St. John Chrysostom: Homilies on Jews as Enemies of God

St. John Chrysostom, one of the great Fathers of the Orthodox Church, speaks clearly and forcefully about the ungodliness and impiety of the Jews, exposing their rejection of God, their false worship, and their moral corruption. In his writings, he asserts that, despite possessing the sacred books of Moses and the prophets, the Jews fail to know or honor God, and their practices reveal hostility toward the truth revealed in Christ.

“But at any rate the Jews say that they, too, adore God. God forbid that I say that. No Jew adores God! Who say so? The Son of God say so. For he said: ‘If you were to know my Father, you would also know me. But you neither know me nor do you know my Father.’ Could I produce a witness more trustworthy than the Son of God? If, then, the Jews fail to know the Father, if they crucified the Son, if they thrust off the help of the Spirit, who should not make bold to declare plainly that the synagogue is a dwelling of demons? God is not worshipped there. Heaven forbid! From now on it remains a place of idolatry. But still some people pay it honor as a holy place.”

Chrysostom does not shy away from the most shocking examples of moral corruption among the Jews. He points out their extreme cruelty and impiety, including the sacrifice of their own children to demons:

“They sacrificed their own sons and daughters to demons. They refused to recognize nature, they forgot the pangs of birth, they trod underfoot the rearing of their children, they overturned from their foundations the laws of kingship, they became more savage than any wild beast.” 

Importantly, Chrysostom explicitly warns Christians not to go to synagogues or treat them as holy:

“Flee the gatherings and holy places of the Jews. Let no man venerate the synagogue because of the holy books; let him hate and avoid it because the Jews outrage and maltreat the holy ones, because they refuse to believe their words, because they accuse them of the ultimate impiety.”

He emphasizes a principle that resonates throughout his writings: holiness does not reside in a building or in ritual alone; it resides in the faith and intention of those who worship. Just as the hands of executioners do not become holy because they touch the martyrs, neither does a synagogue gain sanctity simply by housing sacred texts. He warns that the very act of rejecting God and the prophets makes such places spiritually dangerous.

“They have the prophets but not believe them; they read the sacred writings but reject their witness—and this is a mark of men guilty of the greatest outrage… They brought the books of Moses and the prophets along with them into the synagogue, not to honor them but to outrage them with dishonor.”

Chrysostom further criticizes the festivals, sacrifices, and rituals of the Jews, pointing out that God evaluates intention, not outward appearance:

“Do you wish to see that God hates the worship paid with kettledrums, with lyres, with harps, and other instruments? God said: ‘Take away from me the sound of your songs and I will not hear the canticle of you harps.’ If God said: ‘Take them away,’ do you run to listen to the trumpets? Are these sacrifices and offerings not an abomination?”

True holiness comes from knowing God, obeying His will, and cultivating a faithful heart. The synagogue, according to Chrysostom, fails this standard because its worshippers reject Christ, disbelieve the prophets, and persist in impiety. Christ fulfilled the types of Jewish ritual, transforming them into the reality of Christian worship, especially through the Eucharist. As Chrysostom explains:

“Christ did keep the Pasch with them. Yet he did not do so with the idea that we should keep the Pasch with them. He did so that he might bring the reality to what foreshadowed the reality.”

Fasting, prayer, almsgiving, and participation in the mysteries of the Church are not mere routines—they are the means by which we purify our hearts and approach God with reverence. Chrysostom reminds us:

“Many a man approached the sacrificial banquet without thought or preparation… they came together and marked out forty days for people to fast, pray, and gather together to hear the word of God.”

The synagogue, while outwardly venerable, is not a dwelling of God, because those who gather there reject Him, crucified the Son, thrust aside the Spirit, maltreat the prophets, and even sacrificed their own children to demons. They are blind to God’s truth, deceitful in their ceremonies, greedy, licentious, and impious, and therefore their synagogues, however outwardly adorned, are dwellings of deception and sin rather than of God.