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Christianity and Antisemite roots How does one write about such a topic and keep it short enough to keep the reader’s attention? I implore you to read this and to check out everything I am saying. As my professor used to say, always check to make sure the professor is telling you the truth! The Early Church For nearly 300 years, the church, all believers, met in homes. Small groups of believers met in a person’s home, forming a very homogeneous group. All those letters Paul wrote where to home based churches. There was no over arching formal organization that kept each church in check. Hence, Paul had to address issues. The church leadership was made up of Elders, note it was plural, more than one. Sometimes there was an overseer, which would later become known as a bishop. And then the helpers, the deacons. First Corinthians gives us the only look into a home meeting. We must face the reality that most of the followers of the way, as this new sect of Judaism was called, was mainly made up of Jews. Some were entirely Jewish. All these churches continued to follow Judaism, that is they observed the Sabbath, even the Gentile Christians. They observed the Passover, however here, the Gentiles reflected more on the last supper. Yes, they consumed dinner and followed it with communion. Many of these churches met as a body on both Saturday and again on Sunday. Sunday was called, “The Lords Day.” Members would meet seven days a week. Not everyone, but each day, they gathered and had supper together and praised the Lord. Well, as many that could. At one point, Paul had to admonish them because the wealthier followers often arrived early and those poor sap blue collar types would arrive later to find the food was eaten and unfortunately, some folks were drunk. This was the way until Constantine arrived as a new convert to Christianity. There were those Gentiles early on that were pushing against their Jewish brothers. We see this reflected in Paul’s letter to the Romans. Early one around 167 a bishop by the name of Melito, the bishop of Sardis proclaimed that the Jews killed Jesus, thereby, killing God. His purpose, to separate Jew and Gentile. Back to Constantine, he created antisemitic edicts, Gentile Christians burned synagogues, but the crown jewel was the First Council of Nicaea in 325AD. According to Eusebius, about 250 bishops attending, however, Athanasius counted 318. These delegates came from every corner of the Christian community. Constantine made a grand entrance all decked out in purple and gold. One issue settled what Jesus was, man, God, half man, God man? The council also chose the date of what became Easter. The bishops worked on the structure of the church, the order in which things were to be done. Issues concerning clergy, ordination, and background of the clergy along with liturgical practices. But one big issue that concerned Jewish followers of the way, what the separation of the Passover from Easter. And of course, the all-important doctrine of the Trinity was formed. These formations were enough to push the remaining Jews out of the church. The list of egregious anti-Semitic statements by the early church fathers is too large to post here, so I shall include only a few. St Ignatius wrote, “Where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism. (ANF vol. 1, p.13) St John Chrysostom, Bishop of Antioch circa 386 wrote. “Do you see that the demons dwell in their souls [speaking of Jews]…they insult the Master of prophets himself…they are common corruption and disease of the whole world…what manner of transgression haven’t they eclipsed by their bloodthirstiness? They sacrificed their own sons and daughters to demons. They became more savage than any wild beasts.” St Augustine wrote "How hateful to me are the enemies of your Scripture! How I wish that you would slay them (the Jews) with your two-edged sword, so that there should be none to oppose your word! Gladly would I have them die to themselves and live to you" St Jerome ca 400 a translator of the bible wrote, “The ceremonies of the Jews are pernicious and deadly, and whoever observes them whether Jew or Gentile, has fallen into the pit of the devil. For Christ is the end of the Torah,” and “For up to the present day they persecute our Lord Jesus Christ in the Synagogues of Satan.” The antisemitic beliefs of the those at the time were not uncommon. The Jew was a completely different type of person to the Gentile. After all, look what they did to the penises of men and boys! That was a mark that differentiated the Jew from the Gentile. They wore slightly different clothing, could not eat the food Gentiles ate, and disappeared Fridays at sundown. All strange customs that marked them as different. They were hated by many people for this. Therefore, even the early church fathers were antisemitic in nature. They carried their baggage into the new faith. From Then To Now Antisemitism is ingrained in the Churches doctrines from early times. The early church fathers, not Jews, redefined Judaism to fit their narrative. Christianity became a separate and stand-alone religion. Pastors became leaders in seminaries, teaching new priest and pastors, who in turned taught it to their congregations, a process repeated for 1500 years. The lies and mistranslated Hebrew/Greek and misunderstanding of Judaism and Jewish culture has been repeated for so long no one is open to the truth. Each Sunday, misinformation is spoken to people, be it in a sermon or Sunday school. Bible studies and home groups repeat it. Leaders never take a breath to stop and check the validity of what they are preaching. Much of these misunderstandings, lies and so on, will be spoken about in later blogs. As for you, simple ask yourself, “Did God/ Jesus set out to create a new and separate religion? The answer can be found in the letter to the Romans.