John Chrysostom, May He Rot In Hell

BBS: Stonehenge BBS
Date: 04-03-93 (11:03)
From: SHLOMOH SHERMAN
To: SCOTT BROWN
Subj: Chrysostom, May He Rot In Hell
Conf: (21) Bible

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Well I will tell you something. If anybody went straight to hell when he died, it was Chrysostom, and all others like him.

Scott Brown wrote: -
Shlomoh, m'main man, whence all the venom directed at such a great saint of the Orthodox Church?

An honest question deserves an honest answer.

Let me refer you to a book:
THY BROTHER'S BLOOD: THE ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN ANTI-SEMITISM
by Malcom Hay

p 20 "Christian tradition. especially in the early centuries, practically ignored St Peter's statement that the 'rulers' acted through ignorance. St. John Chrysostom, indded, flatly contradicted St. Peter when he wrote that 'the Jews ... erred not ignorantly but with full knowledge.'"

p 27 "'It must be admitted,' wrote an honest French hagiographer, 'that in his homilies against the Jews, he allowed himself to be unduly carried away by an occaisional access of passion.' A great deal more than this must be admitted. The violence of the language used by St. John Chrysostom in his homilies against the Jews has never been exceeded by any preacher whose sermons have been recorded."

p 27 "The synagogue," he said, "is worse than a brothel ... it is a den of scoundrels and the repair of wild beasts ... the temple of demons devoted to idolatrous cults ... the refuge of brigands and debouchees, and the cavern of devils." " ... a criminal assembly of Jews ... a place of meeting for the assassins of Christ ... a house worse than a drinking shop ... a den of thieves; a house of ill fame, a dwelling of iniquity, the refuge of devils, a gulf and abyss of perdition ... Whatever name even more horrible could be found, will never be worse than the synagogue deserves." "I would say the same things about their souls. Debauchery and drunkenness has brought them to the level of the lusty goat and the pig. They know only one thing, to satisfy their stomachs, to get drunk, to kill and beat each other up like stage villains and coachmen."

"The clear implication in all this rhetoric is, not that some Jews were living on the level of goats and pigs,but that ALL Jews lived thus because they were Jews."

p 30 "He was the first Christian preacher to apply the word 'deicide' to the Jewish nation." (he said) "The Jews have assassinated the Son of G-d! Oh Jewish people! A man crucified by your hands has been stronger than you and has destroyed you and has scattered you." "Your situation, O Jewish people, becomes more and more disastrous, and one cannot see showing on your foreheads the slightest ray of hope."

p 31 "He hated (the Jews); and he did his best to make the whole world hate them too. 'You are', he told them, 'a people whom G-d has deprived of their inheritance. Why then did He rob you? Is it not obvious that it was because He hated you, and rejected you once for all?"

þ OLX 2.1 TD þ "Another shall call himself by the name of Jacob" Is44:5