chosen ones, and therefore called from above to world domination. However, after the crucifixion of Christ, God's chosenness no longer belongs to the Jewish people as a nation - God's chosenness remained in Christ, for those who are truly in Him and with Him without distinction of nations, that is, in the Church of Christ. God's chosen people are now the Church of Christ. Hence Palestine, as the place of residence of modern Israel, has long been no longer the promised land, but only an ancient prototype of it. The Promised Land is actually the Kingdom of Heaven, God. And the city of Jerusalem with Mount Zion, not as places associated with the events of Sacred history, but as the capital of modern Judaism and Zionism, is no longer a city beloved by God. The City of God is now Heavenly Jerusalem, on a new earth under a new heaven, as the eternal kingdom of the righteous, announced by God in Revelation (Rev. 21). And God calls modern Jerusalem, as the center of Christ-hating Judaism, spiritually “Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:8).
All this and much more is well known to Orthodoxy, so special sophistication in lying is required in order to carry out corrupting activities here too. And yet you took up such an activity. Hiding behind a misinterpretation of the words of the Apostle Paul, you admit that you continue to believe that Israel as a people retains its chosenness, remaining the first-born son. It is this very desire to remain the first-born that betrays you, Father Alexander. You stated this in an interview with the Zionist samizdat magazine “Jews in the USSR”. It was published in this magazine, issue No. 11, in 1975 and distributed as a separate text. In this conversation with the Zionist representative, you communicated those touches and features to your spiritual portrait that make it complete and allow it to be put on public display. This will have to be done, especially since the tricks that anti-Orthodox forces resort to are clearly revealed here. You are talking to a Zionist correspondent like a true brother. You both understand each other perfectly and are quite satisfied with the conversation. The Zionist gave you amazingly precise, mathematically precise questions. They were aimed at clarifying the most important subjects for Zionism: the relationship of modern Russian Orthodoxy to Zionism, as well as the departure of Jewish Christians from Orthodoxy under the guise of creating a special independent Jewish Christian Church.
On all counts, you have completely reassured the Zionist. Zionism, under certain conditions, can penetrate Orthodoxy. This is the meaning of your answers on one of the issues raised. Jews who sincerely strive for Christ-Jesus cannot be allowed to be truly in Christ through participation in genuine Orthodoxy; it is possible and necessary to create for them a special, independent, that is, independent of Christ church, which should be one of the branches of Judaism. This is the meaning of your statement on another group of issues. You are asked: What do you see as the special, religious calling of the Jewish people? You answer: due to the fact that through them, the Jews, the revelation of God was given and the Incarnation was accomplished, this people is forever dedicated to God. The following is an excerpt from the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament about Ancient Israel: “And you will be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). You explain that “holy” means dedicated to God, and you say: when a Jew betrays his dedication, he betrays himself and easily falls into the power of dark forces. However, the whole point is which forces you consider dark and which light. Which God do you bow to, Father Alexander, and to which God, in your opinion, are the Jewish people dedicated forever?
You are asked: “Are the possibilities ripe for the creation of a special independent Jewish Christian Church (attempts have already been made and are being made in Israel, where Christian communities are emerging with worship close to the synagogue, in Hebrew, like the community of St. James)?” You answer: “Strictly speaking, Judaism has never been monolithic, and there were many different movements within it. Judaizers can look to the community of St. Jacob as one of them." You, Father Alexander, such words are not a diplomatic move. Here you talk about the most important things for you. It turns out that Christianity is one of the currents of Judaism, which you say elsewhere: “Christianity has expanded the boundaries of this Jewish church, including other peoples in it [that is, in Judaism - Metropolitan Anthony].”
At the same time, you do not separate modern Judaism from the faith of Old Testament Israel, arguing that a Jew-Christian and a Jew-Judaist today are connected not only by a common national origin, but also by faith in the One God, faith in the Holy Scriptures, and common religious ethics. For you, modern Christianity and modern Judaism, which rejects Jesus Christ, are equal branches of the same religion of Abraham.
Thus, it is quite obvious that modern Judaism does not and cannot have anything in common either with the religion of Abraham or with Christianity. Judaism is fundamentally hostile to both the faith of the forefathers of the Jewish people according to the flesh and the Christian faith. You are not new to the Church, Father Alexander, and you probably know the text of the Gospel passages given here by heart. This means that when you combine Christians and Ancient Israel with the “god” of modern Judaism, the devil, in your interpretation of the One God, you are doing this deliberately, deliberately mixing light with darkness. But even if we assume that such a union is involuntary and from a completely sincere idea, then even more so it turns out to be your receipt that your personal God is not Christ, not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Only under this condition could you have in your soul and consciousness a feeling and idea of the commonality of your faith with the religion and religious ethics of modern Judaism. That's what it's all about, Father Alexander. Now it is clear to which “god” Israel is forever dedicated to you, and which forces are dark for you and which are light. Darkness for you, Father Alexander, is traditional Russian patristic Orthodoxy in all its mature forms, which it has achieved in the process of its historical development. To “enlighten” such Orthodoxy, or rather to decompose and destroy it, is your task. If, under the guise of the Old Testament faith in the One True God, hidden worship of Satan turned out to be possible, then why not try to do the same in Christianity.
However, you cannot do without deception and forgery, and you commit them. The Zionist correspondent cautiously asks you: is it now possible for Jews coming to Orthodoxy to somehow retain Judaism (although the form of this question was different). Without hesitation you answer in the affirmative. It is possible, you say, if you convince Orthodox Jews that they do not have to renounce the rituals and religious customs of Judaism. You claim that, from the point of view of Orthodoxy, this idea is quite acceptable, that baptized Jews, along with Christian rites, should preserve circumcision, the Sabbath, and others. At the same time, you refer to the decision of the Council of the Holy Apostles in Jerusalem in 51, which allegedly decided that Jewish rites are optional only for pagan Christians, but remain valid for Jewish Christians. “The decisions of this Council have not been canceled, and it is hardly possible to cancel the words of the Apostles,” you declare.
But the said Council never made such a decision. This Council is very well described in chapter 15 of the Acts of the Holy Apostles. Resolving the dispute over whether the Gentiles who come to Christ should be circumcised and forced to accept the Law of Moses, the Apostle Peter noted that God gave them “the Holy Spirit, just as He has given us; And he made no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:8-9). The apostle further noted that neither our fathers nor we could bear the yoke of the law of Moses, and that we, the apostles, believe that “by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we are saved, just as they were” (Acts 15:11). St. ap. Jacob added that God initially looked upon the Gentiles to form them into a people for His name, because God so desired to rebuild the fallen Tabernacle of David and what was destroyed in it in Israel. It was decided not to make it difficult for Gentile Christians to fulfill the Law of Moses. At the same time, nothing is said about Jews who want to preserve Jewish customs in Christianity. It is only noted that the Law of Moses has preachers and is read every Saturday in the synagogues.
In the context of the acts of this Council and the entire apostolic teaching, this means that the apostles do not forbid those Jews who are accustomed to them to observe Jewish customs, but do not in any way make this an obligation on Jewish Christians and do not consider these rituals to have saving power. For according to the literal meaning of the apostolic words and the conciliar decision, firstly, salvation is recognized for both Jews and pagans only through faith in Christ Jesus and the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the customs of the Law of Moses thereby turn out to be unnecessary, since in itself and Christ fulfilled the entire Law with Himself. First, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians are recognized as completely equal. No double responsibility and no primacy, which you, Father Alexander, are talking about, is recognized for Jews either in this conciliar decision or in other texts of the New Testament. On the contrary, it is affirmed on the basis of the prophecies of the Old Testament and the signs of God that the Tabernacle of David, destroyed by Judaism, is being recreated by attracting people from all nations to the Truth through Jesus Christ. This means that God's chosenness and dedication to God no longer belongs either to the Jewish people or to any other people as a nation, but to the Body of Christ, the Church, made up of representatives of all the nations of the earth.
You, Father Alexander, know this very well. Why do you distort the meaning of the acts of the Apostolic Council, which, of course, no one can cancel? Why are you deceiving your own Jewish people first of all? The fact that this is not an accidental mistake for you, but a deliberate deception, is evident from the way you, in the same spirit, distort the meaning of another New Testament text - chapter two of the Epistle of St. ap. Paul to the Romans. You are taking the teachings of St. Apex out of their semantic context. Paul's words: “So I ask: has God really rejected his people? No way […] In relation to election, the Jews are beloved of God, for the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable.” Leaving these words without any explanation, you draw the conclusion that you and Zionism need, that modern Israel as a people, despite the fact that it continues to not accept Christ Jesus in its entirety, remains the chosen people of God. From here it appears to you that a Jewish Christian supposedly bears a double responsibility - as a member of the Church and as a member of the people of God. In other words, along with the Church, the Body of Christ, you have another people of God: the Jews as a nation, although you claim that Israel arose not as a nation, but as a religious community.
However, according to the meaning of the words of the ap. Paul, in this chapter and many other places of his Epistle, the people of God are one and only people - the Living Tree of the Church as the Body of Christ, which we, the many, make up. (Rom. 12:4) This is the living olive tree from which the withered branches of the Jews who did not believe in Christ were cut off. The branches of the wild olive tree, former pagans, were grafted in. So “the hardening took place in Israel in part, until the full number of the Gentiles came in” (Rom. 11:25). Where will it enter, into Israel as a nation? No, into the Body of Christ, the Church. “And thus all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26). The Apostle warns the former pagans against pride, so that they do not exalt themselves in the flesh and do not consider Jewish flesh as something worse in comparison with themselves, for in Christ everyone is equal, there is no difference between Jew and Greek. Elsewhere it is said that in the Church there is no longer a Scythian, a barbarian, a Greek, or a Jew. The Apostle Paul says: “And Isaiah declares concerning Israel: Though the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea in number, only a remnant will be saved” (Rom. 9:27). It is about this “remnant” that can be saved through turning to Christ Jesus that the apostle says that they are “beloved of God for the sake of the fathers in regard to election” (Rom. 11:28). It is no coincidence that you, Father Alexander, excluded these last two words from the quotation of this passage from the apostle, for the fathers of Ancient Israel lived by faith in the true Christ, who, as they knew from the prophets, was supposed to come precisely when he came and suffered in Israel for sins of the world.
The Apostle Paul teaches that election and promise apply only to those who will be saved by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the law. According to the apostle about the Jews who did not accept Christ, “striving to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God: For the end of the law is Christ, for the righteousness of everyone who believes” (Rom. 10: 3-4). Thus, according to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, there are not two different God-chosen communities - the Church of Christ and Israel as a people according to the flesh, but there is only one God-chosen people, the Christian Church. And so that the apostle’s relatives in the flesh, the Jews, turn to her, he is ready not to spare his soul, because he knows that otherwise they will remain cut off branches, despite their carnal origin. At the same time, the ardent love of the Apostle Paul for his relatives in the flesh was never higher than his love for the Church, which in his time was composed mainly of pagans. And he called himself “the apostle of the pagans.”
Centuries have passed since the time of the Apostle Paul. The branches from different nations that were once wild by origin from paganism, growing on the noble olive tree of the Body of Christ, have long become one with Him, so that now it is entirely one noble olive tree. And Judaism, which deceives the Jews, during this time managed to dry up and become wild. So the Jews of our day, who are in Judaism and unbelief, are a wild and fruitless olive tree. Now, in order to become noble, this olive tree will have to be grafted into the olive tree of the Church of Christ, just as the pagans were once grafted. Therefore, for a modern Jew, the most important condition for a true conversion to Christ should be a decisive renunciation of any thought about one’s being chosen by God on the basis of carnal origin and a humble, repentant feeling that one can no longer be called the son of the Heavenly Father, but asks to be accepted at least as one of one’s workers. This is what the famous parable of the prodigal son teaches. In this case, without any doubt, God will return sonship to such an Israelite with love, but the forgiven son will now, in turn, have to share his sonship with those whom the Lord, for their faith and devotion to Him, from among His workers has long been pleased to make his sons, and not only by grace, but also according to flesh and blood in the literal and highest sense of these words. For the Church of former pagans has long been nourished and saturated with the Body and Blood of the Firstborn of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ through the sacrament of Communion. Therefore, the Church is rightly called the New Israel. Here, no one has or can have an advantage over anyone by origin, “for God has concluded all in disobedience, that He might have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32).
This is the real meaning of the text of the second chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. You, Father Alexander, distorted this meaning to please the very chauvinism that, as you verbally claim, disgusts you, be it Jewish, Russian or Chinese. What really disgusts you, it turns out, is something completely different: Orthodoxy’s fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ, which you yourself testify to with amazing frankness. The Zionist correspondent asks you how you feel about the cults of the Orthodox saints Gabriel and Eustratius, allegedly martyred from ####in whether this is one of the obstacles to the presence of Jewish Christians in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Monk Evstratiy was a monk of the Kiev Pechersk Monastery, where he became especially famous for his fasting. During a raid on Kyiv, the Polovtsians, along with other Russians, took Eustratius captive and then, together with several Christians, sold him into slavery to a Jew in Tauride Chersonese. This man turned out to be a Jewish fanatic. Wanting to persuade his slaves to renounce Christ, he starved them. Soon everyone except Eustratius died. Then, on the feast of Holy Easter in 1097, a fanatic crucified Eustratius on the cross. The relics of the martyr were certified by God as miraculous. This saint is commemorated twice a year and once there is a service with polyeleos.
The Holy Martyr Gabriel was a six-year-old boy and lived in the village of Zverki, Grodno province. The tenant of this village, also a Jewish fanatic, together with his like-minded people, kidnapped the boy and brutally killed him. The murderers were later convicted and convicted according to the law. And the relics of St. Gabriel were found incorrupt and also received special grace-filled power from God. St. Gabriel suffered in 1690.
Is there anything anti-Jewish about the circumstances of the death of these saints? No. We are talking about victims of religious fanaticism, the presence of which in the Jewish environment you do not deny, Father Alexander, when you say that Jewish chauvinism also disgusts you. Why don’t you then respond to the Zionist in this light? But you suddenly start talking straight away about ritual murder.
What happened to you? They're not asking you about ritual murder. However, you began to say that ritual slander against Jewry did not receive legal confirmation in the scandalous trials of the past. This helps you to cast a shadow of slander on the memory of Saints Gabriel and Eustratius and to state without mincing words: “I hope that they will be decanonized,” that is, excluded from the list of saints of our Church. For what? Because they were faithful to Christ and suffered for Him? Then, continuing the logic of your thoughts, one should exclude from the list of saints and first martyr Archdeacon Stephen, a Jewish Christian who was killed back in the 1st century by a crowd of his kin in the flesh, fanatic Jews. In this case, it is necessary to exclude from the list of saints all those who in one way or another suffered from Jewish fanaticism and will have to “start” with Christ Jesus, betrayed by the Jews to be crucified.
On the other hand, when you, Father Alexander, so unexpectedly started talking about ritual murder, as they say, your hat caught fire. I don’t want to say that you personally have anything to do with this phenomenon, but you may suspect or even know about it. It is very significant that in your words on this matter you do not directly deny the presence of ritual murder in Judaism, but refer to the fact that Russian theologians themselves did not support these accusations in the past. But with all responsibility it should be noted and recalled that where conscious worship of the devil is carried out in secret spheres, ritual murder is very possible and it exists. They are trying not to talk about this once again only out of philanthropy, so as not to arouse a wave of blind popular anger against the innocent masses of the simple Jewish people, who really do not know about the secret deeds of their spiritual leaders.
You are also disgusted, Father Alexander, by what your Zionist interlocutor calls attacks against Jews in Christian worship. You know very well that in the Orthodox Divine Service, built half of the psalms of David, images of the history of Ancient Israel, glorification of the Israeli righteous and prophets, there are no and cannot be anti-Jewish attacks. But there really is a denunciation of the insane Jews who did not recognize their Messiah in Jesus Christ and betrayed Him to death on the cross. Knowing all this, you say to the Zionist: “I hope that when the time comes to revise Orthodox liturgical texts, these attacks will be removed here too.” Why? Because they expose unbelief in Christ?
You are an educated and intelligent person, Father Alexander, and therefore, completely deliberately, in full accordance with the tactics of the father of lies, you mix two different concepts - about the Jewish people and about the Judaic religion - into one concept. And this is already a forgery. It clearly testifies that it is not anti-Semitism, which does not exist in Orthodoxy, but anti-Zionism, that is, Orthodoxy’s fidelity to the True Christ, that disgusts you most of all and worries you most of all. To see the Russian Church as one of the tools and currents of Zionism - that’s what you and your masters would like.
Expressing these sentiments, you repeat the word “I hope” twice that this will happen. Don't get your hopes up, this won't happen. You will also not be able to implement the project of the “universal church of the future”, which you talk about, calling to focus on it, and not on the confrontation of churches, because confrontation prevents the synthesis of such a universal church. You used the word “synthesis” when you said that the cultures of Russia, Europe, Israel and most other countries were allegedly created on its basis.
What the analysis and synthesis of Jewish thought is is well known. Now you are engaged in “analysis” of Russian Orthodoxy, that is, attempts to decompose its fundamental, life-giving foundations. Your like-minded people are doing the same in other Christian nations. And if your dreams came true, then from the spiritually decomposed Christian churches, by selecting elements suitable for Zionism, it would be possible to synthesize something whole. Only it would no longer be the living Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, but a dead synthetic, a talking doll, a robot, only externally similar to something living, just as a mechanical doll is somewhat similar to a person. And Zionism and its allies just need a doll church, apparently Christianity, but in fact a fake. Such a universal “church” could be governed as desired, and first of all, so that it recognizes the Israeli false messiah, the Antichrist, as the true Christ and helps to establish his spiritual and political dominance in the world.
Therefore, the point is not in the confrontation of churches and not in the chauvinism of Russian Orthodox people, but in the fact that the living noble olive tree of Orthodoxy cannot be allowed to be killed by corrupting and alien influences under the guise of fraternal unification, the lamp of truth and truth cannot be extinguished. In the Russian Orthodox Church, God's truth is providentially preserved in the greatest purity and integrity - both as a doctrine, and as a way of thinking and life in God, and therefore the Holy Spirit, the Life-Giving, and not the “synthesizing”, lives in this Church with especially abundant grace.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that in our days many people from different countries and nations, including many Jews, began to turn to our Church. And not because she is Russian, but because these people themselves are genuine Israelis, in whom there is no lie, but there is also wisdom characteristic of genuine Israel. And when such people begin to truly thirst for truth, they will certainly find it in due completeness and preservation in Russian Orthodoxy. This was once the faith of the entire undivided Apostolic Church, and this faith is close and understandable to the souls of people of all nations.
So if you, Father Alexander, were truly an Orthodox person in spirit and a person who sincerely loves the people from whom you came in the flesh, and a person who truly strives for Christian unity, you would not say and do that are doing now. You would try to call everyone and everything, and first of all, your relatives according to the flesh, to turn to our patristic Russian Orthodoxy, so that all peoples, if possible, would become members of our Orthodox Church. For if a true universal Church is possible, it must only be Orthodox, in the image of Russian Orthodoxy.
You would tell your Jewish people to accept our Orthodoxy, because our Church, which has received flesh and blood from the Lord Christ and His Most Pure Mother, and has in itself all the best that Ancient Israel possessed, cannot help but love Israel. She loves him even now, although he has become only a shadow of his great ancestors, and is waiting for his conversion. Let only genuine Israelis create fruit worthy of repentance and, in the words of John the Baptist, “not think of saying to themselves: “We have Abraham as our father,” for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones; Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:9-10).
Jews believe in the chosenness of their people; their teaching is based on the Tanakh and Talmud
So what do most Jews believe? Their religion, Judaism, is one of the most ancient in the world. It is older than Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, but younger than, for example, Hinduism.
Judaism is one of the first monotheistic religions. This means that its adherents revered the One God. At the time of the emergence of Judaism, the most common form was polytheism. In the Judeo-Christian tradition it is usually called paganism.
Talmud - a multi-volume commentary on the Jewish scripture Tanakh
Judaism is not just a set of covenants about man's relationship with God. This is a collection of rules for all occasions. It contains recommendations about government, family life, political relations, food culture and a lot of other advice, rules and morals.
There are two main written sources in Judaism:
- Tanakh is the Old Testament, which differs slightly from the Christian one in its set of writings and individual passages.
- The Talmud is a multi-volume commentary on the Tanakh, which deeply studies the rules of life of a righteous Jew.
An important distinctive feature of Judaism is the idea that the Jewish people are chosen by God. This is such an ancient and established teaching that apostolic activity could not shake it.
However, this is not surprising, because the apostles and Jesus Christ respected the Jewish tradition.
In the Middle Ages, Europeans forced Jews to convert to Christianity.
But not all Jews are Jews. There are those who profess Christianity. There are few of them, since the Torah forbids Jews to follow other people's customs, and this prohibition is firmly rooted in Jewish culture.
Marranos
these are Jews who, under duress, were forced to be baptized and profess Christianity
However, since the Middle Ages, Jews have adopted Christianity en masse. This was not a voluntary initiative. They took this step under pressure. For example, in 1492 in Spain, the authorities created an edict on the expulsion of Jews. This is how the Marranos appeared.
The Marranos were Jews who, under duress and threat of expulsion from Spain and Portugal, were forced to be baptized and profess Christianity. But this cannot be called a sincere act.
The Marranos often remained loyal to the Jewish tradition and practiced it secretly.
In fact, even sincere acceptance of Christianity did not save the Marranos from persecution by the Inquisition. They remained in an oppressed position for a long time.
Secret meeting of the Marranos during the Inquisition. Painting of Moses Maimon
Today, Jews in Russia often follow Orthodox traditions, but do not forget their Jewish roots
Today in Russia there are also Jews who have converted to Christianity. Mainly Orthodoxy. Since there are now no legal restrictions for Jewish Jews, we can conclude that this is a voluntary adoption of Orthodoxy.
Sociologists study this issue in great detail. Researchers Ts. Gitelman, V. Shapiro, V. Chervyakov note that the interest of Russian Jews in Judaism is gradually declining. But by 2000, the number of people who sympathized with Christianity remained stable at around 13.7%.
60%
Russian Jews surveyed in 2007 participated in the life of Orthodoxy
Approximately 60% of Jews surveyed in 2007 reported attending Orthodox churches and participating in rituals. There are many more of them than those who, living in Russia, participate in Jewish rituals.
According to some assumptions, there are as many Orthodox Jews in Russia as there are Orthodox Jews in Israel. However, there are no studies on this topic.
Elena Nosenko-Stein, in an article for the Ethnographic Review, cites the position of some Russian Jews in relation to Orthodoxy and Judaism:
“I was baptized because I needed it internally - I mean to have a religious experience. And the fact that I became Orthodox was a pure coincidence; we simply didn’t know any other way then. I don’t rule out that if I knew a good, smart rabbi, I would convert to Judaism.”
Semyon Z, 58 years old, psychologist, (Moscow)
“I have been baptized since I was nine years old, I often go to church, I pray both in church and at home, I observe holidays and fasts - if possible. I have a goddaughter - Russian, we are very friends. But I don’t go to the synagogue, because I think it’s incompatible to go to two churches. But I don’t want people here at Hillel to know that I’m Orthodox. …I’ve never been to a synagogue. I feel kind of inferior.”
Elena K., 20 years old, music teacher (St. Petersburg)
“I am a believer and so is my mother, she baptized us all, all three of us. Dad was not against it because there was no synagogue. ... I came to the synagogue recently, when I came to Hesed, I learned about the synagogue. I really liked the way they sang, I had never heard anything like this before. But they don’t have Christ, like in the Russian church. I go to church sometimes.”
Nina E., 61 years old, pensioner (St. Petersburg)
“Yes, I have been baptized since childhood. That is, of course, I grew up when it was almost forbidden, but even then I felt that there was something above us, there was some kind of higher power. I read a lot on the history of religion, about the Russian Church, about the schism. I feel good in church, I baptized both of my daughters, and they baptized their children.”
When asked if a Jew could be a Christian, she said: “Why not? A Jew, like any person, can choose which religion to follow. My husband, he is a purebred Jew, he is not a very religious person, but he sometimes comes to church with me. Why not?
Anna P., 57 years old, psychologist (Moscow)
It can be concluded that Jews today are greatly influenced by the external environment. They participate in Orthodox rites and baptize children. But at the same time, this is more often a tribute to the environment than a spiritual impulse. For Jews, Jewish culture remains an important part of life, which they combine with the Orthodox tradition.
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What is the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards Judaism?
We call Judaism a religion that arose after Christianity, but very soon after it. There was only one basis for the three major monotheistic religions: this basis is called the Old Testament, created within the framework and in the bosom of ancient Israelite culture. On this basis, the later Judaism first arose, in the womb of which Christ was born and the apostles preached. By the end of the first century, a religion called Judaism emerged. What do we Christians have in common with this religion? Both they and we recognize the Old Testament, only for us it is part of the Bible, for them it is the whole Bible. We have our own statutory books that determine church and liturgical life. These are typikons, new canons, church charters, and so on. Judaism developed similar, but already its own, canons. In some ways they coincide with ours, in others they are separate.
There are two main differences between Judaism and Christianity. First: Christianity stands on the fact that God was revealed through Jesus Christ, which was and remains the only and unique saving act of contact between Heaven and earth. For Judaism, Jesus Christ was at best a great teacher of morals and faith, the last of the biblical prophets. The second difference: Judaism, born from the Old Testament religion, which was almost universal, turned into a national religion, that is, it was thrown back into one of the ancient phases of religious development. In ancient times, before the time of Alexander the Great, all religious traditions were identical to national ones. That is, if a person was a Greek, he professed the Greek religion, because he could not get information anywhere except his family, his city, his community. National religions are relics of those ancient times. For Judaism this had a purely historical significance, because it preserved the identity of the Israeli people, the Jewish people. But it has lost its global significance.
