"We deal in Centuries here......"Vatican Saying
Church Fathers and the Jews
Augustine of Hippo
St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo started as a young man of the world but through study and influence of his mother and Manicheism came to the Gospel experiencing a radical change in his life. Influencing much of modern Catholicism and modern christian thought, his earlier influences affected his philosophies about the Jews, the "City of God" and other cogent doctrines.
St. Cyprian
Wrote "Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews". While sometimes seen by
Church Theologians as having elements of ecumenism; it was a 'strange fire'. While he may have opposed catholic coercion of the Jews as leading to nothing genuine, his views on the Jews and other Christian views which he assigned to heresy deny the true spirit of acceptance. At one point in his "Testimonies"
he states openly
"That the Jews have fallen under the heavy wrath of God because they have forsaken the Lord, and have followed idols."
His defense of this and countless other propositions set the Jews in a non-scriptural position (Romans 9-12) and instead uses scriptures to assign the Jew
to Wrath, comparing pagan idol worship to Judaism. Ironically he uses old Testament passages in which the Jews were seen as true worshippers compared to
the idolatrous.
Hilary of Poifers
Hilary of Poifers lived from some time in the 4th century to 368bc. He championed orthodoxy in the Roman Church, gaining reknown and respect for his fights against "Arianism" or the doctrine which displaces the incarnation with a spirit indwelling Christ, but not quite God-Made-Man. Arianism still finds place among Jehovah's Witnesses and others but was quenched in the Roman Church in hte 3-400bc era. Hilary's views of the Jews was non-scriptural, again, using scripture, in which he decries the Jews as
under the wrath of God in the form of eternal damnation.
Chrysotom
Adversos judaeos denotes the severe views of the Roman Church against the Jews. Here Chrysotom, an early church father expounds the Jews as adversaries..
