The Christian kingdoms of medieval Europe found inspiration for their national vision in the biblical narrative of God’s chosen race

In 1523, a Christian scribe copying a Russian translation of Psalms noted, in an apologetic colophon, that various scribal errors may have crept into the text. When he charged his readers, “you, the Israelites, must correct them yourselves,” was he hallucinating, or merely falling prey to wishful thinking? When the Archbishop of Rostov wrote encouragingly to Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow before his decisive battle against the Tartars in 1480: “You will save us, the New Israel, from this new Pharaoh and make them our slaves!” was he suffering from similar Semitic delusions? Or was there something more significant afoot in Russian national history?

Both Zloba the scribe and Vassian the bishop were in fact fully aware of what they were doing when they addressed their fellow Russians as the “New Israel.”  Moreover, they were not the only nation to have made this claim. At various times, the French, Spanish, English, Dutch and Ethiopians also identified themselves as the “new people of Israel,” making it an integral part of their national consciousness.  Why was this phenomenon so widespread, and what was its effect on the relations between Jews and Christians?

 

 

 

 

 

Anti-Nationalism 

Two contrasting models must be examined in this context. The first is the biblical concept of nationhood – a unique and profound awareness of a shared origin and a national destiny. The collective power bestowed upon the Israelites of the Exodus, all of whom experienced revelation and all of whom were entitled to an independent holding in the Promised Land, preceded and restricted the power of political leaders and kings.  The vision engendered was of a political domain founded on the existence of a national ethnic collective. 

The second, and contrasting, model dominated European culture during the first few centuries of the Common Era. Both the Roman Empire and the Christian empires which succeeded it preferred to suppress the development of any national-political consciousness within their borders. The Stoic philosophy that influenced the rising Roman Empire included a universal political perception that emphasized equality between human beings. All subjects of the Empire were equal members of the Pax Romana, regardless of creed or race. The Empire consequently embarked upon a gradual process of granting Roman citizenship to the freemen of conquered populations, a process which came to full fruition with the Edict of Caracalla in 212 CE, which granted citizenship to every free man living within the Roman Empire. 

Christianity similarly weakened nationalist sentiments as it spread throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. From the time of Paul onward, the concept of Israel as the Chosen People underwent a fundamental shift. In place of the earthly, political nation of Israel, which Christians believed God had abandoned on account of its sins, Christianity envisaged a “New Israel,” whereby those of Christian faith were blessed with divine grace and salvation regardless of their nationality.

However, the Roman Empire and the Church could not blur national identities for long. Nationalism’s power to unite, motivate, and inspire loyalty was too great to be ignored by the emerging rulers of Christendom.

The most vital religious-cultural tool at the disposal of the Christian nations was the Bible, and at times of national awakening, they often abandoned the universalist approach of the New Testament, turning instead to the resoundingly nationalist texts of the Old Testament. Identifying themselves as the Chosen People and their homeland as the Promised Land, these nations also cast their enemies in the role of oppressors of Israel, from Pharaoh to Abimelech. In these cases, instead of all Christian believers being designated as belonging to the ‘New Israel,’ the title was appropriated by a particular nation. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Russia was a prime example of such a nation, though not the earliest.