[CHAPTER XXI.]
THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY AND ITS RELATIONS TO JUDAISM.
Hillel II.—His Calendar—Heads of Judæan Schools: Jonah, José, and Jeremiah—The Expansion of Christianity—Constantine—The Decadence of the Jewish Schools in Babylonia—The Pumbeditha School—Development of Talmudical Dialectics—The Persian Queen Ifra and her son Shabur II.—The Emperor Julian—Favor shown towards the Jews—Proposed Rebuilding of the Temple—Roman Tolerance.
320–375 C. E.
The period during which Christendom asserted its triumphant sway marked a decisive crisis in the history of nations, and closed also an epoch in Jewish history. The harvest which had slowly and invisibly been maturing during the preceding centuries was now ripe. Christianity, although hated and persecuted, had still remained defiant, and at last disarmed its enemies by drawing them within the circle of its influence. The Roman Empire, which seems to have felt an instinctive dread of its approaching dissolution through the religion of Christ, submitted to baptism, thus prolonging its assigned length of existence by the space of a century and a half. Heathenism, which was nourished by and in turn bred irrational ideas, deceit, and immorality, was obliged to surrender its life of shams, and make room for another form of religion.
The new religion which thus pressed triumphantly to the fore, possessed innumerable advantages over heathenism, in that it laid down in theory as a fundamental principle, a worthier conception of God and a purer morality, although it was very far from conforming in practice to these tenets. At the same time as Rome and Italy lost their importance and retained only a shadow of their former greatness, Judæa and Tiberias, which had taken the place of Jerusalem, sank into insignificance. Like Italy, the seat of heathen civilization, Judæa was impoverished and stunted by Christianity. By means of the political power to which this religion now attained—the possession of the imperial dignity placing the axe of the lictors and the sword of the legions under its command—Judæa was soon deprived of its intellectual life, and the school of Tiberias lost the power of attraction which it had so long exercised, and sank into decadence.
While Babylonia was raised during the next fifty years to the pinnacle of its fame by the exertions of three original Amoraïm, Rabba, Abayi, and Raba, the Judæan Amoraïm of this period were of no importance. The few men of these times whose names have survived are Chaggai, who became an authority by reason of his age, Jonah II and José, the disciples and successors of Ami and Assi. The sole recognized authority of Judæa was Jeremiah; but he was an emigrant from Babylonia, where he had been so little appreciated that he had been turned out of the schools. The office of Patriarch also sank at this period into complete insignificance, its holder, Hillel II, having in imitation of his great-grandfather Hillel, self-denyingly resigned a portion of his power. It is remarkable that at the same time as the Patriarchate lost all consequence in Judæa, it acquired a showy splendor abroad, as if the corpse were being adorned before being lowered into the grave. During the last century of the existence of the office, the Patriarchs received the pompous titles of "Highness" (illustres), "Worshipful" (spectabiles), "Famous" (clarissimi), which titles they enjoyed in conjunction with the highest dignitaries of the State, with whom, to all appearances, they were thus placed on an equality. "Let him who dares to publicly insult the illustrious Patriarchs be visited with severe punishment," commands an imperial edict, which, although dating from a later period, rests nevertheless on the earlier legislation affecting the Patriarchs.
The Emperor Constantine, who had aggrandized the Church, and laid the dominion of the earth at her feet, had at the same time given her the doubtful blessing, "By the sword thou shalt live." He had originally placed Judaism, as a religion, on an equal footing with the other forms of worship existing in the Roman Empire. For, before adopting the Christian faith, and determining above all things to put a stop to religious persecutions throughout his dominions, Constantine had published a sort of edict of toleration, wherein he had commanded that every man should enjoy the right of professing any religion without thereby becoming an outlaw. The Jews were likewise included in this act of toleration, and their patriarchs, elders, and the principals of the schools and synagogues enjoyed the same privileges as the Christian ecclesiastics and the heathen priests. These decisions continued in force, and in later times were sanctioned by new laws, although another spirit began to sway the newly-founded Byzantine court. The rule was established that the members of the synagogue who dedicated themselves to the Law, the Patriarchs, Priests, and other religious officials, should be relieved from all municipal and other onerous offices. Taking as models the constitution of the Roman priesthood, and the Christian system of bishops, the Patriarch of Judæa was regarded as the chief of all the Jews in the Roman Empire. Constantine's impartial justice, however, lasted but a short time. The more Christianity asserted its influence over him, the more did he affect the intolerance of that religion, which, forgetful of its origin, entertained as passionate a hatred of Judaism and its adherents as of heathenism. Sylvester, Bishop of Rome, Paul, afterwards Bishop of Constantinople, the new capital, and Eusebius of Cæsarea, the first historian of the Church, did not fail to incite the inhabitants of the empire against the Jews. Judaism was stigmatized as a noxious, profligate, godless sect (feralis, nefaria secta) which ought to be exterminated from the face of the earth wherever possible. An imperial edict was published to the effect that the Jews were no longer to make converts, those entering, as well as those receiving newcomers into the faith being threatened with punishment (315). Finally the proselytism of the Christians was afforded the aid of the State, and the Jews were forbidden to pronounce upon such of the members of their community as apostatized the punishment which Christianity was, however, permitted to inflict in a terribly aggravated degree upon its own adherents who left its fold. "All who dare attack the apostates with stones or in any other manner, shall be delivered to the flames, together with their accomplices." It was impossible, in fact, that Jews without fixed opinions should not be tempted by Constantine's decided leaning towards Christianity, and the prospect of profit, to change their religion. The Church expressly aimed, by all sorts of promises, at seducing the weaker members of the Jewish community from their faith, laying especial emphasis on the disadvantages which would accrue from adherence to Judaism, and on the benefits which the apostate would derive from the State. "Why do you suffer death for your God? See to what punishments and pillagings He has condemned you! Come to us; we will make you dukes, and governors and captains." "The sinful Roman Empire, the son of thy mother, attempts to make the faithful waver," such were the texts from which the public orators of the synagogue had henceforth to preach. The privileges of the Jews were abolished by Constantine—as, for instance, in the city of Cologne—and it was decreed by him that, with the exception of two or three men, all of them were liable to be called upon to fill the burdensome municipal offices.
Then the world witnessed the hitherto undreamt-of spectacle of the first general convocation of Nice, consisting of several hundred bishops and priests, with the emperor at their head (325). Christianity thought to celebrate its triumph, but only succeeded in betraying its weakness and internal disunion. For on the occasion of this, its first official appearance, in all the splendor of its plenitude of spiritual and temporal power, there remained no trace of its original character. The Essenean doctrine of humility, brotherly love, and community of possessions; the Pauline zeal for morality and sound opinions; the ardor of the Alexandrian school for scientific erudition;—all had vanished. Dogmatical disputes, whether Christ the Son was equal to the Father, whether he resembled or differed from him, disputes all the more bitterly carried on because of the impossibility of settling the question either way,—these were the points which henceforward constituted the foreground of the history of the Church which was destined to represent the history of the world. At the Council of Nice the last thread was snapped which connected Christianity with its parent stock. The festival of Easter had up till now been celebrated for the most part at the same time as the Jewish Passover, and indeed upon the days calculated and fixed by the Synhedrion in Judæa for its celebration; but in future its observance was to be rendered altogether independent of the Jewish calendar, "For it is unbecoming beyond measure that on this the holiest of festivals we should follow the customs of the Jews. Henceforward let us have nothing in common with this odious people; our Savior has shown us another path. It would indeed be absurd if the Jews were able to boast that we are not in a position to celebrate the Passover without the aid of their rules (calculations)." These remarks are attributed to the Emperor Constantine, and even though they may not have been uttered by him, they were nevertheless the guiding principle of the Church which was now to decide the fate of the Jews.
The first utterance of Christianity on the very day of its victory betrayed its hostile attitude towards the Jews, and gave rise to those malignant decrees of Constantine and his successors, which laid the foundation of the bloody persecutions of subsequent centuries. Constantine re-enacted—undoubtedly at the instigation of the clergy—the law of Hadrian, which forbade the Jews to live in Jerusalem. Only on the anniversary of the destruction of the city were they allowed, on making certain payments to the officials, to mourn on the ruins of the Temple. The clergy further succeeded in obtaining a law from Constantine prohibiting the Jews from making converts among the slaves. Christianity claimed the monopoly of expansion, and forbade Judaism to increase its influence either by making proselytes or by converting its slaves. Constantine seems, however, to have protected the Jews against the arrogance of such of their brethren as had gone over to Christianity; these converts, for the most part possessed of no fixed opinions, attempted to revenge themselves on their former fellow-countrymen and co-religionists. One of these apostates, Joseph by name, seems at this period to have vigorously persecuted the Palestinean Jews. He had been one of the assessors of the Patriarch in the Synhedrion of Tiberias, and had been entrusted with the honorable office of delegate and envoy to the communities of Cilicia. There he had frequently associated in secret with a bishop, and had obtained the writings of the New Testament to read. The Cilician Jews raised doubts as to his orthodoxy, and as, in addition to this, he was not greatly beloved, on account of his high-handed treatment of the teachers and religious dignitaries, some of whom he even degraded, certain of the Cilicians entered his residence by surprise, and discovered him reading the gospel. How is it possible to blame the Jews of Cilicia for venting upon his person their indignation at his deceit? They are said to have thrown him into the river Cydnus, and he is supposed to have escaped death only by a miracle. Nothing now remained for Joseph but to publicly announce his adoption of Christianity. If he is to be believed, many Jews, including the most learned and worthy among them, nourished at this period a secret predilection for Christianity. Joseph even relates a thoroughly incredible tale of the aged Patriarch (probably Judah III), according to which the latter was a secret adherent of the religion of Jesus, and feeling a desire to be baptized, he invited a bishop from the neighborhood of Tiberias, under pretext of obtaining his medical advice.