Nicholas Serarius (1555–1609) was a German Jesuit theologian, Scripture scholar, and professor at the University of Mainz. A prolific controversialist, he wrote against Protestant heretics, commented extensively on sacred Scripture, and produced a major work on the three principal Jewish sects — the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes — as background for understanding the New Testament. His works remained standard references in Catholic theology for generations. The following passages are drawn from his Prolegomena Bibliaca et Commentaria in Omnes Epistolas Canonicas (Mainz, 1612) and his Trihaeresivm, seu de Celeberrimis Tribus, apud Iudeos, Pharisæorum, Sadducæorum, et Essenorum Sectis (Mainz, 1604).
I. The Jews as Bookbearers for the Church
On the providential but servile role of the Jewish people in preserving the Scriptures for Christian use, following St. Augustine.
Quid est aliud hodie gens ipsa Iudæorum, nisi quædam scriniaria bauilans legem & Prophetas ad testimonium assertionis Ecclesiæ, vt nos honoremus per sacramentum, quod nunciat illa per literam.
“What else is the Jewish people today but a kind of bookcase, carrying the Law and the Prophets to bear witness to the claims of the Church, so that we might honor through the sacrament what they announce through the letter.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, p. 210, citing St. Augustine, Contra Faustum, lib. XII, cap. 23
Capsarii nostris studentibus nobis codices portant.
“Like boxbearers, they carry the manuscripts for us who study.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, p. 210, citing St. Augustine
Serarius adds that Mohammed himself, as reported by Florimundus, ridiculed the Jews in the Koran in nearly Augustinian terms:
eos librorum venditoribus esse similes. Hi enim libros quidem huc illuc vehunt & gestant; ex iis tamen neque doctiores neque meliores fiunt.
“[The Jews] are like booksellers. For they carry books hither and thither and haul them about; yet from those books they become neither more learned nor better.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, p. 210
The index to the Prolegomena Bibliaca summarises this doctrine in a terse entry of Serarius’s own composition:
Iudai perdiderunt Christum, retinuerunt membranas.
“The Jews lost Christ; they kept the parchments.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, Index, p. 210
II. The Jews Blaspheme the Christian Faith
On the scandal given to Jews and Turks by Christian disunity.
ficvt ob tot ac tantas sacrorum dissentiones gaudeant, fidemque Christianam blasphement Iudæi ac Turcæ, ita vt nostris ipsis oculis videamus, quod eadem de re scripsit olim S. Athanasius.
“…so that on account of so many and so great dissensions in sacred matters, Jews and Turks rejoice and blaspheme the Christian faith — in such a way that with our own eyes we see what St. Athanasius once wrote about the very same thing.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. X, p. 451
The index records two further summary judgments, in Serarius’s own words:
Iudai & Turcæ Christianam fidem ob dissensionem blasphemant.
“Jews and Turks blaspheme the Christian faith on account of [Christian] dissension.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, Index, p. 61
Hæreticos Iudais similes ait Sanctus Chrysostomus.
“Saint Chrysostom says that heretics are like Jews.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, Index, p. 852 (citing St. John Chrysostom)
Iudeos Damonibus similes ait S. Chrysost.
“Saint Chrysostom says the Jews are like demons.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, Index, p. 892 (citing St. John Chrysostom)
III. On the Jews‘ Corruption of the Hebrew Scriptures out of Hatred for Christ
Serarius surveys the scholarly debate and concludes that, after St. Jerome’s time, the Jews did maliciously alter the Hebrew text wherever occasion arose, driven by envy and hatred of the growing Christian religion.
Prior, corruptum esse in multis locis, & à Iudæis, idque non ex incuria & inscitia tantum, sed ex CHRISTI etiam odio, eiusque fidei, postquam hanc efflorescere viderunt.
“The first opinion [is] that [the Hebrew text] has been corrupted in many places, and by the Jews — not only out of carelessness and ignorance, but also out of hatred of CHRIST and of His faith, after they saw it flourishing.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XIV, p. 72 (citing Melchior Canus, Jacob de Valencia, Porcetus, Lindanus, Alphonsus Salmeron, and Leocasius)
CHRISTVM eraserunt de suis cordibus Iudæi. Ergo & de Bibliis.
“The Jews erased CHRIST from their hearts. Therefore also from the Scriptures.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XIV, p. 72
Serarius notes that the very text “He shall reign from the tree” (Regnabit a ligno Deus), found in Psalm 95 in the ancient versions, had been wickedly excised from the Hebrew:
Psalm. 95. Regnabit à ligno Deus, quod in Hebræo non est, & nefarie sublatum à Iudæis conqueritur Iustinus contra Triphonem.
“Psalm 95: ‘God shall reign from the tree’ — which is not in the Hebrew — and Justin [Martyr], in his [dialogue] against Trypho, complains that it was wickedly removed by the Jews.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XIV, p. 72
On the rabbinical boast that a letter may be deleted from the Law to glorify God’s name in public:
Rabbini quidam dicunt: Bonum esse vt deleatur litera vna de lege, & sanctificetur nomen Dei de publico. In tractatu Iebamoth cap. 1. Et Rabbi Samuel ad Rabb. Isaac Epist. inquit: Vtinam quando interfecimus Esaiam, deleuissemus authoritatem istam, Esa. 63. Quis est iste, qui venit de Edom?
“Certain Rabbis say: ‘It is good that one letter be deleted from the Law, that God’s name be sanctified publicly.’ In the tractate Yebamoth, ch. 1. And Rabbi Samuel, in his epistle to Rabbi Isaac, says: ‘Would that when we killed Isaiah, we had also deleted this passage, Is. 63: Who is this that cometh from Edom?'”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XIV, p. 72
Serarius’s own conclusion on the post-Hieronymian period:
Post s. Hieronymi tempora, vsq. ad Domini annum quingentesimum malitiosè ab iisdem Iudais, vbi aliqua fuit occasio, mutatum in Hebrao textu aliquid est. 1. nam crescentis Christianæ religionis invidia & odio cum valde flagrarent Iudæi.
“After the time of St. Jerome, up to the year of the Lord five hundred, something was maliciously altered in the Hebrew text by those same Jews wherever some occasion presented itself. 1. For the Jews burned intensely with envy and hatred of the growing Christian religion.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XIV, Propositio VI, p. 73
IV. On the Talmud‘s Blasphemy against Jesus Christ
The general index to the Trihaeresivm, in Serarius’s own words, records this entry for the letter T:
Thalmudicorum impium de Iesu Christo mendacium.
“The impious Talmudic lie about Jesus Christ.”
— Trihaeresivm, General Index, p. 133
Serarius also records that the Pharisees, when confronted with Christ’s miracles, attributed them to the prince of demons — a charge preserved in the Jerusalem Talmud:
male interpretando CHRISTI Domini dicta, facta: ea tribuendo vanæ gloriæ… eiicit demonia. Et similia in Hierosolymitano Thalm. tract. Auodah zarah.
“…by maliciously interpreting the words and deeds of Christ the Lord, attributing them to vainglory… ‘He casteth out devils.’ And [charges] similar [to this] are found in the Jerusalem Talmud, tractate Avodah Zarah.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. III, p. 72
V. On the Pharisees’ Enmity toward Christ and their Guilt in His Death
Serarius methodically catalogues, from the Gospels, the Pharisees’ campaign against Our Lord from accusation through to procuring His crucifixion.
IESVM nostrum esse CHRISTVM ipsum, Deique filium ignorabant, ait S. Epiphanius, imo & contumacissimè, proteruissimeque negabant, ipfique quibuscunq; poterant, modis obstistebant.
“That our JESUS was the CHRIST Himself and the Son of God, they were ignorant [of], says St. Epiphanius — nay, they denied it most stubbornly and impudently, and with every means in their power they resisted.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. III, p. 70
mortemque eius per testimonia falsa, & Pilatum procurando, vti non quidem nominatim vspiam dicitur, sed colligi videtur ex Marci 14. versu 53. 55.
“…and procuring His death through false testimony and through Pilate — as is not, to be sure, stated expressly anywhere, but seems to be gathered from Mark 14, verse 53, 55.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. III, p. 72
Expounding Matthew 23:34, where Christ prophesies of the fate of the Apostles at Jewish hands:
Ideo ecce ego mitto ad vos Prophetas, & Sapientes, & Scribas, & ex illis occidetis, & crucifigetis, & ex iis flagellabitis in Synagogis vestris, & persequemini de civitate in civitatem.
“Therefore behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and some of them you shall put to death and crucify, and some you shall scourge in your Synagogues, and persecute from city to city.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. IV, p. 88 (Matt. 23:34, as applied by Serarius to the Jews‘ ongoing persecution of Christ’s messengers)
Serarius then cites St. Augustine’s comment on the Pharisees as inheritors of their fathers’ murderous spirit:
filios dixit Dominus imitatione sceleris, non propagine generis… vnumgenus, vna confersio, vna massa est impiorum, imitatione sibimet connexorum.
“The Lord called them sons by imitation of wickedness, not by propagation of race… [They are] one stock, one lump, one mass of the impious, bound together by the chain of imitation.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. IV, p. 88, citing St. Augustine, Contra adversarium legis, lib. II, cap. 5
On the destruction of Jerusalem as divine punishment for the killing of Christ:
bello, quod Christi Domini nefariè à Iudæis occisi pœna divina erat.
“…the war which was the divine punishment for Christ the Lord, impiously killed by the Jews.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. III, cap. XVII, p. 196
VI. On the Chief Crime of the Pharisees
Serarius, cataloguing Pharisaic doctrines from good to bad, reserves his harshest judgment for the last:
omnium pessimum, & sceleratissimum est decimum octavum, de summa in IESVM CHRISTVM incredulitate, nequitia, & immanitate.
“The worst and most wicked of all is the eighteenth: [namely, their doctrine of] supreme unbelief, wickedness, and cruelty toward JESUS CHRIST.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. III, p. 82
VII. On the Jews of Serarius’s Own Day as Continuers of Pharisaic Perfidy
Serarius, having lived and taught at Worms, speaks from personal observation.
Ita apud nos in Germania, ceterisque Europæ partibus versantur Iudæi, Pharisæorum fere instituta, leges, cæremonias, perfidiam certè, pertinaciam, auaritiam, & nequitiam retinent. Itaque non inuitus aliquando eorum quibusdam assentiebar, cum in Wormaciensi sua Synagoga mihi se Pharisæos esse dicerent.
“Thus the Jews who dwell among us in Germany, and in the other parts of Europe, retain virtually the institutions, laws, and ceremonies of the Pharisees — certainly their perfidy, stubbornness, avarice, and wickedness. And so I was not unwilling at times to agree with certain of them, when they told me in their Synagogue at Worms that they were Pharisees.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. XVI, p. 135
VIII. On Supersessionism: The Jews Disinherited, the Gentiles Made Heirs
Serarius lays out the theology of the New Testament as the abrogation of the Old and the disinheritance of the Jewish people, following Lactantius and St. Paul.
6. Ratione novorum hæredum, qui vel repudiatis & exhaeredatis prioribus asciscuntur, vel etiam prioribus adiunguntur. Iudæi enim, qui prius erant hæredes; deleti sunt, & in eorum locum ascripti Gentiles, vel cum eorum residuis conscripti. Roman. 11.15.
“6. By reason of the new heirs, who are adopted either after the prior heirs have been repudiated and disinherited, or joined alongside them. For the Jews, who were previously the heirs, have been blotted out, and in their place the Gentiles have been enrolled, or have been enrolled alongside their remnants. Romans 11:15.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XXVI, p. 178
In vtroque, ait, Testamento idem testator est CHRISTVS, qui pro nobis mortem suscepit, nos hæredes æterni regni fecit, abdicato, & exharedato populo Iudæorum, sicut Hieremias Propheta testatur.
“‘In both Testaments,’ [Lactantius] says, ‘the same testator is CHRIST, Who suffered death for us, [and] made us heirs of the eternal kingdom — the people of the Jews having been rejected and disinherited — as the Prophet Jeremiah testifies.'”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XXVI, p. 179, citing Lactantius, Divinae Institutiones, lib. IV, cap. 20
Domus autem Iuda, & Israel non vtique Iudaos significat, quos abdicavit, sed nos qui ab eo vocati ex gentibus in illorum locum adoptione successimus.
“‘But the house of Judah and Israel‘ signifies not the Jews, whom [God] rejected, but us, who have been called by Him from the nations and have succeeded them by adoption in their place.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XXVI, p. 179, citing Lactantius
IX. On the Rabbinical Fast Instituted to Destroy the Septuagint and Hinder Conversions to Christianity
Serarius exposes the rabbinical fast of the 8th of Tevet as an act of malice against the Septuagint, which had been the chief instrument of Jewish conversions to Christ.
Ieiunium hoc institutum à Rabbinis, qui diu satis post CHRISTI Domini tempora fuerunt, cum ægrè ferrent, Græcam Septuaginta Interpretum versionem à Iudæis plerisqin Synagogis legi, & per eam ad CHRISTI fidem converti plurimos.
“This fast was instituted by the Rabbis, who lived a good while after the times of Christ the Lord, because they bore it ill that the Greek version of the Seventy Interpreters was being read by most Jews in their Synagogues, and that through it very many were being converted to the faith of CHRIST.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XI, p. 69
improbarunt verò cæci & invidi alij.
“…but the blind and envious among them rejected it [i.e., the Septuagint].”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XI, p. 70
X. On the Jews as Bad Teachers of Scripture
Pessimi sunt Iudæi præceptores, ait lib. 2. cap. 13. num. 18. Iunius.
“‘Jews are the worst teachers,’ says Junius, lib. 2, cap. 13, num. 18.”
Serarius’s response, while allowing that St. Jerome found some limited use in them, is unsparing:
si quis in omnibus eorum admittat doctrinam, expositionesque accipiat. næ præceptores ij pessimi sunt.
“…if one accepts their teaching and commentary in all things — truly those men are the worst of teachers.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XV, p. 107
XI. On the Iudaizing Heretics Who Concealed the Mysteries of Christ
Iudaizantes, inquit, hæretici, Aquila, & Symmachus ac Theodotio multa mysteria Salvatoris subdola interpretatione celarunt.
“‘The Judaizing heretics,’ [St. Jerome] says, ‘Aquila, and Symmachus, and Theodotion, concealed many mysteries of the Saviour by a crafty interpretation.'”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XVI, p. 74, citing St. Jerome
XII. On the Spiritual Reading of Scripture: Admitting Nothing of Jewish Tradition
Citing St. Jerome’s ideal of the Christian exegete:
Libris videns, nihil in eis Iudaicæ traditionis admittat.
“Seeing [Christ] in the Books, let him admit nothing of Jewish tradition in them.”
— Prolegomena Bibliaca, cap. XXI, p. 141, citing St. Jerome
XIII. On the Pharisees’ Traditions as Old Wives’ Tales
Serarius quotes St. Jerome on the oral traditions of the Pharisees that became the Talmud:
eas deuteroses vocat aniles fabulas, quarum, ait, pleraque tam turpia sunt, vt erubescam dicere.
“[St. Jerome] calls those deuteroseis [Mishnaic traditions] ‘old wives’ tales,’ of which, he says, ‘most are so shameful that I blush to speak of them.'”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. IV, p. 81, citing St. Jerome, Epistola ad Algasiam
XIV. On the Sadducees as True Heretics within the Mosaic Synagogue
Fuerunt Sadducæi verè hæretici, cum veteris etiam Synagogæ staretadhuc status. quia & hæretica, impiaque admodum, vti antea constitit; eorum erant dogmata.
“The Sadducees were true heretics, even while the standing of the old Synagogue still remained. For their doctrines were both heretical and exceedingly impious, as has been shown before.”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. II, cap. XXIV, p. 156
XV. On the War of Jerusalem as Divine Punishment for the Killing of Christ
Serarius interprets the Jewish War of 70 A.D. as an act of Divine justice:
bello, quod Christi Domini nefariè à Iudæis occisi pœna divina erat; nec operam vllam de T[emplo] dere Christiani.
“…the war which was the divine punishment for Christ the Lord, impiously killed by the Jews; and the Christians took no part in the affairs of the [Temple].”
— Trihaeresivm, lib. III, cap. XVII, p. 196
Sources
- Serarius, Nicholas, S.J. Prolegomena Bibliaca, et Commentaria in Omnes Epistolas Canonicas. Moguntiae [Mainz]: Balthasar Lippius, 1612.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ad1JAAAAcAAJ - Serarius, Nicholas, S.J. Trihaeresivm, seu de Celeberrimis Tribus, apud Iudeos, Pharisæorum, Sadducæorum, et Essenorum Sectis, Libri Tres. Moguntiae [Mainz]: Balthasar Lippius, 1604.
https://books.google.com/books?id=h7VLAAAAcAAJ - Serarius, Nicholas, S.J. Trihaeresivm [second copy / variant edition]. Moguntiae [Mainz]: Balthasar Lippius, 1604.
https://books.google.com/books?id=Si9PAAAAcAAJ