Context
These passages are from the works of Rabanus Maurus (c. 780-856), a Frankish Benedictine monk, theologian, and eventually Archbishop of Mainz. His writings, collected in Patrologia Latina volume 110, include numerous biblical commentaries and homilies that contain anti-Jewish theological content. These passages represent typical Carolingian-era Christian supersessionist theology, arguing that the Church has replaced the Synagogue and that Jews are blinded by their rejection of Christ.
Passage 1: Jews and “Maximum Perfidy”
Latin (lines 2069-2072):
angelus autem Domini descendit de caelo, et accedens revolvit lapidem ab ostio monumenti, sedebatque super eum, quem iudaei ob perfidiam maximam appositum signaverunt, et munierunt sepulcrum cum custodibus.
English Translation:
But the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and approaching rolled back the stone from the entrance of the tomb, and sat upon it, which the Jews, on account of their maximum perfidy, had placed and sealed, and fortified the sepulcher with guards.
Context: This is from an Easter homily describing the Resurrection. Rabanus characterizes the Jewish action of sealing Jesus’s tomb as stemming from “maximum perfidy” (perfidiam maximam).
Passage 2: Judas’s Crime and Its Modern Parallels
Latin (lines 8095-8102):
Sed licet multi detesteneur scelus Judae, pauci tamen vitare student. Qui ergo Dominum vendidit, reus esse ab hominibus dijudicatur; et qui veritatem pro mendacio commutat, vix a quoquam reprehenditur. Attendite, fratres, quae dico, quia quicunque propter amorem pecuniae, vel commodum terrenum, veritatem vendit, Christum prodit, et Judae sceleris est particeps.
English Translation:
But although many detest the crime of Judas, few nevertheless strive to avoid it. Therefore he who sold the Lord is judged guilty by men; and he who exchanges truth for falsehood is scarcely reproved by anyone. Pay attention, brothers, to what I say, because whoever sells the truth for love of money, or for earthly advantage, betrays Christ, and is a participant in the crime of Judas.
Context: While not explicitly about Jews, this passage associates “Judas” (the archetypical Jewish traitor) with betraying Christ for money, a common medieval anti-Jewish trope.
Passage 3: Barabbas Released, Jesus Crucified
Latin (lines 10565-10570):
Habebatur Barabbas vinctus, qui in seditione fecerat homicidium. Barabbas enim filius patris nostri interpretatur; significat diabolum, qui multas seditiones in toto concitat orbe, et homicidia scilicet et adulteria, et omnia crimina, qui statim ut Jesus crucifixus est Barabbas iste dimissus suffocat populum Judaeorum.
English Translation:
Barabbas was held bound, who had committed murder in the sedition. For Barabbas is interpreted as “son of our father”; he signifies the devil, who stirs up many seditions throughout the whole world, and murders indeed and adulteries, and all crimes, who as soon as Jesus was crucified, this Barabbas, having been released, suffocates the people of the Jews.
Context: This allegorizes the choice of Barabbas over Jesus, claiming that when the Jews chose Barabbas, they symbolically chose the devil who then “suffocates” the Jewish people.
Passage 4: The Synagogue and the Church at the Tomb
Latin (lines 12057-12075):
Quid enim per Joannem qui prior venit ad monumentum et non intravit nisi Synagoga significatur? Quid per Petrum, nisi Ecclesia ex gentibus congregata demonstratur, quae posterius vocata, prior intravit? Cucurrerunt enim pariter Gentilitas et Synagoga per hujus saeculi successiones, sed non pari intelligentia veniebant. Venit Synagoga prior ad monumentum, sed noluit intrare, quia legis quaedam percepit mandata, prophetas incarnationis ac passionis Dominicae audivit, sed credere in mortuum noluit… Vidit Joannes posita linteamina, non tamen intravit, quia videlicet Synagoga et Scripturae sacrae sacramenta cognovit, et tamen ad fidem passionis Dominicae credendo, intrare distulit; quem diu longeque prophetavit, praesentem vidit et renuit, hominem esse despexit, Deum carne mortalem factum credere noluit.
English Translation:
For what is signified by John, who came first to the tomb and did not enter, except the Synagogue? What is demonstrated by Peter, except the Church gathered from the gentiles, which was called later but entered first? For the Gentiles and the Synagogue ran together through the successions of this age, but they did not come with equal understanding. The Synagogue came first to the tomb, but was unwilling to enter, because it perceived certain commandments of the law, heard the prophets of the Lord’s incarnation and passion, but was unwilling to believe in the dead one… John saw the burial cloths laid out, but nevertheless did not enter, because clearly the Synagogue knew both the sacraments of Sacred Scripture, and yet deferred entering by believing in the faith of the Lord’s passion; him whom it prophesied for a long time and from afar, when present it saw and rejected, despised that he was man, was unwilling to believe that God was made mortal flesh.
Context: This is a classic example of Christian supersessionist exegesis, interpreting the race to Jesus’s tomb as an allegory of the Synagogue (Judaism) arriving first but refusing to believe, while the Church (Peter/gentile Christianity) enters and believes.
Passage 5: Jews Are Unbelieving and Rebellious
Latin (lines 20078-20084):
inde secuti sunt multi Judaeorum et colentium advenarum, quod etiam melius legitur colentium Deum sicut in Graeco vidimus, significat autem eos qui natura gentiles erant, sed religione Judaei, quos Graeci proselytos nuncupant, sed quoniam ipsi apostoli sentiebant Judaeos incredulos esse et rebelles, eo quod nolebant recipere verbum Dei.
English Translation:
from which many of the Jews and worshipping strangers followed, which is also better read as “worshipping God” as we have seen in the Greek, but it signifies those who by nature were gentiles, but by religion Jews, whom the Greeks call proselytes, but because the apostles themselves perceived that the Jews were unbelieving and rebellious, in that they were unwilling to receive the word of God.
Context: This passage characterizes Jews as fundamentally “incredulous” (unbelieving) and “rebelles” (rebellious) for rejecting the Christian message.
Passage 6: The Synagogue of Perfidy
Latin (lines 22709-22714):
mox filia principis mortua nuntiatur, quia dum Ecclesia a viliorum labe mundata et ob fidei meritum, filia est cognominata. Continuo Synagoga perfidiae simul invidiaeque letho soluta est; perfidiae quidem, quia in Christo credere noluit: invidiae vero, quia Ecclesiam credidisse doluit.
English Translation:
immediately the daughter of the ruler is announced dead, because when the Church is cleansed from the stain of vices and on account of the merit of faith, is called daughter. At the same time the Synagogue of perfidy and also of envy is released to death; of perfidy indeed, because it was unwilling to believe in Christ: but of envy, because it grieved that the Church had believed.
Context: This allegorizes the healing of Jairus’s daughter, claiming that the Synagogue died of “perfidy” (for not believing in Christ) and “envy” (for resenting the Church’s belief). The phrase “Synagoga perfidiae” (Synagogue of perfidy) is particularly harsh.
Passage 7: Jews Thought They Served God by Persecuting Christians
Latin (lines 17152-17184):
Arbitrabantur enim obsequium se Deo praestare Judaei, in eo quod ministros Novi Testamenti odiis insequebantur et morte… sed, sicut illis testimonium perhibet Apostolus, aemulationem habent sed non secundum scientiam. Arbitrantur ergo legis aemulatores obsequium se praestare Deo, dum praecones gratiae neces inferunt, sed ejus legem quae per famulum data est defendunt, qui gratiam quam ipse Filius offert accipere renuunt. Sed incassum Patri placere assumant, qui Dei Filium contemnere, imo etiam persequi ac blasphemare laborant. Duo dixit illis esse ventura a Judaeis, id est, ut extra synagogam eos facerent, et ut eos interficerent…
English Translation:
For the Jews thought that they were rendering service to God, in that they pursued the ministers of the New Testament with hatred and death… but, as the Apostle bears witness to them, they have zeal but not according to knowledge. Therefore the zealots of the law think they are rendering service to God, while they bring death to the heralds of grace, but they defend that law which was given through a servant, who refuse to receive the grace which the Son himself offers. But in vain do they presume to please the Father, who labor to despise, indeed even to persecute and blaspheme the Son of God. He said two things would come to them from the Jews, that is, that they would put them out of the Synagogue, and that they would kill them…
Context: This passage argues that Jews who persecuted Christians mistakenly thought they were serving God, when in fact they were persecuting God’s true servants.
Passage 8: The Infidelity of the Jews
Latin (lines 40043-40044):
Johannes evangelista prius miracula Redemptoris nostri narravit, atque infidelitatem postmodum Judaeorum subdidit…
English Translation:
The evangelist John first narrated the miracles of our Redeemer, and then added the infidelity of the Jews…
Context: A brief but direct characterization of Jewish response to Jesus as “infidelitas” (faithlessness/unbelief).
Passage 9: The Veil Still Lies Upon the Jews
Latin (lines 40786-40789):
Et expandit illum coram propheta, et legendum cognoscendumque praebuit, qui in Isaia populo non credenti dicitur esse sumatus. Usque hodie enim velamen Judaeis in veteri positum est testamento.
English Translation:
And he spread it before the prophet, and provided it for reading and understanding, which in Isaiah is said to have been put upon the people who do not believe. For even to this day the veil lies upon the Jews in the Old Testament.
Context: This invokes 2 Corinthians 3:14-15, the famous passage about a veil lying over the hearts of Jews when they read the Old Testament. Rabanus applies this to contemporary Jews of his own era (“usque hodie” – “even to this day”).
Passage 10: The Preaching of the Cross Was a Scandal to Jews
Latin (lines 15120-15126):
Ergo evacuatum est scandalum crucis. Scandalum erat Judaeis praedicatio crucis, quia sabbatum et circumcisionem evacuabat. Si autem admitteret circumcisionem, non esset scandalum, et pacifici essent nobis Judaei. Nam dicebant de Salvatore: Non est hic homo a Deo qui sabbatum non custodit. Ergo evacuatum est scandalum crucis.
English Translation:
Therefore the scandal of the cross is done away with. The preaching of the cross was a scandal to the Jews, because it abolished the sabbath and circumcision. But if [Paul] had admitted circumcision, it would not be a scandal, and the Jews would be peaceful to us. For they said about the Savior: “This man is not from God who does not keep the sabbath.” Therefore the scandal of the cross is done away with.
Context: This passage from a commentary on Galatians argues that Jews found the cross scandalous because it abolished their law.
Analysis
These passages from Rabanus Maurus demonstrate typical Carolingian-era Christian anti-Jewish theology:
- Perfidy and Infidelity: Jews are repeatedly characterized as “perfidious” (treacherous/faithless) and “incredulous” (unbelieving) for rejecting Christ.
- The Synagogue vs. the Church: A central supersessionist theme where the Synagogue (Judaism) is portrayed as having been replaced by the Church, which entered into salvation while the Synagogue remained outside.
- Blindness and the Veil: The metaphor of Jews being veiled or blind to the truth of Scripture, unable to see Christ in the Old Testament.
- Death and Dissolution of the Synagogue: The Synagogue is portrayed as having “died” spiritually when Christ came, killed by its own perfidy and envy.
- Judas as Jewish Archetype: The association of Judas’s betrayal with Jewish character and actions.
- Deicidal Implications: Jews are connected to the crucifixion of Christ, though this is somewhat muted compared to later medieval writers.
- Misguided Zeal: Jews are portrayed as zealous but ignorant, thinking they serve God by opposing Christianity.
These theological positions were standard in Carolingian Christianity and formed part of the intellectual foundation for medieval Christian anti-Judaism. Rabanus’s works were highly influential in medieval theological education.
Source. Patrologia Latina – Translated by Claude.AI. Rabanus Maurus, Writings. Migne, PL 110. 1864.