Christian jews

Jewish Christians , Judeo-Christians ^{[1] [2]} , the Judeo-Christian sect , and sometimes also Christian Judeans are the early Christians from the Jews who continued to follow the basic rules of Judaism after the adoption of Christianity . ^[2]

The Christianity was perceived by the Jews as one of the many messianic movements within Judaism . Accordingly, the first followers of Christ were mostly Jews, who considered the new teaching a part of Judaism. ^[2] Judeo-Christians considered themselves Jews and, in addition to baptism and the belief that Jesus was the Messiah , obeyed the commandments of Judaism ( kashrut , circumcision , observance of Shabbat , etc.) and even saw their religious and spiritual center in the Jerusalem Temple . The criticism of what was happening in Beit HaMikdash by Jesus Christ did not deny the significance of the Jerusalem Temple as a spiritual center, but concerned the acts of people in it (for example, money changers). The Romans saw in Judeo-Christians (and later in Christians) the course or sect within Judaism. Bans and permits concerning Jews extended to Christian Jews.

Before the Apostle Paul and the changes he made in the foundations of the faith, the difference between Judaism and Christianity was erroneous and therefore there were Jews who identified themselves as disciples of Jesus of Nazareth (Nazarenes, Nazarenes, or Nazarenes) and still considered themselves Jews, and the inner circle saw in them Jews. The Judeo-Christians at first saw only the Jews as candidates for joining their faith, but over time, the idea of ​​the Nazarenes was liked by the non-Jews (mainly representatives of the Hellenistic culture) and they wished to join the new religious teaching. When non-Jews wanted to join, questions began to pop up about two main topics; kosher observance and circumcision. Among the Judeo-Christians stood out Ebionites , who believed that all Christians should follow the commandments of Judaism, and moderate, Nazarenes in the narrow sense, who considered the commandments of the Old Testament binding only on Jewish Christians. ^[2]

The separation between rabbinical Judaism and Christianity began within the Judeo-Christian community in the first generation of the twelve apostles and intensified during the first and second centuries, and until the two communities completely diverged in the III century. It was a slow process in reaching a compromise on the observance of Judaic commandments by the Judeo-Christians in favor of a minor admission of foreigners to the community. The process of separation between the Messianic group and the central trends in Judaism ended completely with the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire in 325 AD

Judeo-Christian communities continued to exist at least until the 7th century. There are passages of information about Judeo-Christians in the Land of Israel and its environs (mainly in Antioch ) during the 5th and 6th centuries, but there is no information about these communities after the Arab conquest . According to conventional wisdom, most of them were assimilated in the Syrian churches; Melkite churches, Antioch church , Syrian orthodox church . The Syrian Church of Malabar also claims to have roots from the Judeo-Christian community. In addition, there were sects like Atingans , which possibly had roots from Judeo-Christian communities.