Short Answer: Were some Early Church Writers Anti-Semitic?

 Dear Apologist, I was told that the early Church fathers expressed anti-Semitic attitudes.  Did they?  And what does that mean for us today?

In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul warns his Gentile readers against taking an arrogant or superior attitude toward his countrymen who had not accepted the Messiah:

"If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you." - Romans 11:17-18

Unfortunately, this instruction has not been followed very well throughout our history.  The writings of early Church fathers such as Hippolytus of Rome and John Chrysostom include unkind statements against the Jewish people, including blaming them corporately for the death of the Messiah. And down through the centuries Catholic societies have visited grave injustices against the Jewish people, including restrictions on their economic opportunities, religious practices, and living spaces.

However, the fact that Catholics – even Catholic saints – have defamed the Jewish people does not bind us to share the same attitudes.  In the 20th century, the Second Vatican Council sought to address how Catholics should relate to the Jews.  In a document called Nostra Aetate, the Council said the following:

“True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ. Still, what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today. 

Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers.  

Furthermore, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.” - Nosta Aetate, 4

So the answer is “yes”, there were early Church Fathers who expressed anti-Semitic sentiments.  Today we can view this as a tragedy.  

We can avoid the mistakes of the past.