Hellenists
Group of Christians from the Church primitive (that of Jerusalem according to Acts of the Apostles ) consists of Jews from the Greek language , but live in Palestine, then read the Torah and other biblical writings in the translation of LXX
Summary |
The origin and manner of formation of this group are unknown. He suddenly appears in Chapter 6 of the Book of Acts about a conflict between this group with that of the Hebrews (Jerusalem Christians speaking Aramaic reading the Bible in Hebrew ). Indeed, the Hellenist widows have had to complain of being treated worse than their counterparts Hebrew terms deacon ("their widows were neglected in the distribution was being done every day." Act.6, 1)
This episode serves as a pretext for Luke to tell the institution of the diaconate and the election of the first seven deacons are supposed to relieve the apostles of the management of hardware problems in the community: the Twelve, preaching and prayer, service to the Seven.
In reality, these deacons are all Hellenists, " Stephen , a man full of faith and Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch "(v.5). So it seemed to many critics, in reality these Seven represented a parallel structure to that of the Twelve whose Hellenists would have to lead their group, develop and influence the future of the community (?). Anyway, Luke presents us then in September, particularly Stephen, as a very active preachers of the Christian message, not as stewards of the community. Originally the biblical narrative is perhaps an episode marking the recognition of the Hellenists by the Christian group led by the Twelve, a sort of collective dubbing these Greek-speaking Christians, by prestigious figures have been the companions the oldest of Jesus.
Theology
Not only is this group seems to have organized autonomously but he developed a theology proper, Christology particular, will soon bring him into conflict with the Sanhedrin and the Temple priests.
This theology is based on three points for what we can learn:
- Rejection of the Temple, its sacrifices and its priesthood. This relates to the Hellenists apparent Essenes , like the late Cardinal Danilou liked to stress Dispersal and become Arrested, tried and sentenced Etienne is summarily for blasphemy and he is stoned. This seems to happen in 36 in the interval between the recall of Pontius Pilate to Rome and the arrival of his successor in Judea. At this time the Sanhedrin , temporarily freed from the tutelage imperial feels free hand to act. The passion of Stephen copy of Jesus in the report that Luke actually. We have no other sources on these facts. Follows a leak of the Hellenists from Jerusalem while curiously the Twelve and probably the group that follows are in no way persecuted. This demonstrates that authorized for the Temple, there were two distinctly different factions and that the "dangerousness" alleged was very different. And this raises many questions that the historian is not able to solve. In any case, one might think that behind the story very harmonizing Luke, Christianity would have at least two quite separate origins. One among the "Hebrews", the other among the Hellenists, conventicle formed by Greek-speaking Jews who obviously have not been in contact with Jesus during his ministry (according to the Gospel of John, 12.20ss, the "Greeks", hear the Hellenistic Jews, have access to Jesus after Easter when the Son of Man - note the title - has been "glorified"). Indeed, Luke does not cite any of Seven as a disciple of Jesus before the passion. If the Gospels tell us of an apostle Philip, one of the Twelve, it is difficult to identify the deacon Philip. Even more surprising, no Hellenists is called as a witness an apparition of the Risen Christ at the source of his vocation (Stephen's vision which is reported to us by his role differs profoundly from other appearances of the Risen with the NT testifies, it is not "inaugurated")! If, for Paul , we had no independent proof of the existence of Pierre and Jacques , brother of Jesus, we might even believe that the Hellenists were the "inventors" of Christianity and the passion of Jesus was rewritten according to Stephen's (and not vice versa). But Paul assures us that before the Hellenists, the Twelve were the bearers of the primitive belief in the resurrection of Jesus. Charismatic homeless, the Hellenists proved very active in preaching to the Greek-speaking Jews and proselytes, Palestine and outside it, bringing Christianity in Syria and Cyprus, mainly in Antioch. The question of a possible direct preaching to the Gentiles even though they still disctute certainly reached the fringe, rather large, pagans orbiting Synagogues without having crossed the delicate steps from the total conversion. Somehow, the origin of Christianity as we know it and understand it goes back to the Hellenists as missionary movement, breaking with official Judaism. As noted by Marie-Francoise Baslez, "the New Testament writers were really invented the concept of persecution (diogmos) as the neologism" persecutor " Bibliography
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