From St. John Chrysostom - comments on the Jews by one of the most important Church Fathers and revered Saints of the Orthodox Church:

"But the synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater; it also is a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts. Jeremiah said: 'Your house has become for me the den of a hyena'. He does not simply say 'of wild beast', but 'of a filthy wild beast', and again: 'I have abandoned my house, I have cast off my inheritance'. But when God forsakes a people, what hope of salvation is left? When God forsakes a place, that place becomes the dwelling of demons.

But at any rate the Jews say that they, too, adore God. God forbid that I say that. No Jew adores God! Who say so? The Son of God say so. For he said: 'If you were to know my Father, you would also know me. But you neither know me nor do you know my Father'. Could I produce a witness more trustworthy than the Son of God?" -- Saint John Chrysostom (347- 407), HOMILIES AGAINST THE JEWS (Adversus Judaeos).

:confused: waj, I hate to be picky, but ya got anything more contemporary?

St. John Chrysostom was born in 347 AD in Antioch, Syria.

In Christ, the great St. John lives forever and is alive in the Orthodox Church. He wrote the Liturgy that is heard in every Orthodox Church each Sunday, not to mention his teachings on the Jews and many other things important to Christians. Besides that he died a martyr, not by his own hand like your god Hitler.

:confused: waj, I hate to be picky, but ya got anything more contemporary?

How about this:

The writings of IOANN, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga (1927-1995)
http://oag.ru/icon/ioann.html

:confused: waj, I hate to be picky, but ya got anything more contemporary?

Here's some more:

"The Zionists want to rule the world", warned holy monk of Mt. Athos Elder Paissios before his death in 1994.
http://oag.ru/icon/paissios.html

:confused: waj, I hate to be picky, but ya got anything more contemporary?:)

Present teaching of the Orthodox Church regarding the Jews:

The following is an excerpt from Rev. Michael Azkoul's "The Teachings of the Holy Orthodox Church," published by Dormition Skete, Buena Vista, CO. 1986. The book has received the blessing of His Grace, ALYPY, Bishop of Cleveland, and Vicar of Chicago, Detroit and Middle America - Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.]

THE APOSTASY OF THE JEWS

There is no doubt that the prophets of the Old Testament foretold God's rejection of the Jews. "That the Jews, according to what to what had been foreseen, have departed from God and have lost His favor," wrote St. Cyprian of Carthage in Testamonies Against the Jews, "which in times past had been given to them and had been promised to them; but the Christians have succeeded to their place, deserving well of the Lord by faith, and coming out of all the nations and from the whole world."

The Jews were repudiated by God because they turned from Christ. "He came to His Own and they received Him not." (John 1:11). "For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers," said the Apostle Paul, "because they knew Him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled their words by condemning Him," the Apostle continues, "yet they urged Pilate to kill Him. And when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, He was taken down from the tree and layed in a sepulchre." (Act 13:27-28). But their hope was frustrated for "the God of our fathers raised Jesus Who you killed by hanging Him on a tree." (Acts 5:30). "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, That same Jesus Whom you crucified"(Acts 2:36).

To the Jews, St. Jerome wrote in his homily 94 On the Pascha,

"Oh truly unhappy Jews, O truly wretched and pitiable Jews, who failed to realize that the Stone which Isaiah promised would be laid in the foundations of Zion (Isa. 28:16), and would unite both peoples, was the Lord Savior, the Son of God! That is the Stone you rejected when you were building the congregation of the Lord and were custodians of the sacred rites of the Temple. Rejected by you, He has become the cornerstone; and the first Church, gathered from among the Jews and the believers from the nations, He has united into one flock and into one divine mystery. 'By the Lord has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes' (Ps. 117:23). It is wonderful that we who, before the Passion of the Lord, were without covenant and without law, should be adopted into the sonship of God, and that while the former lioncloth was disintegrating and falling away (Jer. 13:7-12), God would weave for Himself another and prepare for Himself another people."

When the Jews, at the trial of Jesus shouted, "Away with Him! Crucify Him.....Let His blood be upon us and our children!" (John 19:15; Matt. 24:25), say all the Fathers, they condemned themselves and their posterity.

These words, this curse upon themselves with the very blood of the Messiah - with all the significance "blood" had for the Jews - more than anything else led to their estrangement from God. It was the final act of defiance, the supreme act of disobedience, a defiance and disobedience with no excuse, because St. John Chrysostom rightly maintained, they had the prophets.

"If they did not have the prophets, they would not deserve punishment; if they had not read the sacred books, they would not be so unclean and unholy. But, as it is, they have been stripped of all excuse. They did have the heralds of truth, but, with hostile hearts, they set themselves against the prophets and the truth they spoke. So it is for this reason that they would be all the more profane and guilty of blood....."

The prophets foretold that the Messiah would come and under what circumstances. They could have believed and all the house of Israel would have been saved; indeed, she could have entered into a new and glorious Covenant with Him, joining Him and the Gentiles in the divine task of redeeming the human race and transforming the creation. Instead the Jews fulfilled the prophesies concerning their apostasy. As Malachi said,

"Judah is forsaken, and has become an abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judah profaned the likiness of the Lord in those things wherein he has loved and courted strange gods. The Lord will cut off the man who does such things, and he shall be made base in the tabernacle of Jacob" (Mal. 2:11).

And Nehemiah prophecied also,

"They have fallen away from Thee, and have cast they law behind their backs, and have killed the prophets which testified against them that they should return to Thee" (Neh. 9:26).

Likewise, Isaiah,

"Israel has not known Me, and My people have not perceived Me. A sinful nation, a people filled with sins, a wicked seed, lawless children; ye have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel" (Isa. 1:3,4).

And Hosea,

"And the Lord said, 'Call his name not My people, and I am not your God' (Hos. 1:9).....My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge; because they have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from being a priest to Me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children!" (Hos. 4:6).

And finally, the prophet Amos, announced the destruction of Old Israel, but not "utterly."

"Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord" (Amos 8:9).

In other words, although the covenant with the Jewish nation has been nullified, God has not forgotten His promises to Abraham, Moses, and David.

Prophesy has ended in Israel - St. John the Baptists was the last of the prophets; the Temple will be destroyed and its rites and priesthood abolished (70 A.D.), as the Lord said; the Jews will be dispersed among the Gentiles; and the Jews will lose their unity. Nevertheless, a "remnant will remain" and provide the nucleus for the new Israel (Joel 2:32). Together with the Gentiles, God will give them a new and final Covenant. "And I will sow Her unto Me in the earth," Hosea said, reporting the words of the Lord, "and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which are not My people, 'You are My people; and they will say to Me, 'Thou art my God'." (Hosea 2:23) Therefore, St. Justin Martyr could justifiably assert about the Church, the new Israel,

"We have been led to God through the crucified Christ and we are the true spiritual Israel, and the descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham, who, though uncircumsized, was approved and blessed by God because of his faith and was called the father of many nations."

All those who hold the Faith of Christ, Jews and Gentiles, compose the New Israel and share in the new Covenant. As the Lord said, "Behold I am God to a nation which has not called upoin My Name" (Isa. 65:1); and "it shall come to pass that whomever calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:32; John 3:16). The Church of Jesus Christ, here is the "nation" promised to the patriarchs and prophecied by type and vision, a new nation, begun with the "remnant" of Old Israel, but which welcomes all peoples, all who profess that Christ is Lord.

Present teaching of the Orthodox Church regarding the Jews:

The following is an excerpt from Rev. Michael Azkoul's "The Teachings of the Holy Orthodox Church," published by Dormition Skete, Buena Vista, CO. 1986. The book has received the blessing of His Grace, ALYPY, Bishop of Cleveland, and Vicar of Chicago, Detroit and Middle America - Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.]

THE APOSTASY OF THE JEWS

There is no doubt that the prophets of the Old Testament foretold God's rejection of the Jews. "That the Jews, according to what to what had been foreseen, have departed from God and have lost His favor," wrote St. Cyprian of Carthage in Testamonies Against the Jews, "which in times past had been given to them and had been promised to them; but the Christians have succeeded to their place, deserving well of the Lord by faith, and coming out of all the nations and from the whole world."

The Jews were repudiated by God because they turned from Christ. "He came to His Own and they received Him not." (John 1:11). "For they that dwell at Jerusalem and their rulers," said the Apostle Paul, "because they knew Him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled their words by condemning Him," the Apostle continues, "yet they urged Pilate to kill Him. And when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, He was taken down from the tree and layed in a sepulchre." (Act 13:27-28). But their hope was frustrated for "the God of our fathers raised Jesus Who you killed by hanging Him on a tree." (Acts 5:30). "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, That same Jesus Whom you crucified"(Acts 2:36).

To the Jews, St. Jerome wrote in his homily 94 On the Pascha,

"Oh truly unhappy Jews, O truly wretched and pitiable Jews, who failed to realize that the Stone which Isaiah promised would be laid in the foundations of Zion (Isa. 28:16), and would unite both peoples, was the Lord Savior, the Son of God! That is the Stone you rejected when you were building the congregation of the Lord and were custodians of the sacred rites of the Temple. Rejected by you, He has become the cornerstone; and the first Church, gathered from among the Jews and the believers from the nations, He has united into one flock and into one divine mystery. 'By the Lord has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes' (Ps. 117:23). It is wonderful that we who, before the Passion of the Lord, were without covenant and without law, should be adopted into the sonship of God, and that while the former lioncloth was disintegrating and falling away (Jer. 13:7-12), God would weave for Himself another and prepare for Himself another people."

When the Jews, at the trial of Jesus shouted, "Away with Him! Crucify Him.....Let His blood be upon us and our children!" (John 19:15; Matt. 24:25), say all the Fathers, they condemned themselves and their posterity.

These words, this curse upon themselves with the very blood of the Messiah - with all the significance "blood" had for the Jews - more than anything else led to their estrangement from God. It was the final act of defiance, the supreme act of disobedience, a defiance and disobedience with no excuse, because St. John Chrysostom rightly maintained, they had the prophets.

"If they did not have the prophets, they would not deserve punishment; if they had not read the sacred books, they would not be so unclean and unholy. But, as it is, they have been stripped of all excuse. They did have the heralds of truth, but, with hostile hearts, they set themselves against the prophets and the truth they spoke. So it is for this reason that they would be all the more profane and guilty of blood....."

The prophets foretold that the Messiah would come and under what circumstances. They could have believed and all the house of Israel would have been saved; indeed, she could have entered into a new and glorious Covenant with Him, joining Him and the Gentiles in the divine task of redeeming the human race and transforming the creation. Instead the Jews fulfilled the prophesies concerning their apostasy. As Malachi said,

"Judah is forsaken, and has become an abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem, because Judah profaned the likiness of the Lord in those things wherein he has loved and courted strange gods. The Lord will cut off the man who does such things, and he shall be made base in the tabernacle of Jacob" (Mal. 2:11).

And Nehemiah prophecied also,

"They have fallen away from Thee, and have cast they law behind their backs, and have killed the prophets which testified against them that they should return to Thee" (Neh. 9:26).

Likewise, Isaiah,

"Israel has not known Me, and My people have not perceived Me. A sinful nation, a people filled with sins, a wicked seed, lawless children; ye have forsaken the Lord, and provoked the Holy One of Israel" (Isa. 1:3,4).

And Hosea,

"And the Lord said, 'Call his name not My people, and I am not your God' (Hos. 1:9).....My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge; because they have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from being a priest to Me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children!" (Hos. 4:6).

And finally, the prophet Amos, announced the destruction of Old Israel, but not "utterly."

"Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord" (Amos 8:9).

In other words, although the covenant with the Jewish nation has been nullified, God has not forgotten His promises to Abraham, Moses, and David.

Prophesy has ended in Israel - St. John the Baptists was the last of the prophets; the Temple will be destroyed and its rites and priesthood abolished (70 A.D.), as the Lord said; the Jews will be dispersed among the Gentiles; and the Jews will lose their unity. Nevertheless, a "remnant will remain" and provide the nucleus for the new Israel (Joel 2:32). Together with the Gentiles, God will give them a new and final Covenant. "And I will sow Her unto Me in the earth," Hosea said, reporting the words of the Lord, "and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which are not My people, 'You are My people; and they will say to Me, 'Thou art my God'." (Hosea 2:23) Therefore, St. Justin Martyr could justifiably assert about the Church, the new Israel,

"We have been led to God through the crucified Christ and we are the true spiritual Israel, and the descendants of Judah, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham, who, though uncircumsized, was approved and blessed by God because of his faith and was called the father of many nations."

All those who hold the Faith of Christ, Jews and Gentiles, compose the New Israel and share in the new Covenant. As the Lord said, "Behold I am God to a nation which has not called upoin My Name" (Isa. 65:1); and "it shall come to pass that whomever calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:32; John 3:16). The Church of Jesus Christ, here is the "nation" promised to the patriarchs and prophecied by type and vision, a new nation, begun with the "remnant" of Old Israel, but which welcomes all peoples, all who profess that Christ is Lord.


Waj44, How does the orthodox church differ from the catholic church? I was raised catholic, and I always heard that they were similar.

Have you seen the passion and if you have, what are your thoughts?

Does the orthodox church have a website that has FAQs?

What does your church teach about the end times? Do you believe in bible prophecy?

Trust me, I'm not being a smart alec about all these questions, I really want to know. Thanks, Frey.

Waj44, How does the orthodox church differ from the catholic church? I was raised catholic, and I always heard that they were similar.

Have you seen the passion and if you have, what are your thoughts?

Does the orthodox church have a website that has FAQs?

What does your church teach about the end times? Do you believe in bible prophecy?

Trust me, I'm not being a smart alec about all these questions, I really want to know. Thanks, Frey.

Frey, I would attempt to answer your questions myself, but it would probably be inadequate, so I'll just refer you to this site, which I hope will have the info you seek.

Orthodox Christian Information Center
http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/general/index.aspx

Directories of All Orthodox Churches and Parishes in North America (listed by individual jurisdictions)
http://www.orthodoxnet.com/redirect.php?url=http://www.orthodoxnet.com/directories.html

I would be happy to help with any further info.

wow, I enjoyed the Metropolitan Ioann web page. What I've always wondered is how Russian Orthodox can be so knowledgeable about the Jews, and indeed so are Greek Orthodox, and yet Greek-Americans particularly the democrat activists dont hesitate to work with Jews in political shenanigans.

Religion is a social control mechanism to be sure-- among many other things, and more than that as well. But as a control mechanism, it does not function perfectly. Maybe that is why the Chinese have more or less eschewed religion and, in my view, subsist mostly on ancestor worship and folk superstition. Subject of another thread perhaps.

Metropolitan Ioann's web page:

http://oag.ru/icon/ioann.html