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The following is a brief
summary of the Anti-Semitic decrees that began with Emperor Constantine and
continued with his successors.
• Sunday (not Shabbat) declared to be the day of rest: “On the
venerable Day of the Sun [the day on which the sun G-d was worshipped]
let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops
be closed. …”[151]
• The Council of Laodicea (c. 364) ordered that all
religious observances were to be conducted on Sunday, not Shabbat.
“Christians shall not Judaize and (thus) be idle on Saturday [Saturn’s Day],
but shall work on that day.”
• Jews declared to have “soiled their hands with the most
fearful of crimes.”
• Observance of the Resurrection on its biblical date
forbidden.
• Christians forbidden “to have anything in common with the
Jews.”
• Christians required “to separate ourselves from the
detestable company of the Jews.”
• Jews declared to “have no longer been led by reason but by
wild violence, as their delusion may urge them.”
• Jews forbidden to “celebrate two Passovers in the same year”
[permitted by Torah[152]].
• Christians forbidden to “tarnish your soul by communications
with such wicked people [the Jews].”
• Jews forbidden to observe Unleavened Bread, because it
involves a “fast” “whilst others are seated at a banquet” during the Feast of
Ishtar (Easter).
• Christians forbidden “to have anything in common with the
murderers of our Lord.”
• Christians commanded to “have nothing in common with the
Jews.”
• Any Jew who “dares to attack with [any] manifestation of
anger another who has” become a Christian is to burned alive, “together with
all his accomplices.”
• Any Christian who attends synagogue services is also to be
burned alive.
• Marriages between Jews and Christian women of the imperial
weaving factory are to be dissolved.
• Jewish husbands of Christian women are to be punished with
death.
• A Jew shall not possess a Christian slave. “… that slave
shall at once be appropriated for the imperial treasury.”
• Any Jew who circumcises a Christian slave (as required by
Genesis 17:12,13) “will not only be fined for the damage done to that slave
but he will also receive capital punishment” (be executed).
• Jews forbidden to hold any public office that exercises
authority over any Christian.
• Jews required to accept financially ruinous public offices
without hope of exemption.
• Jews forbidden to have any judgment over Christians, “carry
out judicial sentences, nor be wardens of the jail.”
• Jews declared to be “the enemies of the heavenly majesty.”
• Jews forbidden to build a new synagogue.
• Any new synagogue that is built immediately becomes the
property of the Catholic Church, and the builder “shall be punished by a fine
of fifty pounds gold for his daring.”
• Any Jew who converts any one to Judaism “shall see his
wealth confiscated and himself soon subjected to a death sentence.”
• No person “who cherish[es] the Jewish superstition, may
offer testimony against orthodox Christians who are engaged in litigation,
whether one or the other of the parties is an orthodox Christian.” But a Jew
may offer testimony on behalf of an orthodox Christian against some one who
is not a Christian.
• Christians forbidden to observe Passover: “All the brethren
in the East who have hitherto followed the Jewish practice will henceforth
observe the custom of the Romans and of yourselves and of all of us who from
ancient times have kept Easter together with you.”
• Synod of Elvira of 306 (a council or assembly of churches or
church officials) prohibited intermarriage and sexual intercourse between
Christians and Jews, and prohibited them from eating together.
• Council of Orleans (533-541) prohibited marriages between
Christians and Jews and forbade the conversion to Judaism by Christians.
• Trulanic Synod (692) prohibited Christians from being
treated by Jewish doctors.
• Synod of Narbonne (1050) prohibited Christians from living
in Jewish homes.
• Synod of Gerona (1078) required Jews to pay taxes to support
the Church.
• Third Lateran Council (1179) prohibited certain medical care
to be provided by Christians to Jews.
• Fourth Lateran Council (1215) required Jews to wear special
clothing to distinguish them from Christians.
• Council of Basel (1431-1443) forbade Jews to attend
universities, them from acting as agents in the conclusion of contracts
between Christians, and required that they attend church sermons.
Edited from www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/const1-easter.html.[153]
From the Letter of the Emperor to all those not present at the
Council.
(Found in Eusebius, Vita Const., Lib. iii., 18-20.
“When the question relative to the sacred festival of Easter arose, it was
universally thought that it would be convenient that all should keep the
feast on one day; for what could be more beautiful and more desirable, than
to see this festival, through which we receive the hope of immortality,
celebrated by all with one accord, and in the same manner?
“It
was declared to be particularly unworthy for this, the holiest of all
festivals, to follow the custom [the calculation] of the Jews, who had soiled
their hands with the most fearful of crimes, and whose minds were blinded. In
rejecting their custom, we may transmit to our descendants the legitimate
mode of celebrating Easter, which we have observed from the time of the
Saviour’s Passion to the present day [according to the day of the week].
“We
ought not, therefore, to have anything in common with the Jews, for the
Saviour has shown us another way; our worship follows a more legitimate and
more convenient course (the order of the days of the week); and consequently,
in unanimously adopting this mode, we desire, dearest brethren, to separate
ourselves from the detestable company of the Jews, for it is truly shameful
for us to hear them boast that without their direction we could not keep this
feast. How can they be in the right, they who, after the death of the Saviour,
have no longer been led by reason but by wild violence, as their delusion may
urge them? They do not possess the truth in this Easter question; for, in
their blindness and repugnance to all improvements, they frequently celebrate
two passovers in the same year. We could not imitate those who are openly in
error. How, then, could we follow these Jews, who are most certainly blinded
by error? For to celebrate the passover twice in one year is totally
inadmissible.
“But
even if this were not so, it would still be your duty not to tarnish your
soul by communications with such wicked people [the Jews]. Besides, consider
well, that in such an important matter, and on a subject of such great
solemnity, there ought not to be any division. Our Saviour has left us only
one festal day of our redemption, that is to say, of his holy passion, and he
desired [to establish] only one Catholic Church. Think, then, how unseemly it
is, that on the same day some should be fasting whilst others are seated at a
banquet; and that after Easter, some should be rejoicing at feasts, whilst
others are still observing a strict fast.
“For
this reason, a Divine Providence wills that this custom should be rectified
and regulated in a uniform way; and everyone, I hope, will agree upon this
point. As, on the one hand, it is our duty not to have anything in common
with the murderers of our Lord; and as, on the other, the custom now followed
by the Churches of the West, of the South, and of the North, and by some of
those of the East, is the most acceptable, it has appeared good to all; and I
have been guarantee for your consent, that you would accept it with joy, as
it is followed at Rome, in Africa, in all Italy, Egypt, Spain, Gaul, Britain,
Libya, in all Achaia, and in the dioceses of Asia, of Pontus, and Cilicia.
“You
should consider not only that the number of churches in these provinces make
a majority, but also that it is right to demand what our reason approves, and
that we should have nothing in common with the Jews.
“To
sum up in few words: By the unanimous judgment of all, it has been decided
that the most holy festival of Easter should be everywhere celebrated on one
and the same day, and it is not seemly that in so holy a thing there should
be any division. As this is the state of the case, accept joyfully the divine
favour, and this truly divine command; for all which takes place in
assemblies of the bishops ought to be regarded as proceeding from the will of
G-d.
“Make known to your brethren what has been decreed, keep this most holy day
according to the prescribed mode; we can thus celebrate this holy Easter day
at the same time, if it is granted me, as I desire, to unite myself with you;
we can rejoice together, seeing that the divine power has made use of our
instrumentality for destroying the evil designs of the devil, and thus
causing faith, peace, and unity to flourish amongst us.
“May
G-d graciously protect you, my beloved brethren.”
Jews and
the Later Roman Law (315-531 CE)[154]
The Middle Ages, for the Jew
at least, begin with the advent to power of Constantine the Great (306-337).
He was the first Roman emperor to issue laws which radically limited the
rights of Jews as citizens of the Roman Empire, a privilege conferred upon
them by Caracalla in 212. As “Christianity” grew in power in the Roman Empire
it influenced the emperors to further limit the civil and political rights of
the Jews. Most of the imperial laws that deal with the Jews since the days of
Constantine are found in the Latin Codex Theodosianius (438) and in the Latin
and Greek code of Justinian (534). Both of these monumental works are
therefore very important, for they enable us to trace the history of the
progressive deterioration of Jewish rights.
The real significance of
Roman law for the Jew and his history is that it exerted a profound influence
on subsequent Christian and even Muslim legislation. The second-class status
of citizenship of the Jew, as crystallized in the Justinian code, was thus
entrenched in the medieval world, and under the influence of the Church the
disabilities imposed upon him received religious sanction and relegated him
even to lower levels.
In our first selection, laws
of Constantine the Great, Judaism is denied the opportunity of remaining a
missionary religion because of the prohibition to make proselytes.
The laws of Constantius
(337-361), the second selection, forbid intermarriage between Jewish men and
Christian women. A generation later, in 388, all marriages between Jews and
Christians were forbidden. Constantius also did away with the right of Jews
to possess slaves. This prohibition to trade in and to keep slaves at a time
when slave labor was common was not merely an attempt to arrest conversion to
Judaism; it was also a blow at the economic life of the Jew. It put him at a
disadvantage with his “Christian” competitor to whom this economic privilege
was assured.
The third selection, a law
of Theodosius II (408-410), prohibits Jews from holding any advantageous
office of honor in the Roman state. They were compelled, however, to assume
those public offices which entailed huge financial losses and almost certain
ruin, and they were not even granted the hope of an ultimate exemption. This
Novella (New Law) III of Theodosius II also makes a direct attack on the
Jewish religion by reenacting a law which forbade the building of new Jewish
synagogues. This prohibition was known a generation before this. It was
reenacted now, probably to pacify the aroused Christian mob in the Eastern
Empire which desired to crush the religious spirit of the Jews who were
massing at Jerusalem and confidently looking forward to the coming of a
Messianic redeemer in 440. This disability, later taken over by some Muslim
states, was reenunciated by the Church which sought to arrest the progress of
Judaism, its old rival.
A Latin law of Justinian
(527-565), the final selection, does not allow a Jew to bear witness in court
against an orthodox Christian. Thus as early as the sixth century the Jews
were already laboring under social, economic, civil, political, and religious
disabilities.
I. Laws
of Constantine the Great, October 18, 315:
Concerning Jews, Heaven-Worshippers,[155] and
Samaritans
“We
wish to make it known to the Jews and their elders and their patriarchs that
if, after the enactment of this law, any one of them dares to attack with
stones or some other manifestation of anger another who has fled their
dangerous sect and attached himself to the worship of G-d [Christianity], he
must speedily be given to the flames and burn, together with all his
accomplices.
“Moreover, if any one of the population should join their abominable sect and
attend their meetings, he will bear with them the deserved penalties.”
“This pertains to women, who live in our weaving factories and whom Jews, in
their foulness, take in marriage. It is decreed that these women are to be
restored to the weaving factories. [Marriages between Jews and Christian
women of the imperial weaving factory are to be dissolved.]
“This prohibition [of intermarriage] is to be preserved for the future lest
the Jews induce Christian women to share their shameful lives. If they do
this they will subject themselves to a sentence of death.” [The Jewish
husbands are to be punished with death.]
A Jew Shall Not Possess A Christian
Slave
“If
any one among the Jews has purchased a slave of another sect or nation, that
slave shall at once be appropriated for the imperial treasury.
“If,
indeed, he shall have circumcised the slave whom he has purchased, he will
not only be fined for the damage done to that slave but he will also receive
capital punishment.
“If,
indeed, a Jew does not hesitate to purchase slaves-those who are members of
the faith that is worthy of respect [Christianity]then all these slaves who
are found in his possession shall at once be removed. No delay shall be
occasioned, but he is to be deprived of the possession of those men who are
Christians.”
“Wherefore, although according to an old saying [of the Greek Hippocrates,
the ‘father’ of medicine] ‘no cure is to be applied in desperate sicknesses,’
nevertheless, in order that these dangerous sects which are unmindful of our
times may not spread into life the more freely, in indiscriminate disorder as
it were, we ordain by this law to be valid for all time:
“No
Jew — or no Samaritan who subscribes to neither [the Jewish nor the
Christian] religion — shall obtain offices and dignities; to none shall the
administration of city service be permitted; nor shall any one exercise the
office of a defender [that is, overseer] of the city. Indeed, we believe it
sinful that the enemies of the heavenly majesty and of the Roman laws should
become the executors of our laws — the administration of which they have
slyly obtained and that they, fortified by the authority of the acquired
rank, should have the power to judge or decide as they wish against
Christians, yes, frequently even over bishops of our holy religion
themselves, and thus, as it were, insult our faith.
“Moreover, for the same reason, we forbid that any synagogue shall rise as a
new building. [Fewer synagogues meant less chance of Christians becoming
Jews.] However, the propping up of old synagogues which are now threatened
with imminent ruin is permitted. To these things we add that he who misleads
a slave or a freeman against his will or by punishable advice, from the
service of the Christian religion to that of an abominable sect and ritual,
is to be punished by loss of property and life. [That is, the Jew who
converts any one to Judaism loses life and property.]
“On
the one hand, whoever has built a synagogue must realize that he has worked
to the advantage of the Catholic church [which will confiscate the building];
on the other hand, whoever has already secured the badge of office shall not
hold the dignities he has acquired. On the contrary, he who worms himself
into office must remain, as before, in the lowest rank even though he will
have already earned an honorary office. And as for him who begins the
building of a synagogue and is not moved by the desire of repairing it, he
shall be punished by a fine of fifty pounds gold for his daring. Moreover, if
he will have prevailed with his evil teachings over the faith of another, he
shall see his wealth confiscated and himself soon subjected to a death
sentence.
“And
since it behooves the imperial majesty to consider everything with such
foresight that the general welfare does not suffer in the least, we ordain
that the tax-paying officeholders of all towns as well as the provincial
civil servants - who are obligated to employ ,heir wealth and to make public
gifts as part of their burdensome and diverse official and military duties
hall remain in their own classes, no matter what sect they belong to. Let it
not appear as if we have accorded the benefit of exemption to those men,
detestable in their insolent maneuvering, whom we wish to condemn by the
authority of this law. [Jews have to accept financially ruinous public
offices without hope of exemption.]
“This further limitation is to be observed, namely, that these public
servants from these above mentioned sects shall never, as far as private
affairs are concerned, carry out judicial sentences, nor be wardens of the
jail. This is done in order that Christians, as it sometimes happens, may not
be hidden away and suffer a double imprisonment through the hatred of the
guards- [imprisonment is bad enough without having a Jewish jailer.] And
furthermore it may be doubted that they have been justly imprisoned.”
“Since many judges, in deciding cases, have addressed us in need of our
decision, asking that they be informed what ought to be done with witnesses
who are heretics, whether their testimony ought to be received or rejected,
we therefore ordain that no heretic, nor even they who cherish the Jewish
superstition, may offer testimony against orthodox Christians who are engaged
in litigation, whether one or the other of the parties is an orthodox
Christian.” [But a Jew may offer testimony on behalf of an orthodox Christian
against some one who is not orthodox.]
Source: www.bu.edu/religion/courses/syllabi/rn301/canons.htm
Canon 15. Christian girls
are not to marry pagans [which would include Jews], no matter how few
eligible men there are, for such marriages lead to adultery of the soul.
Canon 16. Heretics shall not
be joined in marriage with Catholic girls unless they accept the Catholic
faith. Catholic girls may not marry Jews or heretics, because they cannot
find a unity when the faithful and the unfaithful are joined. Parents who
allow this to happen shall not commune for five years.
Canon 17. If parents allow
their daughter to marry a pagan priest [which would include a Jewish Rabbi],
they shall not receive communion even at the time of death.
Canon 21. If anyone
[including Jews] who lives in the city does not attend church services for
three Sundays, let that person be expelled [from the city] for a brief time
in order to make the reproach public.
Canon 22. If people fall
from the Catholic church into heresy [observe any Jewish customs] and then
return, let them not be denied penance, since they have acknowledged their
sin. Let them be given communion after ten years’ penance. If children have
been led into heresy, it is not their own fault, and they should be received
back immediately.
Canon 28. A bishop may not
receive the offerings of those who are not allowed to receive communion. [No
Jew may make a contribution.]
Canon 39. A pagan [including
a Jew] who requests the laying on of hands [prayer for healing] at a time of
illness, may receive the imposition of hands and become a Christian if his or
her life has been reasonably honest.
Canon 43. In accordance with
the Scripture we shall celebrate Pentecost and not continue the false
practice [of celebrating Shavu`ot on the fiftieth day after Passover rather
than Pentecost on the fiftieth day after Easter]. If one does not accept this
practice, it will be considered a new heresy.
Canon 45. A catechumen who
has stayed away from the church [or adopted Jewish practices] for a long time
may be baptized if one of the clergy supports his or her claim to be a
Christian, or if some of the faithful attest to this, and it appears that the
person has reformed.
Canon 46. If a Christian
gives up the faith and stays away from the church [practices Messianic
Judaism] for a long time, provided he or she has not become an idolater, he
or she may be received back and commune after ten years of penance.
Canon 49. Landlords are not
to allow Jews to bless the crops they have received from G-d and for which
they have offered thanks. Such an action would make our blessing invalid and
meaningless. Anyone who continues this practice is to be expelled completely
from the church.
Canon 50. If any cleric or
layperson eats with Jews, he or she shall be kept from communion as a way of
correction.
Canon 51. If a baptized
person has come from heresy [Judaism], he must not become a cleric. One who
has already been ordained is to be removed from office immediately.
Canon 78. If a Christian
confesses adultery with a Jewish or pagan woman, he is denied communion for
some time. If his sin is exposed by someone else, he must complete five
years’ penance before receiving the Sunday communion.
Source: www.dsca.ch/vaticano/preamble2.html
• Prohibition of mixed
marriages and sexual intercourses between Christians and Jews (Synod of
Elvira, ca. 306)
• Prohibition for Christians of sitting at the table with Jews
(Synod of Elvira, ca. 306).
• Jews were not allowed to hold public office (Synod of
Clermont, 535).
• Jews were not allowed to have Christian slaves, either men or
women (Third Synod of Orléans, 538).
• Jews were not allowed to go out in the streets in the Holy
Week (Third Synod of Orléans, 538).
• The Talmud and other Jewish books were burned (Twelfth Synod
of Toledo, 681).
• Christians were not allowed to consult Jewish physicians
(Synod of Trullano, 682).
• Christians were not allowed to live with Jews (Synod of
Narbonne, 1050).
• Jews were taxed to support the Church in the same measure as
Christians (Synod of Gerona, 1078).
• Prohibition of working on Sundays (Synod of Szabalcs, 1092).
• Jews were not allowed to bring accusations or testify against
Christians (3rd Lateran Council, 1179, can. 26).
• Jews were not permitted to be plaintiffs or witnesses against
Christians in the courts (3rd Lateran Council, 1179)
• Jews were not allowed to disinherit their brothers who
converted to Catholicism (3rd Lateran Council, 1179, can. 26).
• Jews had to wear a badge on their clothing (4th Lateran
Council, 1215, can. 68 – like a decree issued by the Caliph Omar II, 634 –
44, obliging the Christians to wear a blue belt and the Jews a yellow belt.)
• Prohibition of building Synagogues (Council of Oxfortd, 1222).
• Christians were not allowed to take part in Jewish ceremonies
(Synod of Vienna, 1267).
• Ghettos were obligatory (Synod of Breslavia, 1267).
• Christians were not allowed to sell or rent premises to Jews
(Synod of Ofen, 1279).
• The conversion of a Christian to Hebraism or the reconversion
of a baptized Jew to his former religion was considered heresy (Synod of
Mainz, 1310).
• Prohibition of selling or pledging objects belonging to the
Church to Jews (Synod of Lavour, 1368).
• Jews were not allowed to act as mediators between Christians,
particularly in marriages (Council of Basel, 1434, XIX session).
• Jews were denied university degrees (Council of Basel, 1434,
XIX session)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES TO TEXTBOOKS
Elbogen,
pp. 4-18; Roth, pp. 140-148.
Golub,
J. S., Medieval Jewish History, Sec. I; Sec. 111, “The Christian
Church.”
READINGS FOR ADVANCED
STUDENTS
Graetz,
II, pp. 559-574, 611-626; 111, pp. 10-23; Graetz-Rhine, 11, pp. 402-411,
425-437, 458-479; Margolis and Marx, pp. 228-230, 265, 297.
Abbott, G. F., Israel in Europe, pp.
41-46. A rather popular work by a publicist.
Milman,
H. H., The History of the Jews, 11, Book xx. Though Milman had no
first hand knowledge of Jewish sources, he was at home in the medieval Latin
historical literature.
Parkes,
J., The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue. The best book in
English on the relation of the Christian Church to the Jew in the early
Middle Ages.
JE,
“Constantine I”; “Diaspora”; “Disabilities”; “Justinian.”
ADDITIONAL SOURCE MATERIALS
IN ENGLISH
Scott, S. P., The Civil Code, XII,
pp. 75ff; XVII, pp. 170, 255
SOURCE
Jacob Marcus, The Jew in the Medieval
World: A Sourcebook, 315-1791, (New York: JPS, 1938), 3-7. Later
printings of this text (e.g. by Atheneum, 1969, 1972, 1978) do not indicate
that the copyright was renewed)
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