An anouncement on Subdeacon Nathaniel/Brother Milton Kapner

[JAMESthePERSIAN]

This is not in defense of Bro Nathaniel.....but a misinformation must be corrected when we can.....

Bro Natnaniel is an Orthodox monk who is currently "homeless". He is a convert from Judiasm. Let us not perpetuate the old falacy of "Once a Jew always a Jew." This is a falsehood and unworthy of an Orthodox Christian. We are supposed to transcend all ehnic prejudices when we become Orthodox or at the very least strive to.

That said, Bro Nathaniel is in need of our prayers. He is in need of professional help. His Blog IS truly disgraceful!, all the more reason he needs our prayers. I firmly believe in the power of prayer....I have seen it work, but in GOD's time and not ours. Our job is to pray for him. The more attention he gets the more he will continue in his madness, ignore his site, but pray for him anyway.

Katya

In many ways I could not agree more.
Equating Judaism with an Ethnic group however, is a serious error. If we were make a similar statement about all muslims, buddhists, or krishnas being from the same Ethnic c group, all would laugh. Unfortunately, when we speak of Jews, Most Orthodox Christians seem to think they are of a single Ethnic Group. Nothing could be Farther from the truth!
Modern Judaism has its root in Biblical Pharisaism, and has nothing to do with Ethnicity. Modern Jews are an Ethnical admixture of Turkic, European aand lastly Semitic peoples. There are Black Jews, White Jews and Brown Jews. Claiming that they bear any semblance to the Israelite Tribes of the Bible is quite a stretch!

[CGW]

Can we just fold this into the antisemitism thread?

[JAMESthePERSIAN]

[quote="CGW"]Can we just fold this into the antisemitism thread?[/quote]

"I've been excommunicated. It's the worst thing that can happen to a Jew."- Milton Kapner aka Brother Nathaniel

"Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to call an ancient Israelite a "Jew""
The Jewish Almanac, 1980

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The Jewish racial myth flows from the fact that the words Hebrew, Israelite, Jew, Judaism, and the Jewish people have been used synonymously to suggest a historic continuity. But this is a misuse. These words refer to different periods in history. Hebrew is a term correctly applied to the period from the beginning of Biblical history to the settling in Canaan. Israelite refers correctly to the members of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Yehudi or Jew is used in the Old Testament to designate members of the tribe of Judah, descendants of the fourth son of Jacob, as well as to denote citizens of the Kingdom of Judah, particularly at the time of Jeremiah and under the Persian occupation. Centuries later, the same word came to be applied to anyone, no matter of what origin, whose religion was Judaism.

Dr. Alfred M. Lilienthal, What Price Israel (Chicago, IL: Henry Regnery Company, 1953) p. 216.