Klęski militarne jako wyraz gniewu Boga w Dialogu przeciwko Żydowi1 Sergiusza Stylity
Military Defeat as an Expression of the Wrath of God, Based on Sergius the Stylite’s Dialogue Against a Jew

Summary/Abstract: The text of Sergius the Stylite’s Dialogue Against a Jew, probably dating from the 8th century, is analysed in this article. One of the key arguments used in the polemic was the matter of punishment, which, according to Sergius, God imposed on the Israelites for their lack of faith and rejection of Jesus. The author of the tract interprets the chosen people’s earthly misfortunes as asign by which God expressed His disapproval of the Jews’ deeds. Within the text are citations from The Wars of the Jews by Flavius Josephus, which Sergius treats as the historical confirmation of God’s plan. The whole argumentation – presenting the impossibility of carrying out acts of worship, together with the misfortunes of the Jewish people, as proof that the Old Covenant has faded away and been passed to Christians – is in line with other anti-Jewish propaganda of Late Antiquity in which the fate of Jerusalem and its citizens is offered as proof that Jewish politeia had faded away

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