EDICTS & DECREES

Edicts and Decrees have been made throughout the History of the visible Church, and the Roman Church's decrees, Bulls, Councils and Encyclicals are widely known. While they shape the institution, they also shape history,as they become doctrine and dogma taught to millions. During the Shoah, Edicts and Decrees were also important and shaded how many believers and Church goers behaved towards the State and the Jews. The Barmen Declaration for example, became a point of confession and for some, martyrdom for the Believing Church. Some of Goebbels early speeches became a rallying cry for Germans who wished to revel in the conservative, fascist 'law & order' Reich, while not giving up traditional beliefs or church-going. Other Ancient doctrines of the Early Church Fathers in the Roman tradition, or pronouncements, sermons and 'statements' of later clergy, affected the Church's pro-Semitic or Anti-Semitic stand. Below are links to some of these formidable Dogma, Edicts and Decrees

Authored by Karl Barth and others in Zurich Switzerland, the Barmen Declaration reaffirmed the original values and beliefs of the Believing Church. It is particular in its affirmation of Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior and Redeemer, and the only proper Christian allegiance being the one towards Him as LORD and King. It decries Nazi 're-interpretations.

Written and pronounced in 1945-6, The Stuttgart Confession, signed by prominent members of the Confessing Church, including Niemoller, declared the repentance of the Church for sins of Omission and Commission in allowing the Nazis to prevail in their demonic spirit of "force and retaliation". Controversial then and now, many did not feel the need of the German Church to repent. A Classic Letter to the World Church Community.

Niemoller, known for his famous Stuttgart Confession and statement ..."they finally came for me" authored and preached this famous document, "Die Deutsche Schulde" in which he strongly admonishes the German Church and others not to walk away unrepentant from their role or apathy during the Shoah.

"Even if there were no other guilt than that of the six million clay urns, containing the ashes of burnt Jews from all over Europe. And this guilt weighs heavily on the German people and on the German name and on all Christendom. For these things happened in our world and in our name. Can we of the Confessional Church have nothing to do with it? Can we say that the church triumphed on all the fronts? "

This page connects to the actual vatican Encyclical regarding the Catholic Church's Papal Repentance for past wrongs against the Jewish People, and their role in WWII. The Reader will decide for himself.

"It is addressed to the Catholic faithful throughout the world, not only in Europe where the Shoah took place, hoping that all Christians will join their Catholic brothers and sisters in meditating on the catastrophe which befell the Jewish people, on its causes, and on the moral imperative to ensure that never again such a tragedy will happen. At the same time it asks our Jewish friends to hear us with an open heart. "

In 2001 to 2004, the US Government declassified certain war documents among which were documents from the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Among these documents were detailed outlines of the Nazis persecutions and planned persecutions for the Church, defying what they said openly. The Church, in short, was simply not to be an entity of concern in the New Reich. Original pdf format documents from Rutgers Law Library: Donovan Collection

The White Rose (weisserose) was a resistance movement at the University of Munich during the Shoah consisting of college students, Professors and others who stood against the Tyranny of Hitler. Sophie and Hans Scholl, Chris Probst and Professor Huber worked tirelessly to distribute leaflets decrying Nazi despotism. Their first tract is the reason for their inclusion here: it was a copy of Bishop Galen's sermon against the Euthanasia of the Mentally Impaired.

One of the most influential but Anti-Semitic Writings of the Shoah. The Protocols of Zion had been around for years surfacing occasionally and supposedly a document exposing plans for Jewish World Domination. The document was fraudulent, but was used mightily by the National Socialists to stir support for Hitler's "Final Solution" (Endlosung) or extermination of the Jews of Europe.

The Church was concerned about the Nazis but cautiously publicly approached them. "With Burning Concern" or Mit Brennener Sorge is the document of concern.

"When, in 1933, We consented, Venerable Brethren, to open negotiations for a concordat, which the Reich Government proposed on the basis of a scheme of several years' standing; and when, to your unanimous satisfaction, We concluded the negotiations by a solemn treaty, We were prompted by the desire, as it behooved Us, to secure for Germany the freedom of the Church's beneficent mission and the salvation of the souls in her care, as well as by the sincere wish to render the German people a service essential for its peaceful development and prosperity. Hence, despite many and grave misgivings, We then decided not to withhold Our consent for We wished to spare the Faithful of Germany, as far as it was humanly possible, the trials and difficulties they would have had to face, given the circumstances, had the negotiations fallen through. "

The Church met with Von Papen and other representatives of the Third Reich before the Holocaust. The outlined articles of agreement express the terms of the relationship, including non-interference with the Church. Hitler, of course did not keep the terms of the concordat .

Pius XI died under questionable circumstances on the edge of WWII, with Hitler and the Anschluss, and some questions whether the original Concordat had been in the best interest of the world. A small group of Jesuits including LaFarge drafted at his request a document making clear that its racial policies were not the same as the Nazis, and spelling out the differences between religious/doctrinal issues vs racial prejudice. Called 'The Hidden Encyclical', many hoped it would avert a full support of the Vatican for Nazi Germany, although the document was the last on the desk of Pius XI as he died, and mysteriously 'disappeared' under the orchestration of Jesuit General Ledochowski. LaFarge went on to write prolifically on racial equality in the Roman Catholic Church in America. Pacelli, stood by the original agreement as he took office, beginning with the warm entreaty of throwing a gala birthday celebration for Hitler, at the Roman Church's expense. This document is still a point of controversy, although many speculate about what might have been had it been signed.

In this Internal Link, are found other critical letters and Encyclicals which formed Vatican Policy towards the Nazis. They include definitions and positions on the encroachment of Communism, Mary as a Co-Redemptrix (much later than most suspect), issues of faith and others. These documents and other sources begin to paint a broad picture of Vatican History and Politics, including a late 19th century dismissal of the Jesuits from many Western countries, internal politics at the Holy See, and the emerging parallel doctrinal trend toward 'Mariology' as the events and dynamics of Rome and Germany met.

Moses Mendelssohn is considered part of the "Jewish Enlightenment" and wrote extensively of a redefinition of Jewish Identity and enculturation while retaining certain basic values and ideas. The Phaedon, is a philosophical treatise based upon Plato's Phoedon which considers the soul and immortality. Other works by Mendelssohn will be shortly added.

Martin Luther, the Great Reformer, who brought Grace back into view in Christian Doctrine, meant it apparently only for the Gentile. While early in his stand he embraced and witnessed to the Jews, by the end of his life, he condemned and incited violence towards the Jews, their property, worship and synagogues. This document written in 1543 is excerpted by Fordham U, and the entirity is linked.

In 1140-1141 a.d. in England, a terrible tale of blood libel, or the blaming of the Jews for blood-guiltiness of the death of a Christian child or innocent was spread resulting in the death of hundreds of Jews in retaliation. A Classic in blood libel literature: Actual text: Taken from Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham U.

Martin Luther's letter to Spalatin in approximately 1514, discusses the Vatican charge of heresy against Reuchlin, a Great Christian Hebraist. In this and other letters Spalatin, Luther discusses the Jews blaspheming Christ. Included in Fordham's section on "Medieval Anti-Semitism".

"I have come to the conclusion that the Jews will always curse and blaspheme God and his King Christ, as all the prophets have predicted. He who neither reads nor understands this, as yet knows no theology, in my opinion. And so I presume the men of Cologne cannot understand the Scripture, because it is necessary that such things take place to fulfill prophecy. If they are trying to stop the Jews blaspheming, they are working to prove the Bible and God liars."

In this excellent resource, original documents are translated regarding 1st century Rome's dealings with the Jews. Included are proclamations and writings from Josephus, Augustus, Claudius and Tacitus. Shows historical underpinnings of Anti-Semitism characterizing Rome from early.

An early Roman Church edict dating from around 313ad when Constantine took power over Rome, ending 2 centuries of bitter persecutions of the fledgling Christian Church. The Edict of Milan sought civil liberties for Christians, although the result was a State Church with a mix of paganism and christian doctrine. The Jews found no favor and were expelled.

While the Early Christians enjoyed their new liberties under Constantine, the Jews were restricted, defamed and expelled. This portion of legislation outlines exact actions towards the Jews by Constantinus.

"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. "

Cyprian's Writings reasoning the God's wrath against the Jews for their denial of Christ. Oddly, he uses examples from Exodus of wrath against those who kept idols as being expunged from Israel.

"1. That the Jews have fallen under the heavy wrath of God, because they have departed from the Lord, and have followed idols. 2. Also because they did not believe the prophets, and put them to death. 3. That it was previously foretold that they would neither know the Lord, nor understand nor receive Him. 4. That the Jews would not understand the Holy Scriptures, but that they would be intelligible in the last times, after Christ had come. 5. That the Jews could understand nothing of the Scriptures unless they first believed on Christ."

Against Apion was written by the Jewish historian Josephus who also authored "The Wars of the Jews". He answers Apion's compiled charges against the Jews: a collection of myths, prejudices and rumors. Apion's document was a foundation for later blood libel..

In "Peri Pascha" or About the Passion or Cross, the Bishop of the City of which Christ notes "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. ", later decries the Jews for their abandonment of the God who loved them. While the document seeks in love to clarify the meaning of the Cross, it also marks a request for Rome to consider the Jews and Christians separately, hitherto treated as one group, and is also considered the foundation of which many later charged the Jews with "deicide" or "the Death of God". Charges against the Romans are lessened compared to the Jews in this matter..

A Roman Expounding against the Jews regarding the cause of his city's demise and more

"As I am now to record the death-agony of a famous city, it seems appropriate to inform the reader of its origins. The Jews are said to have been refugees from the island of Crete who settled in the remotest corner of Libya in the days when, according to the story, Saturn was driven from his throne by the aggression of Jupiter. This is a deduction from the name 'Judaei' by which they became known: the word is to be regarded as a barbarous lengthening of 'Idaei',"

An Early Church father takes issue with the Jews.

"And so it is that I hasten to anticipate this danger and prevent it. This is what physicians do. They first check the diseases which are most urgent and acute. But the danger from this sickness is very closely related to the danger from the other; since the Anomians impiety is akin to that of the Jews, my present conflict is akin to my former one. And there is a kingship because the Jews and the Anomians make the same accusation. And what charges do the Jews make? That He called God His own Father and so made Himself equal to God. The Anomians also make this charge-I should not say they make this a charge; they even blot out the phrase "equal to God" and what it connotes, by their resolve to reject it even if they do not physically erase it. "

Peter Blois: Testimony Against the Jews: Medieval Sourcebook-10th century

"We read the Passion of Christ, not alone in their books but in their faces. . . . . .As for what you say that you desire to dispute with Jews so as to convert them and turn them to the faith, I commend you the less for that for you beat the air, exhausting yourself with foolish and vain zeal. God indeed has placed a limit to them which they may not exceed. Their hour is not yet come, but He has blinded them till the time when the heathen are converted to the Faith.