Good Friday intercession for the Jews

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Oremus et pro perfidis Judæis in the Nouveau Paroissien Romain from 1924

The Good Friday Intercession for the Jews is one of the Great Intercession in the Good Friday liturgy according to the Roman rite used by Roman Catholics , Old Catholics, and some Anglicans . It originated in the 6th century, called the Jews perfidis ("unfaithful") since 750 , their faith iudaica perfidia ("Jewish unfaithfulness") and asked God to remove the "veil from their hearts" to give them the knowledge of Jesus Christ and thus to wrest from the "blindness of their people" and "darkness". Since 800 it has also been given special characteristics: only with this intercession should the prayers not kneel down and say no amen . In 1570 Pope Pius V laid down this version, which remained unchanged until 1956. Historians consider it to be an expression of Christian anti-Judaism , which also promoted anti-Semitism .

Criticism of the traditional intercession of Jews was only heard after the Holocaust . From 1956 the Vatican changed it step by step up to the normal version of 1970, which is valid today. This emphasizes Israel's election to the people of God and does not ask for knowledge of Christ, but for the faithfulness of the Jews to God's covenant and love for his name , thus recognizing Judaism . Since 1984, an exception in Latin based on the liturgy of 1962 has also been possible. Pope Benedict XVI made it easier to use in 2007 to accommodate Catholic traditionalists . In 2008 he reformulated this version: The opening sentence asks for enlightenment of the Jews to the knowledge of Christ, "the Savior of all men". This provoked continued protests and disruptions in the Catholic-Jewish dialogue .

Emergence

Good Friday prayers

The early Christians first addressed their mission sermons to Jews from the area of ​​what was then Palestine and called on them to repent in order to enable them to be saved from the expected final judgment ( Acts 2.38  EU ). The New Testament (NT) does not testify to any special intercession for them .

After the separation of Judaism and Christianity (around 100), some church fathers such as Justin ( Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon , 155–160) occasionally counted Jews among the enemies for whom persecuted Christians according to Jesus' command to love their enemies ( Mt 5,45  EU ) and should pray his own request for forgiveness on the cross ( Lk 23.34  EU ). This followed the example of Jeremiah , who called the Jews exiled in Babylon to pray for the good of the city of their exile ( Jer 29.7  EU ).

Since the church's rise to the status of the Roman state religion (from 380), Christian mission among Jews has hardly had any success. Only a few theologians like Jerome ( Sermo 70 , Chapter 2) and Leo the Great ( Homiliae in ps. 108 ) admonished Christians around 400 to include Jews in their prayers as unbelievers, since they were the root of the Church.

A special prayer for Jews in the daily church mass has been known for around 500 . However, this has only been included in some measurement orders in Spain since 586. The Roman , Milan and Gallican liturgy of the 6th century only knew intercession for Jews, heretics and pagans on Good Friday. The Sacramentarium Gregorianum (around 592) contained such Good Friday prayers. According to the Ambrosian rite (8th century), they were formulated the same for all three groups and required everyone to kneel down.

Perfidus / Perfidia

The Latin adjective perfidus and the associated noun perfidia often appear in ancient church scriptures as the opposite of fides (" faith , trust") in the sense of incredulitas ("unbelief"). Since Cyprian of Carthage ( De unitate , De lapsi, etc.) it has almost always referred to other Christians as schismatics , heretics or apostates who have fallen away from the true faith . Few passages related the term to Jewish Christians in order to ward off their teachings as human unfaithfulness to Christ. God's final departure from the Israel Covenant was not stated. Perfidus is documented for the first time in the history of the Franks (around 592) by Bishop Gregory of Tours as part of the prayer for the Jews. The prayer in the Sacramentarium Gelasianum (around 750) contained a slightly different variant.

Omission of the knee-fall

Around 800, for the first time in the Salzburg capitularies , then in the church missals under the Carolingians , when praying for the Jews, the usual request to those who prayed to kneel down was missing . Amalarius of Metz justified this around 820 as follows:

“In all prayers we bend our knees (...) except when we pray 'pro perfidis Judaeis'. Because they bowed their knees before Christ, but turned a good custom into its opposite, since they did this as a mockery. "

In doing so, he attributed the sneering kneeling of Roman soldiers, mentioned in Mt 27.29  EU and Mk 15.19  EU , who scourged and tortured Jesus before his crucifixion , to the Jews. This justification became generally accepted in the church, so that from then on the kneeling in the intercession of Jews was omitted everywhere.

A handwritten marginal note on the Sacramentarium of Saint-Vast (10th century) justified the elimination of the squat as follows:

" Hic nostrum nullus debet modo flectere corpus ob populi noxam ac pariter rabiem. "

The Catholic liturgist Louis Molien translated this in 1924:

"Here none of us [priests] should bow down because of the fear that the anger of the Christian people instilled in their priests."

Accordingly, the Christians' hatred of Jews forced the clergy to leave out the squat. Many commentators accepted this interpretation because it relieved the church of its responsibility for anti-Judaism. The church historian Jules Isaac , on the other hand, emphasized in 1956 that noxa in medieval Latin never meant anger or hatred, but always meant "sin" or "(original) guilt". The sentence should therefore only be translated with "... because of the sin of the people and because of their anger", so it refers to Jews, not Christians. The church itself introduced the elimination of the squat in order to spread and anchor its anti-Judaism in the Christian population.

Liturgical context

In the Middle Ages, the three-part celebration of the suffering and death of Christ arose on Good Friday afternoon, consisting of readings, veneration of the cross and communion . The intercessions concluded the first part, which began with two readings from the Old Testament . Most read was Hos 6.1–6  EU , which contrasts God's faithfulness to Israel with its infidelity in the image of the adulterous woman, and Ps 140  EU , which speaks of evil, violent and devious trappers with poisoned tongues. Originally a psalm for unjustly persecuted Jews, Christians related it to an alleged persecution of Jesus by all Jews: This was followed by passages from the Gospel of John that were read in distributed roles and that declared “the Jews” collectively as opponents of Jesus. The intercessions were followed by lamentations - called improperia since 1474 - in which various biblical quotations were combined and Jesus was put in the mouth. In it he complains about the infidelity of his people and blames them for his death.

Pope Pius V, contemporary illustration

Through this anti-Judaistic context of the intercession of the Jews, perfidus assumed the meaning field of perfidious : "malicious, malicious, mean, insidious, devious, insidious, vile, nefarious, shameful, shameful, devilish, devious, depraved" and the like. These connotations penetrated the later national language translations of the Jewish intercession.

Roman Catholic Development

Tridentine version (1570)

The Roman Missal, authorized by Pius V in 1570, placed the intercession of the Jews in the eighth place between the intercession for the heretics and the pagans . It started like this:

" Oremus et pro perfidis Judaeis, ut Deus et Dominus noster auferat velamen de cordibus eorum, ut et ipsi cognoscant Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. "

In addition to the verb cognoscere ("recognize"), agnoscere ("recognize") is also used at this point. The priest was instructed on the grounds customary since Amalarius von Metz not to kneel down, but to continue standing without pause and not to end the oration with “Amen”. It read:

" Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui etiam judaicam perfidiam a tua misericordia non repellis, exaudi preces nostras, quas pro illius populi obcæcatione deferimus, ut agnita veritatis tuæ luce, quæ Christ est, a suis tenebris eruantur. Per one dominum nostrum. "

This fixed version differed only slightly from that of the Sacramentarium Gelasianum . It remained binding and unchanged until 1955. According to Giuseppe M. Croce , some Catholic bishops in Tuscany are said to have left out the intercession for the Jews from the Great Intercessions around 1800, but without requiring this for the Church as a whole.

“The Synagogue ” as a woman with a broken Torah scroll and blindfolded; Sculpture at Freiburg Cathedral

German translation (1884)

In the 19th century, the Vatican allowed bilingual mess books to enable people to pray in the respective national language. The German translation of the ecclesiastical edition by Anselm Schott from 1884 reads:

"Let us also pray for the faithless Jews that God, our Lord, may remove the veil from their hearts so that they too may know our Lord Jesus Christ."

The instruction to the prayer leader was translated as follows:

"Here the deacon omits the invitation to bend the knees in order not to renew the memory of the shame with which the Jews mocked the Savior by bending the knees at this hour."

This is followed by the wording of the actual prayer:

“Almighty Eternal God, you do not exclude even the unfaithful Jews from your mercy; Hear our prayers, which we bring before you because of the blindness of those people: Would they like to recognize the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be torn from their darkness. Through him, our Lord. "

First reform initiative (1928)

On February 2, 1925, the Dutch Jewish convert, Franziska van Leer, unsuccessfully asked Cardinal Wilhelmus Marinus van Rossum, a friend of her , to campaign in the Vatican to change the prayer for the Jews. On her initiative, the Catholic clergy group Amici Israel ("Friends of Israel", that means all Jews) was founded in 1926 , which in 1928 belonged to around 3,000 priests, 287 bishops and 19 cardinals, including three high representatives of the Curia . Based on the belief that Christ was "the firstborn, the truth and the head of Israel" as the first chosen people of God, they advocated reconciliation between Catholicism and Judaism in order to facilitate mission to the Jews . Therefore they rejected the traditional anti-Judaistic legends of the murder of God , ritual murders and desecration of the host and wanted to eliminate anti-Jewish elements of the Catholic liturgy.

On January 2, 1928, the chairman Benedikt Gariador (1859-1936) submitted a written submission to Pope Pius XI. who asked for the removal or replacement of the terms perfidis / perfidia and permission to kneel in the intercession of the Jews. The document, probably written by Anton van Asseldonk and Laetus Himmelreich , was rediscovered in the Vatican archives released in 2003 and argued as follows:

  • Historically, Christians would have prayed very early for the conversion of the Jews to Christ, not for their conversion to Christianity.
  • The expression perfidus was originally only related to specific violations of the law by certain Jews, only later understood as “complete depravity” and thus reinterpreted as an unchangeable characteristic of all Jews.
  • The alleged scornful Jewish kneeling before Jesus is unproven in the NT and a later added fiction.
  • Today, prayer is being misused as an argument for anti-Semitism that the Catholic Church itself even propagates in its worship services.
  • Therefore, perfidiam Judaicam should be replaced by plebem Judaicam (the “Jewish people”), as was already the case in a manuscript of the Manuale Ambrosianum from the 11th century.

The responsible liturgy commission of the Congregation for Rites in the Vatican commissioned the Benedictine abbot Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster , a specialist in ancient liturgy, to assess the proposals. He spoke out unreservedly in favor of their implementation and described the omission of the kneeling as a "superstitious custom" that cannot be justified biblically. The Congregation then recommended acceptance of the changes requested and submitted its opinion to the Holy Office for review. This first consulted the Dominican Marco Sales , who was considered a court theologian close to the Pope and who represented the tradition-oriented Catholic dogmatics. He initially admitted that, from the standpoint of faith and doctrine, there was basically nothing to be said against the proposed liturgical changes. In terms of the Catholic tradition, however, they are inappropriate and not useful:

  • All parts of the Jewish intercession that were criticized, including the omission of the kneeling and the amen , had already arisen in the early church. As a "venerable sacred liturgy that goes back to antiquity" they defy any reformability.
  • If one were to allow a private association to intervene in this tradition in this way, one would not come to an end and could just as easily allow the deletion of objectionable passages in the apostolic creed, the improperies and the curse psalms from the liturgy. For Jews, these contained much harsher formulations.
  • Perfidus has always meant a breach of word and contract: This is exactly what God himself accuses the Jews of the Bible. Sales referred to Dtn 31,16.20.27; Ps 78.57; 2 Kings 17:15 and Acts 7.51.
  • Just as God only made a covenant with the Jews, only these would have broken this covenant and continued it constantly: That is why the expression perfidus was appropriate for them, not for the Gentiles.
  • Nobody could accuse Pius V, the author of the Missale Romanum, of anti-Semitism, since he had always stood up for the Jews.
  • According to Mt 27.25, they themselves took responsibility for the crucifixion of Christ.

That is why there is no plausible reason to accept the Amici Israel's proposal : Nihil esse innovandum (“Nothing can be renewed”).

Rafael Merry del Val (photo taken around 1914)

Rafael Merry del Val , who had been appointed Secretary of the Office as a representative of anti-modernism , followed this opinion. In the previous year he had become a member of the Amici himself , because he considered it to be a pious Catholic association that wanted to convert as many Jews as possible to Christ and the Catholic Church through the power of prayer. So he received her invitation to the annual meeting in Rome for February 1928. Through this he learned that the Amici not only prayerfully go on mission to the Jews, but also want to publicly discuss and promote the reform of the Good Friday Prayer and Zionism . He immediately initiated an investigation into the Amici program Pax super Israel to have it banned. In order to shorten the indexing process , he himself filed the report, which was otherwise only permitted from outside, and demanded a papal decree in order to avoid the otherwise required expert opinion and its double examination by consultants and cardinals. With the help of the Pope, he wanted to deny the Amici their orthodoxy and block their reform goals.

In secret consultations, del Val and Pius XI. a decree published on March 14, 1928, which condemned racial anti-Semitism as unchristian, but at the same time distinguished it from Christian anti-Judaism in order to legitimize it. The Amici Israel group has been banned and its leaders have been summoned and interrogated to completely renounce their views. This background to the decree became known in 2004 through inspection of the Vatican archives, which had been closed until then.

Other translations (1948)

After the Vatican refused to delete anti-Jewish statements in the request, Catholic theologians tried to mitigate the negative connotations of the Latin text with other translations. The church historian Erik Peterson , who became a Catholic in 1930, described in 1936 the shift in meaning of perfidus since the Old Church , which had included a blanket devaluation since the High Middle Ages. He suggested translating it with “unbelieving” or “unbelieving”, iudaicam perfidiam with “who close themselves to the faith”. The Swiss theologian Charles Journet joined Peterson in 1937: The Latin perfidus should not be translated correctly with the French perfide , but rather with infidèle (unbelieving). Because the heathen are also unbelievers and, like the Jews, are responsible for the "murder of God". The lack of a knee is also exegetically untenable.

Both advances were limited to the intercession of the Jews and were fruitless. Commentaries on German missals from 1930 interpreted the previous psalm reading as “Christ's lament over the betrayal of Judas and the wickedness of the Jews”, without encountering theological contradiction. The Benedictines of the Archabbey translated Beuron perfidus for their German edition of the missal from 1937 with the permission of the Archbishop of Freiburg, Conrad Gröber, as “incredulous”. But this was unique at the time; all other bilingual folk missiles in Europe translated perfidus as before with expressions in the sense of "faithless".

It was only after the Holocaust and the end of the war in 1945 that the translation of the Prayer for Jews was also discussed in Rome and Peterson's research results for the meaning of perfidis were confirmed as “unbelieving” before 500. In its declaration Acta Apostolicae Sedis of August 16, 1948, the Congregation for Rites admitted that perfidus had often been translated with expressions that were offensive to Jews. It allowed him to be translated in the sense of infidelis , meaning “unbeliever”.

But most of the missal editions kept the old translation. Jules Isaac and other Catholic authors advocated the deletion of perfidus / perfidia without replacement , since the etymological explanation could not remove the derogatory and contemptuous meaning of the expression in the Latin church language.

Introduction of the knee fall (1956)

The reform of the Holy Week liturgy under Pope Pius XII. served to adapt the liturgy of Holy Week to the old church tradition. The decree Maxima redemptionis nostrae mysteria of the Congregation for Rites of November 16, 1955 introduced headings for all nine intercessions that indicated their purpose. The intercession for the Jews was headed Pro conversione Judaeorum (“For the conversion of the Jews”), the following intercession with the Gentiles with Pro conversione Infidelium (“For the conversion of the unbelievers”). This confirmed the Catholic missionary intent towards both groups. At the same time, the decree introduced kneeling, silence and the common amen in the intercession of Jews. From 1956 this version was binding in the Roman Catholic Church.

Roman Missal from 1962

Omission of perfidus / perfidia (1960)

With John XXIII. there were new approaches to reform the intercession for the Jews. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, as apostolic envoy in Hungary from 1940 to 1944 , helped tens of thousands of Hungarian, Slovak and Bulgarian Jews who were persecuted by the National Socialists and their helpers to escape. On the day of his election as Pope, October 28, 1958, Anton van Asseldonk had written to him, possibly reminding him of the earlier reform proposals of the Amici Israel ; the letter has not yet been published.

Without previously announcing a reform intention, this Pope left out the words perfidis and judaicam perfidiam during his Good Friday prayer on March 18, 1959 in St. Peter's Basilica and bent his knees according to the version of 1956. On May 19, 1959, the Congregation for Rites decided to omit the two words and to insert Iudaeos between qui and etiam in the oration. This version ordered a decree on July 7, 1959, to all diocesan bishops on the nunciatures from the following year. It was included in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal . After more than 30 years, the Vatican followed almost literally the proposals of the Amici Israel , which they had to renounce in 1928.

On Good Friday 1962 a cardinal in Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Rome) prayed the prayer for the Jews according to the updated version from 1956. The Pope who was there then interrupted him and asked him to say the prayer again according to the new form from 1960. However, the heading and the statements that the Jews were in a “delusion” and had to be “torn from their darkness” remained unchanged.

Revision I (1965)

The Second Vatican Council was founded by John XXIII. planned and initiated. In addition to the reform plans of his predecessors and the former Amici Israel , he intended a fundamental renewal of theology and relations with Judaism. In April 1959, Asseldonk had asked him in a letter to use the council to reawaken the Jews' “spiritual responsibility”, “especially towards Jesus Christ.” The desired papal donation was intended to promote mission to the Jews. But because of the Holocaust, this traditional missionary intention in the Vatican could no longer be continued.

On December 4, 1963, the council passed the “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy”, which, among other things, required parish participation, greater emphasis on the biblical word of God , simplicity, mother tongue and consideration of the peculiarities of the peoples. In this way, the impulses of the Reformation were taken up and the "intercession of the community that had been lost over the centuries in the Western liturgy", understood as an "expression of the general priestly office of all people" , "was emphatically reintroduced."

Paul VI 1967

In the course of this liturgical reform and as a result of the theological accents of Lumen Gentium (November 21, 1964), Pope Paul VI. the streamlining of the great intercessions and changing their wording. The decree of the Congregation for Rites of March 7, 1965 changed three of them. The prayer for the Jews was now titled Pro Iudaeis ("For the Jews") and read:

“ Oremus et pro Iudaeis; ut Deus et Dominus noster faciem suam super eos illuminare dignetur; ut et ipsi agnoscant omnium Redemptorem, Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum.
[Oremus. Flectamus genoa. - Levate.]
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui promissiones tuas Abrahae et semini eius contulisti: Ecclesiae tuae preces clementer exaudi; ut populus acquisitionis antiquae ad Redemptionis mereatur plenitudinem pervenire. Per dominum nostrum. [Omnes: R.] Amen. "

“Let us also pray for the Jews. Our God and Lord let his face shine on them, so that they too may know the Redeemer of all people, our Lord Jesus Christ.
[Let us pray. Bend your knees. - Rise up.]
Almighty Eternal God, to Abraham and his descendants, you made your promises; answer with kindness the requests of your church; and let that people, whom you accepted as your own in ancient times, come to the fullness of salvation: through our Lord. [All answer:] Amen. "

This was the first time that God's covenant with Abraham , the progenitor of all Jews, for the blessing of all peoples (Gen 12: 3) was recognized as a valid basis for Israel's hope of salvation. The substitution theology , which was based on a delusion, obduracy and rejection of Judaism, was abandoned and the positive biblical alternative to it emphasized. The first sentence is based on the Aaronic Blessing , one of the oldest Jewish prayers that early Christianity had already adopted.

Revision II (1970)

With the declaration Nostra Aetate approved on October 28, 1965 , the Roman Catholic Church recognized God's covenant with all Jews and Israel's Bible, the Old Testament, as the continuing root and nourishment of the church. Therefore she rejected the substitution theology, the god murder theory and all anti-Semitism. Everyone should make sure that nothing is taught in the service “that is not in harmony with evangelical truth and the spirit of Christ.” The prayer texts for Holy Week were then revised again. A preliminary draft emphasized more strongly than before that the Jews would have received the first and valid revelation with God's Israel covenant :

“ Oremus et pro Judaeis; ut ad quos prius locutus est Dominus, ice tribuat in verbi sui cognitione et amore proficere. "

“Let us pray for the Jews to whom God spoke in the beginning [the first word]. May he give them the grace to understand his word more and more deeply and to grow in love. "

In 1970 the German Catholic bishops published handouts for the liturgy of Holy Week, which were based on the first revision of 1965 and how they spoke of the promises for Abraham.

On March 26, 1970, the new Roman Missal was published . In it, the intercession of the Jews is under the heading Pro Judaeis in sixth position of the nine intercessions after the request for the unity of the church. It is formulated as a request for the Jews to be faithful to their own faith:

" Oremus et pro Iudaeis, ut ad quos prius locutus est Dominus Deus noster, eis tribuat in sui nominis amore et in sui foederis fidelitate proficere.
[Flectamus genoa. - Levate.]
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui promissiones tuas Abrahae eiusque semini contulisti, Ecclesiae tuae preces clementer exaudi, ut populus acquisitionis prioris ad redemptionis mereatur plenitudinem pervenire. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. "

The following handouts from the German Catholic bishops in 1971 were translated as follows:

“Let us also pray for the Jews, to whom God spoke first, that they love his name more and more and walk faithfully on the path that his covenant has shown them.
[Bend your knees. - Silence - Rise up.]
Almighty, Eternal God, you made your promise to Abraham and his children. We pray for the people you have chosen from ancient times: let them come to the fullness of salvation. Through Christ our Lord. "

On September 23, 1974, the German Bishops' Conference approved the German-language edition of the new missal. Since the first Sunday of Lent in 1976, the following translation has been used in all German-speaking dioceses:

“Let us also pray for the Jews to whom our Lord God first spoke: May he keep them in loyalty to his covenant and in love for his name, so that they may achieve the goal to which his counsel will lead them .
[Bend your knees. - Silence - Rise up.]
Almighty, Eternal God, you made your promise to Abraham and his children. Hear your Church's prayer for the people you have chosen to be your first property: give that they may come to the fullness of salvation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen."

This was followed by Paul VI. further steps such as the establishment of a permanent commission for religious relations with Judaism and the issue of guidelines and instructions for the implementation of the Council Declaration Nostra Aetate (both 1974). Representatives of Judaism welcomed these efforts and thereupon intensified the dialogue with the Roman Catholics, also at regional and local level. At his last audience on November 24, 1976 Paul VI received. a delegation of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and looked back on the progress made in the Catholic-Jewish dialogue, which had also made the reform of the intercession of Jews possible. He recalled the common belief behind these advances:

“Yes, the God of justice and peace, Lord of life, is our common father and the origin of our fraternities. We call down his light and power on all of you. "

Exceptional version (2008)

In 1984, John Paul II granted the diocesan bishops an indult which enabled them to allow masses in the Usus antiquior according to the missal of 1962. This should accommodate requests from local special groups to practice the traditional Tridentine rite . This meant that in exceptional cases the version of the Prayer for Jews from 1960, which deviated from the standard version, remained possible.

In spring 2007 the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI. wanted to allow the extraordinary rite even without an episcopal exemption. The Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) warned on 4 April 2007 in front of it in order to rehabilitate the version of the Jews intercession from 1960 again. Their wording contradicts the statements of Nostra Aetate , according to which the Jews should not be portrayed as rejected or cursed by God. Allowing them will cause “a lasting disruption of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue that has begun so hopefully since the Second Vatican Council”. The Tridentine rite cannot be separated from the anti-Jewish and anti-ecumenical theology behind it. A Latin mass is also possible at any time with the post-conciliar Missale Romanum (Editio typica tertia, Rome 2002).

Benedict XVI., 2007

With the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007 Benedict XVI. Masses according to the missal from 1962 for religious orders, societies of apostolic life , additional divine services for fixed groups within a congregation and personal parishes . Private masses were now also allowed to follow the older missal, but not for the Triduum Sacrum . In his cover letter he stated that he wanted to accommodate supporters of the Society of St. Pius X and younger Catholics who were drawn to the old liturgy. He emphasized:

“There is no contradiction between one and the other edition of the Missale Romanum. In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no break. What was sacred to earlier generations remains sacred and great to us too; it cannot suddenly be completely forbidden or even harmful. "

Representatives of Judaism protested against the associated revaluation of the pre-conciliar prayer for Jews. So wrote Abraham Foxman , director of the ADL in the United States: It is extremely disappointed and deeply hurt that the Vatican almost 40 years after he was insulting anti-Jewish language walk right out of the Good Friday Mass, Catholics such words now of a request for conversion Allow Jews again. This is a wrong decision at the wrong time. It should apparently please a right wing that rejects change and reconciliation.

Catholic theologians also declared both versions of the prayer to be incompatible and demanded that the older version be deleted without replacement. Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone announced this on July 19, 2007 after a conversation with the Pope: “That would solve all problems.” On February 5, 2008, the Holy See surprisingly announced the following reformulation by Benedict:

" Oremus et pro Iudaeis. Ut Deus et Dominus noster illuminet corda eorum, ut agnoscant Iesum Christum salvatorem omnium hominum.
[Oremus. Flectamus genoa. - Levate.]
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui vis ut omnes homines salvi fiant et ad agnitionem veritatis veniant, concede propitius, ut plenitudine gentium in Ecclesiam Tuam intrante omnis Israel salvus fiat. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. "

The German translation is:

“Let us also pray for the Jews that God our Lord may enlighten their hearts so that they may know Jesus Christ, the Savior of all people.
[Let us pray. Bend your knees. Rise up.]
Almighty Eternal God, You want all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Graciously grant that when the fullness of all peoples enters Your Church, all Israel will be saved. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."

The heading in the 1962 Missal Pro conversione Judaeorum remained unchanged.

Discussion since 2008

Jews

Representatives of Judaism almost unanimously understood Benedict's version, especially because of the introductory sentence, as disregard for their religion and open or clandestine conversion intent in the anti-Judaist tradition.

Riccardo Di Segni , chief rabbi of Rome, saw it on February 6, 2008 only a cosmetic softening of the anti-Jewish attitude of 1570, which set the Jewish-Catholic dialogue back 45 years. The Cologne Rabbi Netanel Teitelbaum asked: “If the Jews are to be taught the Christian faith, why do you need dialogue?” For Günther Bernd Ginzel , head of the Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation , the exceptional version also mocks the Jews “in a theological way Shape". She separates from the Catholic consensus, which has been in effect since 1965, to respect the Jews as God's people, who do not have to recognize Jesus Christ. It opens the door to the mission to the Jews again and is not to be understood differently by either Jews or Catholic traditionalists.

The New York rabbi and historian Jacob Neusner, on the other hand, defended the plea for conversion on February 23, 2008: It was "in the logic of monotheism ". Even believing Jews prayed three times a day that one day all non-Jews would invoke the name of YHWH to "deliver the earth from atrocities when the world will be perfected under the rule of the Almighty". The Catholic Good Friday plea "that when the abundance of peoples enters Your Church all Israel be saved" expresses the same end-time hope. That is why Jews should not be offended by this any more than Christians and Muslims should be offended by their daily prayer for the conversion of the peoples. Otherwise they would deny non-Jews access to this God "whom Israel knows from the Torah".

After Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone referred to Jewish prayers that could also hurt Christians, Di Segni contradicted on March 20, 2008: Jews did not demand that others convert. Their liturgy does not refer to Christians at all; corresponding texts have been changed centuries ago. Only respect for the identity of the other enables a dialogue.

Henry G. Brandt , who heads the General Rabbinical Conference in Germany , called the exceptional version "reactionary". Rabbi Walter Homolka recalled the frequent murder of Jews in the “historical context” of medieval Good Friday. In view of this ecclesiastical guilt, to ask for enlightenment of the Jews was "completely inappropriate" and strictly rejected. When asked whether Christianity as a missionary religion should not also try to convince Jews, he replied:

“No, because the controversial Good Friday intercession completely ignores the special position of Judaism as God's people. God has called us Jews to 'light among the peoples', so we certainly don't need enlightenment from the Catholic Church. The younger sister has a hard time getting her tone wrong. "

Charlotte Knobloch , then President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , saw it as “a subtle call for a mission to the Jews” and declared the dialogue with the Catholic Church to be suspended until it withdrew the exceptional version.

At the end of March 2008, Daniel Alter , Gerhard Amendt , Micha Brumlik , Walter Homolka, Rolf Verleger and other Jewish speakers canceled their participation in the 97th German Catholic Day due in May 2008 because of the unresolved dispute over the prayer for Jews .

Following Bertone's April 4, 2008 statement, ADF's Abraham Foxman regretted that the Vatican had not expressly rejected any form of mission to the Jews. Riccardo Di Segni also missed a clarification "that the church does not pray for the conversion of the Jews or that it at least postpones this wish until the end of time and leaves it to the sole decision of God".

Cardinal Walter Kasper tried to clarify this on March 20. Walter Homolka welcomed this on May 19, 2008 as the basis for a future dialogue, but continued to demand that the exceptional version be withdrawn and noted his rejection of the Catholic Day: "We do not want to be prayed or proselytized."

On January 15, 2009, Bishop Vincenzo Paglia , who is responsible for the Catholic-Jewish dialogue in Italy, declared that the “little incident” could not interrupt 50 years of dialogue. This must now be intensified. However, the Italian Rabbinical Conference did not take part in the Catholic "Judaism Day" on January 17, 2009 because of the new Good Friday prayer.

Catholic traditionalists

The Pius Brotherhood , which to this day prays the version from 1962, rejected the new exceptional version as a superfluous and regrettable concession to representatives of Judaism.

The Priestly Society of St. Peter emphasized that both exceptional versions are based on Pauline theology: the old through 2 Cor 3:14  EU , the new through Rom 11:26  EU . To reject the request for the "conversion" of the Jews to the "Savior of all people" means to withhold the salvation offer of the new covenant from the old covenant people. Anyone who rejects this form of prayer therefore has a problem with Jesus Christ himself.

The Transalpine Redemptorists also welcomed the new version and announced on February 8, 2008 "with willful obedience" their adoption. In June 2008 the Vatican granted them re-entry into the Roman Catholic Church.

Vatican representatives and supporters

Vatican officials emphasize the correspondence between the exceptional and standard versions. Dialogue between them is only possible when Christians pray for Jews according to their own faith. Gianfranco Ravasi , President of the Pontifical Council for Culture , justified the new version on February 15, 2008 with a quote from Julien Green : “It is always beautiful and legitimate to wish others what is good or a joy for you . "

Curia cardinal Paul Josef Cordes saw the criticism of the exceptional version by the Central Council of Jews as a fundamentally understandable attempt by Jews in Germany to draw attention to themselves and their past fate and also to address tensions “that are or are between Jews and society can". If one thinks that "Christ came to bring salvation to mankind", one should not reproach Christians for praying for the Jews to turn to Jesus Christ, especially since messianic Jews also strive for recognition of Jesus Christ in Judaism .

Walter Kasper , President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity , denied that the Vatican had fallen behind Nostra aetate . The exceptional version only names the NT-based difference between Christians and Jews, which the standard version also presupposes but does not address: It expressly speaks of "Jesus as the Christ and the salvation of all people - including the Jews". They should “respect that we as Christians pray according to our faith, just as we of course respect their way of praying.” The request for enlightenment expect the conversion of the Jews to Christ only from God alone. Even Paul of Tarsus did in Romans hoped for the conversion of Jews, but only after the universal international mission and only in the context of the second coming of Jesus Christ. Intercession expresses this hope of faith by recommending the coming of the end-time Shalom to God. That excludes a missionary intention and organized mission to the Jews, but not a tactful and respectful testimony of Christ to Jews.

On April 4, 2008, Tarcisio Bertone published a statement by the Pope on the discussion about the exception version. He affirmed that this does not mean a departure from the Second Vatican Council and Nostra Aetate and remains only an exception. There was no theological explanation of the formulation and the answer to the requests for their withdrawal.

Criticism within the Catholic Church in Germany

In Germany, the new exceptional version met with criticism from several quarters. Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff found the wording misleading and recalled the proposal of the German Bishops' Conference to allow the standard Latin version of 1970 for the extraordinary rite, because it upholds the “dignity of Israel” by emphasizing the fidelity of the Jews to God's covenant with them. Johannes Brosseder , Catholic theology professor with a focus on ecumenism, spoke of a "relapse into anti-Jewish thinking":

“Like the old text, the new text also assumes that the hearts of the Jews are not enlightened and the Jews have not yet come to the knowledge of the truth; their conversion to Jesus Christ is still expected. The new prayer remains an expression of Christian arrogance towards Judaism; Paul had already written this in mind to the Christians in the family book: 'You do not carry the root, but the root carries you' ( Rom 11,18  EU ; cf. Rom 11,11–28  EU ). "

Only the 1970 version does justice to this warning.

The discussion group “Jews and Christians” at the ZdK rejected Walter Kasper's statement in an open letter as “not very convincing”. The comparison of the two versions makes the step backwards "overly clear", because the request for enlightenment leaves open whether Jews would have to convert to him in the course of history or at Christ's second coming, whether this is a condition for their salvation or whether it is a way of salvation outside the church for them give:

“Does the Church remain with the hope and prayer given to God for the salvation of all Israel, or should and must the Church invite the Jews to believe in Jesus Christ and the Gospel through evangelization - certainly without any coercion and without any compulsion?"

The standard version decided these questions by trusting in God's loyalty to Israel:

“According to the Christian confession, Jesus Christ is the 'yes and amen' ( 2 Cor 1.20  EU ) of God's irrevocable fidelity to Israel and the whole world. Nevertheless - for the sake of the faithfulness of the same God - there is salvation for Israel without faith in Jesus Christ. "

The discussion group therefore asked the Pope to withdraw the exceptional version in favor of the standard version from 1970.

After Bertone's declaration, the Catholic pastoral theologian Hanspeter Heinz , head of the discussion group “Jews and Christians” at the ZdK, summarized the criticism again in May 2008: Benedict had the early request and a. the German Bishops' Conference to prescribe the 1970 version for the exceptional rite as well, disregarded. This justified the suspicion "that it is evidently more important to him to be considerate of the traditionalists than to be considerate of the Jews." Although the exception form is rarely used, it has evoked a "historical trauma" of the Jews: the old Good Friday petition has its religion Deliberately insulted for over 1000 years and in connection with the divine murder propaganda, especially during Holy Week, their existence is acutely threatened. Since the Shoah, the mission to Jews has been a particularly neuralgic point for Jews; therefore they could only understand the request for “conversion to Jesus Christ” as an “elementary threat to their millennia-old creed”. Walter Kasper's declaration that “the church leaves the initiative to God himself” does not emerge from the request. This does not name Israel's election to the people of God and her loyalty to his uncancelled covenant and instead gives the impression that her recognition of Jesus Christ is a condition for her salvation. It turns the eschatological entry of all peoples into God's kingdom (Rom 11:25) into an internal historical entry into the church. This is unacceptable for Jews: "For the necessity of conversion would not recognize their covenant of God as a fully valid way to salvation, but devalue it as insufficient, which would ultimately call into question the reliability of God himself." In contrast, Paul and Jesus (Mt 7, 21) the salvation of Jews and Christians depends only on God's judgment at the final judgment . Since the wording of the exceptional version does not exclude Christian missionary intentions, it contradicts the principle of simplicity and comprehensibility in the liturgy constitution of 1963, the basic idea of ​​the standard version and Nostra Aetate . It disregards the dignity of Judaism and prevents an impartial Christian-Jewish dialogue. The fact that the Pope did not answer the protests for months, then did not withdraw the exception version despite numerous requests and did not ask the Jews for forgiveness for the injuries caused by it, was hardly compatible with his memorandum Deus caritas est . Nevertheless, all of this is not a reason to question the full results of the Christian-Jewish dialogue since 1965, but a challenge to reinforce it and to pray that all future popes “teach the people of God unequivocally [...] in thought To stand up in words and deeds for the once battered older brothers in the covenant of God and to show them reverent respect. "

Evangelical Christians

On March 9, 2008, the Braunschweig regional bishop Friedrich Weber , the VELKD's representative for relations with the Roman Catholic Church, criticized the new version: It left unclear whether “the Jews' yes to Jesus Christ - whenever - the condition for their salvation “Was, or whether Israel could attain salvation without a church, in that the other peoples recognize Jesus Christ (and thus the God of Israel). The normal version allowed the latter interpretation. Dialogue partners should be able to express their beliefs, but in such a way that they recognize and respect the beliefs of others. This requires communication that was lacking before the change. The juxtaposition of two equal, contradictory forms of prayer damage the trust that has grown between Catholics and Jews. Their disappointed reactions showed how much they hoped for positive effects from the discussions. Therefore, the dialogue partners would have to treat each other with even more respect, acknowledge their differences and "at the same time, based on this basic attitude, do as much as possible together."

In his annual report for the VELKD of October 13, 2008, Friedrich Weber emphasized: The dispute over the Good Friday intercession had shown that the missions of 1962 and 1970, which had been equal since 2007, not only differ in language, but also represent hardly compatible theologies with regard to ecumenism . He recalled that the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council was based on the Reformation basic idea of ​​the priesthood of all believers and required the active participation of the believers based on their faith in Christ's continued work in the community of the baptized. The traditionalists demonstratively refused to accept this core idea, which Benedict had come so far towards. As a cardinal in 2003, he had already demanded a unified Roman rite that was "entirely in the tradition of the traditional rite". If this goal was behind his Motu Proprio of 2007, "then important concerns of the Second Vatican Council would be insidiously reinterpreted [...]".

Church music lecturer Christa Reich wrote in a letter to the editor on April 5, 2008:

“The abysmal of this process lies in the fact that here a Pope is asking for knowledge for those who have been humiliated, reviled, mocked, robbed and put to death for many centuries out of a deadly 'knowledge' held to be Christian and sanctioned by the church for whom the name 'Jesus Christ' was associated with fear and terror from generation to generation. [...] In view of the fact that, according to Paul, the Christians are not spared judgment either ( Rom. 2.16  EU ; 2 Cor. 5.10  EU ) the Christian church ... would have every reason to seek forgiveness for its own on Good Friday for several centuries To plead guilt that she has incurred with regard to the Jewish people, the people of Jesus of Nazareth. "

The then Chairman of the Council of the EKD , Wolfgang Huber , did not evaluate the new Good Friday Prayer on February 12, 2009 as a sign of a revision of the Second Vatican Council. In striving to strengthen intra-Catholic unity, the Pope leveled the differences between pre-conciliar and post-conciliar developments. This has a negative effect on ecumenism.

Further development

On January 24, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI. the excommunication of four bishops of the Pius Brotherhood, consecrated without authorization in 1988, including Richard Williamson's . On the same day it became known that this had emerged in 2008 as in 1988 with Holocaust denial . In the wake of global outrage, the amendment to the Good Friday Prayer 2008 was criticized all the more as the Pope's concession to the supporters of Marcel Lefebvre and the renewal of a Catholic claim to absoluteness , through which the intra-Catholic and ecumenical progress since the Second Vatican Council should be revised.

Paul Kreiner commented on the events in the Vatican on February 2, 2009 as follows:

“There are indications that Benedict personally, in the case of the traditionalists, puts 'ecclesiastical unity' above everything and ignores the rest. Last year, the Pope himself formulated the controversial request on Good Friday, in which the wish for a 'conversion' of the Jews returns to the liturgy. [...]
Benedict could easily have taken over the Good Friday prayer of the new liturgy in the 400 year old rite. But this renounces the conversion request, and Benedict did not want to expect so much innovation from the traditionalists. [...] With Benedict going it alone in the old rite and with his 'U-turn' at the Good Friday request, the friends of the ultra-conservatives within the Vatican also saw themselves strengthened from the highest level, the play of forces got a list - and the calamity of Castrillón Hoyos took its course. "

Walter Homolka wrote on February 4, 2009:

“Now it is clear that since 2007, since the old mass was re-admitted, we Jews have seen very precisely where we are headed. [...] For us Jews, it is about the same eye level and about self-respect for a church that has been guilty for centuries. In the 1970s, Cardinal Walter Kasper took the position that there was no need to evangelize Jews because they have an authentic revelation and, from the point of view of the Second Vatican Council, remain in covenant with God. "

He remembered Franz Schmidberger , the district superior of the German Pius Brotherhood, who did not want to derive from Nostra Aetate a "separate path of salvation outside of God incarnate" for today's Jews and assigned them complicity in the murder of God as long as they were not converted to Christ. Even Bernard Fellay , Superior General of the SSPX have, the Second Vatican Council immediately after his meeting with Benedict XVI. Rejected on August 29, 2005. Since Benedict has taken up this direction again without any preconditions, his declared solidarity with the Jews is not convincing.

Peter Bürger commented on February 5, 2009:

“Since Benedict XVI. In the matter of 'Good Friday Prayer' ignored all urgent protests - especially from the German Church - there is actually only one conclusion in terms of church politics: For the Lefebvre schismatics, a full return to the Roman Church, as has now been initiated by the lifting of the excommunication, should be considered , not only are the old Tridentine liturgy available again, but also something very specific that is very important for their identity: namely the possibility of practicing their anti-Jewish tradition again, especially in worship. "

After the current reactions subsided, the criticism of Benedict's exceptional version remained. The former ZdK chairman Hans Maier repeated the most important objections on March 30, 2012: Benedict's version depreciates Judaism in the old tradition through an alleged privilege of knowledge of the church, does not clearly exclude mission to the Jews and implies a departure from the attitude of Pope Paul VI. The chairman of the sub-commission for religious relations with Judaism at the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff, accepted the request of the chairman of the Central Council of Jews, Josef, at an event on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Nostra aetate in Frankfurt am Main Schuster , after withdrawing the intercession, declaring that he would appreciate it if the intercession in the extraordinary rite were withdrawn.

Anglican versions

The Church of England , from which the Anglican Community emerged, kept the Roman Catholic Good Friday liturgy in its basic form, but summarized the nine intercessions in three prayers (English: collects ), which the whole community had to say without kneeling . The third prayer includes the traditional requests for Jews, Gentiles (here: "Turks", that is, Muslims ), unbelievers and heretics. Thomas Cranmer put it in 1549 as follows:

“Merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing that thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels and heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word: and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reignth with thee and the holy ghost, now and forever. Amen."

This version was hardly changed in the Book of Common Prayer of 1662.

When the Episcopal Church of the United States of America was founded, this formulation was also adopted in its own prayer book (1789). In some parts of the Church, the phrase about Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics has been criticized and changed since about 1918. The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts replaced it in 1925 with the phrase: Have mercy upon all who know Thee not. The entire Episcopal Church took this criticism as an opportunity to replace the prayer with the following sentence when the prayer book was next revised in 1928: Have mercy upon all who know thee not as thou art revealed in the Gospel of thy Son.

The Episcopal Church's 1979 prayer book reflected the liturgical reform movement of the 20th century and included, among other things, a significant revision of the entire Good Friday liturgy. The actual Collects prayer was greatly shortened, but after the sermon a more extended prayer series ( The Solemn Collects ) was introduced. As in 1928, they ask for all who have not yet recognized Christ or who reject him and the Christians. You can choose between kneeling or standing praying.

The Church of England did not abandon the official prayer book of 1662, but did issue the Alternative Service Book in 1980 , which softened the third Good Friday petition. It was in use alongside the 1662 version until 2000 and has since been replaced by the book Common Worship . In this the intercession of the Jews is omitted. Other particular Churches in the Anglican Communion also have their own versions of the prayer book, with different regulations in this regard.

Old Catholic versions

The Old Catholic Church is liturgically in the tradition of the Roman rite, but carried out liturgical reforms as early as the 1870s due to its episcopal - synodal constitution. To this end, the Old Catholic liturgical scholar Adolf Thürlings freely translated the traditional texts into the language of the day. The German-language “altar book” of 1888 that he designed did not contain any prayer for Jews. The sixth and final Good Friday intercession asked for all humanity that "the deluded and hardened hearts may awaken to new life."

In 1959 a new altar book was published for which Kurt Pursch translated most of the texts of the Missale Romanum as literally as possible. It therefore again contained a prayer for the Jews:

“Let us also pray for the Jews who shut themselves off from the belief that the Lord God would take the veil from their hearts so that they too might know our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray!
Deacon: Let's bend our knees! (Silent prayer) Sub-deacon: Rise up!
Almighty, Eternal God, you do not exclude from your mercy even the Jews who refuse to believe you. Hear our prayers that we offer before you. Let the Jews recognize the light of your truth, which is Christ, and tear them away from their darkness. Through Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son ... A [lle]: Amen. "

This missal was hardly used in the German diocese, although it remained officially in force. The post-conciliar Roman Catholic liturgical reform also made the old Catholic Order of Mass appear backward. The diocese administration therefore tolerated the use of the altar book from 1888 and the Roman Catholic missal from 1970/75.

In 1995 a new missal was published with the title "Eucharist Book", which was reissued in 2006 with rubrics . The fifth of eight petitions in both editions asks "for all who do not believe in Christ"; a separate intercession for Jews is missing.

In the Old Catholic Church of Austria , the missal from the 1930s applies, to which anti-Jewish statements were added in 1952. This was Bernhard Heitz , bishop from 1994 to 2007, removed.

The Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland interceded for Jews, but the formulation was criticized and often left out. The second volume of the new prayer and hymn book from 2008 contains the following amended version:

Deacon: Let us pray for the Jews that God may keep them in his eternal faithfulness and keep them in love for his name.
Church: Hear our supplication, O Lord and God.
Priest: Almighty, Eternal God, you chose Abraham and his descendants and promised them your salvation. Hear the prayer of your church for the people of the old covenant and let them come to the fulness of salvation. "

literature

  • Andrea Nicolotti: Perfidia iudaica. The Difficult Story of a Liturgical Prayer Before and After Erik Peterson. In G. Caronello (ed.), Erik Peterson: The Theological Presence of an Outsider. Berlin, Duncker and Humblot, 2012, pp. 511–554 ( digitized version ).
  • Walter Homolka , Erich Zenger (ed.): "... so that they know Jesus Christ". The new Good Friday intercession for the Jews. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2008, ISBN 978-3-451-29964-3 .
  • Thomas Brechenmacher : The Vatican and the Jews. Story of an unholy relationship. CH Beck, 2005, ISBN 3-406-52903-8 .
  • Hubert Wolf : Liturgical Anti-Semitism? The Good Friday Prayer for the Jews and the Roman Curia (1928–1975). In: Florian Schuller, Giuseppe Veltri, Hubert Wolf (eds.): Catholicism and Judaism. Similarities and faults from the 16th to the 20th century. Pustet, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7917-1955-6 , pp. 253-269.
  • Hubert Wolf: "Pro perfidis Judaeis". Amici Israel and its motion to reform the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews (1928). Or remarks on the subject of the Catholic Church and anti-Semitism. In: Historische Zeitschrift 279/2004, pp. 611-658, JSTOR 27636129 .
  • Martin Dudley: Pastoral Commentary I: The Jews in the Good Friday Liturgy. In: Anglican Theological Review 76/1994, pp. 61-70.
  • Marie-Thérèse Hoch, Bernard Dupuy (Ed.): Les Églises devant le Judaïsme. Documents officiels 1948-1978 ; Paris: Cerf, 1980, ISBN 2-204-01557-1 .
  • Wilm Sanders : The Good Friday Prayer for the Jews from the Missal Pius' V to the Missal Paul VI. In: Liturgical Yearbook. Quarterly booklets for questions about divine service 24/1974, pp. 240–248.
  • Jules Isaac: The Genesis of Anti-Semitism Before and After Christ. Europa Verlag, Vienna 1969.
  • Ferdinand Kolbe: The reform of the Good Friday prayers. In: Liturgisches Jahrbuch 15 (1965), pp. 222–224.
  • Rudolf Pacik : The intercession for the Jews in the main Good Friday service. From the perfidi Iudaei to the populus acquisitionis prioris. In: G. Langer, GM Hoff (ed.): The place of the Jewish in Catholic theology. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2009, pp. 122–143.

Web links

On the first reform initiative in 1928:

The story up to the standard version 1970:

For the 2008 exception:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jules Isaac: Genesis of Anti-Semitism: Before and After Christ. Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1969, ISSN  0014-2719 , pp. 219-226.
  2. ↑ Urs Altermatt: Katholizismus und Antisemitismus , Huber, Frauenfeld / Stuttgart / Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-7193-1160-0 , pp. 67–71.
  3. ^ Basilius J. Groen (University of Graz): Anti-Judaism in the Christian liturgy and attempts to overcome it . Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  4. ↑ Walter Bauer, Georg Strecker: Essays and Small Writings , Mohr / Siebeck, Tübingen 1967, p. 245
  5. ^ Walter Dietrich, Moisés Mayordomo: Violence and Overcoming Violence in the Bible , 2005, ISBN 3-290-17341-0 , p. 207 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  6. ↑ Peter Browe: The Mission to Jews in the Middle Ages and the Popes , Universita Gregoriana Editrice, Rome 1973, ISBN 88-7652-432-0 , p. 134 f. ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ Hubert Wolf: Perfidious Jews? in: Pope and the devil. The Archives of the Vatican and the Third Reich , 2nd edition, Munich 2009, p. 108
  8. ^ Klaus Gamber: Sacramentarium Gregorianum I. The station messbook of Pope Gregor. Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1966, Form 65, pp. 61–64
  9. ↑ Peter Browe: Die Judenmission im Mittelalter und die Popes , p. 136 ( limited preview in the Google book search)
  10. ^ Erik Peterson: Perfidia judaica , in: Ephemerides liturgicae 50 (1936), pp. 303-308; Lecture in Lorenzo Cappelletti (“30Tage” 11/2007): Pro Iudaeis .
  11. ↑ Jules Isaac: Genesis des Antisemitismus , Vienna 1969, p. 220
  12. ↑ Amalarius von Metz: De ecclesiasticis officiis 1, 13. In: Jean Michel Hanssens: Amalarii episcopi liturgica omnia , three volumes, Rome 1948–1950. Quotation and translation from Jules Isaac: Genesis des Antisemitismus , Vienna 1969, p. 222f.
  13. ↑ Jules Isaac: Genesis des Antisemitismus , Vienna 1969, pp. 223-225 and p. 270, fn. 284
  14. ↑ Urs Altermatt: Catholicism and Anti-Semitism , p. 67 ff.
  15. ↑ Duden (Brockhaus AG) perfidious . Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  16. ↑ Hubert Wolf: Papst und Teufel , Munich 2009, p. 109
  17. ↑ a b c d e Missale Romanum, Regensburg edition 1887, quoted from Hubert Wolf: Papst und Teufel , Munich 2009, p. 98
  18. ^ Giuseppe M. Croce: Pio VII, il cardinal Consalvi e gli ebrei (1800-1823). In: Pio VII papa benedettino nel bicentenario della sua elezione. Atti del Congresso storico internazionale Cesena, Venezia, September 15-19, 2000. Badia di Santa Maria del Monte, Cesena 2003, pp. 561-618
  19. ↑ Theo Salemink (sword 2005): Catholic identity and the image of the Jewish 'other'. The Amici Israel movement and its repeal by the Holy Office in 1928
  20. ↑ Hubert Wolf: Papst und Teufel , Munich 2009, p. 107
  21. ↑ Hubert Wolf: Pope and Devil , Munich 2009, p.112 - 115
  22. ^ Elias H. Füllenbach: Papal repeal decree of the "Amici Israel" (March 25, 1928) , in: Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus. Anti-Semitism in Past and Present, Volume 6: Publications. Berlin / Boston 2013, pp. 525-527
  23. ↑ Hubert Wolf: Papst und Teufel , Munich 2009, pp. 115–132
  24. ↑ Erik Peterson: Perfidia judaica , in: Ephemerides liturgicae 50 (1936), pp. 296-311
  25. ↑ Urs Altermatt: Katholizismus und Antisemitismus , 1999, p. 69
  26. ^ John Maria Oesterreicher: Pro perfidis Judaeis , in: Cahiers Sioniens I , October 1, 1947, pp. 85 ff .; Freiburger Rundbrief Volume I, No. 2/3, March 1949, pp. 5-7: 3. "Pro perfidis Judaeis"
  27. ↑ Walter Homolka, Erich Zenger (ed.): "So that they know Jesus Christ". The new Good Friday Prayer for the Jews , Freiburg 2008, p. 16
  28. ^ Jules Isaac: Genesis des Antisemitismus , Vienna 1969, p. 222; Paul Demann (Freiburg circular 45/48, December 28, 1959, pp. 4–8): Johannes XIII. and the Jews.
  29. ↑ Walter Homolka, Erich Zenger (ed.): "So that they know Jesus Christ". The New Good Friday Prayer for the Jews , p. 16
  30. ↑ Hubert Wolf: Papst und Teufel , Munich 2009, p. 140
  31. ↑ Hubert Wolf: Papst und Teufel , Munich 2009, p. 141
  32. ↑ Walter Homolka, Erich Zenger (ed.): "So that they know Jesus Christ". The New Good Friday Prayer for the Jews , p. 17
  33. ↑ Otto Hermann Pesch: The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965): Prehistory - Course - Results - Post-history. Echter, Würzburg 1993, ISBN 3-429-01533-2 , p. 291
  34. ↑ Thomas Brechenmacher: The Vatican and the Jews , Munich 2005, p. 163
  35. ↑ Heinrich Rennings, Martin Klöckener (ed.): Documents for the renewal of the liturgy. Holy See Documents 1963–1973. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1983, ISBN 3-7666-9266-6 , pp. 37-76
  36. ^ Albert Joseph Urban, Marion Bexten: Kleines liturgical dictionary , Herder, Freiburg 2007, p. 87
  37. ↑ a b quoted from Rolf Rendtorff, Hans Hermann Henrix (Ed.): The Churches and Judaism. Documents from 1945–1985 , Christian Kaiser / Gütersloher Verlagshaus / Bonifatiusverlag, 3rd edition 2001, p. 59
  38. ^ Heinrich Rennings, Martin Klöckener (ed.): Documents for the Renewal of the Liturgy , p. 260
  39. ↑ Missal, Holy Week and Easter Octave: The celebration of Holy Mass , Herder, Freiburg 1996, ISBN 3-451-23926-4 (Latin and German)
  40. ↑ quoted from Rolf Rendtorff, Hans Hermann Henrix (Ed.): The Churches and Judaism. Documents from 1945–1985 , p. 60
  41. ↑ Rupert Berger : Pastoralliturgisches Handlexikon , 3rd edition, Herder, Freiburg 2005, keyword Missal or Missal , p. 356
  42. ↑ Missal, Holy Week and Easter Octave: The celebration of Holy Mass , Herder, Freiburg 1996, ISBN 3-451-23926-4 (Latin and German); see Schott-online
  43. ↑ quoted from Rolf Rendtorff, Hans Hermann Henrix (Ed.): The Churches and Judaism. Documents from 1945–1985 , p. 61
  44. ↑ ZdK, press releases April 4, 2007: Disturbance of Christian-Jewish relations - on the reintroduction of the Tridentine rite
  45. ↑ Cover letter to Summorum Pontificum from Benedict XVI. to all bishops, July 7, 2007
  46. ↑ Jason Burke (The Observer, July 8, 2007): Pope's move on Latin mass 'a blow to Jews'
  47. ^ Radio Vaticana, July 19, 2007: Cardinal Bertone on the Motu Propriu. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  48. ↑ Quoted from Vatican Radio , February 5, 2008: Vatican: Intercession for the Jews.
  49. ↑ Quoted from Hubert Wolf: Papst und Teufel , Munich 2009, p. 143.
  50. ↑ Vatican Radio, February 6, 2008: Latin intercession irritates Jews ( Memento from April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  51. ↑ a b Mission or Hope? The dispute over Good Friday prayer continues. In: domradio.de , March 10, 2008. Accessed August 28, 2018.
  52. ↑ Daily Mail, February 23, 2008 (reprint at Zenit.org): Rabbi Neusner defends changed Catholic Good Friday prayers for the Jews. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  53. ↑ a b Jews accuse Pope of disrespect. Focus, March 20, 2008. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  54. ^ Der Spiegel, March 20, 2008: Protest by rabbis - conversation with Walter Homolka. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  55. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 21, 2008: Criticism of Pope: Knobloch reprimands Good Friday Prayer. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  56. ↑ taz, March 29, 2008: Pope triggers boycott wave
  57. ↑ Vatican Radio, April 5, 2008: Reactions from the Jewish side to the declaration on the Good Friday Prayer ( Memento of April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  58. ↑ Elias H. Füllenbach, Cardinal Kasper's statement on the new Prayer on Good Friday . In: Walter Homolka, Erich Zenger (ed.): "... so that they know Jesus Christ". The new Good Friday intercession for the Jews. Freiburg 2008, pp. 106–114
  59. ↑ Domradio.de, May 20, 2008: The dispute over Good Friday prayers does not stop at Catholic Day: Shadows over Osnabrück
  60. ↑ Vatican Radio: Reports from January 15, 2009 ( Memento from April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  61. ^ Vatican Radio: Reports from January 17, 2009 ( Memento from April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  62. ↑ DICI, February 23, 2008: We deeply regret this change
  63. ↑ Bernward Deneke: Prayer for the conversion of the Jews? (April 2008). Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  64. ↑ Community of St. Joseph: Transalpine Redemptorists accept new Good Friday prayers for the Jews ( Memento from July 17, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). February 9, 2008.
  65. ^ Gianfranco Ravasi: Oremus et pro Judaeis. In: L'Osservatore Romano , February 15, 2008. Retrieved May 18, 2020 (Italian):
    che “è semper bello e legittimo augurare all'altro ciò che è per te un bene o una gioia: se pensi di offrire un vero dono, non frenare la tua mano”.
  66. ↑ Vatican rejects Jewish criticism. Cardinal Cordes defends the reformulation of the Good Friday Prayer. Deutschlandfunk, March 20, 2008. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  67. ^ Walter Kasper: Good Friday Prayer. God decides when and how. In: FAZ , March 20, 2008. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  68. ↑ Zenit.org, April 4, 2008: "Oremus et pro Iudaeis": The State Secretariat reaffirms the special ties between Catholics and Jews. Official communiqué on the new Good Friday Prayer. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  69. ↑ Prof. Dr. Johannes Brosseder on the new anti-Jewish Good Friday Prayer . In: Wir sind Kirche , March 15, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  70. ↑ Central Committee of German Catholics, press releases February 29, 2008: Discussion group publishes position on Good Friday prayer “For the Jews”. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  71. ↑ Hanspeter Heinz: (Herder Korrespondenz 5/2008, pp. 228-231): The church is not allowed to pray like this! A new Good Friday intercession in the old spirit
  72. ↑ Friedrich Weber: Believe in miracles - 60 years of the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation in Wiesbaden . Wiesbaden, March 9, 2008. Retrieved June 21, 2017 (PDF; 55.7 kB).
  73. ^ Letter from Josef Cardinal Ratzinger of June 23, 2003 to Dr. Heinz-Lothar Barth ( Memento of November 9, 2005 in the Internet Archive ), printed in: Heinz-Lothar Barth: Is the traditional Latin mass anti-Semitic? Answer to a paper of the Central Committee of German Catholics , Altötting, 2007, p. 17 f.
  74. ↑ Friedrich Weber (10th General Synod of the VELKD, Zwickau, October 13, 2008): “Can two walk with each other if they are of one agreement?” (Amos 3,3) ( Memento from April 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) ( PDF; 507 kB).
  75. ↑ Christa Reich: The Pope, the Jews and an abysmal process ( Memento from April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). In: FAZ , April 5, 2008.
  76. ↑ Landeszeitung Lüneburg (February 13, 2009): Bishop Wolfgang Huber on the Vatican's attitude towards the Pius Brotherhood: “There is no place for hatred of Jews in the Church”. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  77. ↑ Tagesspiegel, February 2, 2009: Pope Benedict - hidden. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  78. ^ Walter Homolka (Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 4, 2009): We understood. Catholic Church under fire. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  79. ↑ Peter Bürger, Heise.de, February 5, 2009: White washing for the Pius brothers?
  80. ↑ Domradio, March 30, 2012: Former ZdK President criticizes Good Friday prayers for Jews ( Memento from July 31, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).
  81. ↑ Christ in der Gegenwart 67 (2015), p. 282.
    br.de ( Memento from June 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) of June 22, 2015, accessed on June 26, 2015.
  82. ^ C. Frederick Barbee, Paul FM number: The Collects of Thomas Cranmer. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, London 2006, ISBN 0-8028-1759-9 (English)
  83. ^ Third collect prayer of the Common Book of Prayer . Accessed August 28, 2018.
  84. ↑ Justus.anglican.org: Readings on Goodfriday 1789 . Accessed August 28, 2018.
  85. ^ Time, New Orleans, October 5, 1925 (English; limited preview ).
  86. ↑ The 1928 Book of Common Prayer , p. 251 (English; limited preview in the Google book search).
  87. ^ Roger Tomes (Center for Jewish Studies): Jewish and Christian Liturgical Collaboration? Accessed August 28, 2018.
  88. ↑ Altkatholiken.de: Do the Old Catholics also have their own liturgy? Do you define yourself based on your worship service? What is “worship” for you? Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  89. ^ The holy office for the festivals and times of the year , self-published by the Synodal Representation, Bonn 1888; quoted from the prayer and hymn book for the members of the old Catholic Church of the German Empire , Verlag der Bischöfliche Kanzlei, Bonn 1909, p. 225
  90. ↑ Altar book for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in the Catholic Diocese of Old Catholics in Germany, ed. on behalf of the bishop by the Liturgical Commission, Bonn 1959, p. 81
  91. ↑ The celebration of the Eucharist in the Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics. Prepared for use in worship services by the Liturgical Commission and published by the bishop and synodal representative. Alt-Katholischer Bistumsverlag, Bonn 2006, ISBN 3-934610-30-7 , p. 71.
  92. ^ Script of the old Catholic parish of Klagenfurt
  93. ↑ Prayer and hymn book of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland. Volume II: Holy Week: Palm Sunday through Easter. Edited by Bishop and Synodal Council of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland, Christkatholischer Medienverlag, Allschwil 2008, p. 95