History of the Jews, Vol. 3 (of 6)Graetz, Heinrich
History
History of the Jews, Vol. 3 (of 6)
Graetz, Heinrich
Jews -- History
Meanwhile how much of the land of their fathers still remained in the
hands of the Jews? Christianity had made itself master of Judæa, and
had become the heir of Judaism. Churches and monasteries arose in
the Holy Land, but its former masters were subjected to all sorts of
persecution whenever they attempted to repair a dilapidated synagogue.
Bishops, abbots and monks lorded it over Palestine, and turned it
into a theater of dogmatic wranglings over the simple or dual nature
of Christ. Jerusalem had ceased to be a center for the Jews; it had
become a thoroughly Christian city, the seat of an archbishop, and
inaccessible to its own sons. The law forbidding Jews to enter the Holy
City, which had been revived by Constantine, was, after the death of
Julian, most rigorously enforced by the authorities. Tiberias, the
stately city on the lake, alone maintained its academical rank, and
under the presidency of Mar-Zutra III and his descendants, it became
a seat of authority for the Jews of other countries. Even the Jewish
king of Arabia voluntarily submitted to the exhortations addressed
to him from Tiberias. But Christianity had acquired a hold even
there, and Tiberias was also the seat of a bishopric. The mountain
cities of Galilee were inhabited by Jews, who probably followed the
same occupations as their forefathers, namely, agriculture and the
cultivation of the olive.
Nazareth, the cradle of Christianity, where the most beautiful women in
all Palestine were to be found, seems to have been mostly populated by
Jews, as it had not been raised to the rank of a bishopric. Scythopolis
(Bethsan), which became the capital of Palæstina Secunda during this
century, and Neapolis (Shechem), the capital of the Samaritans since
Samaria had become Christian, had Jewish inhabitants. But in all these
cities, with the exception of Nazareth, the Jews seem to have been
in the minority, insignificant in comparison with the number of the
Christians.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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