Jewish Elements in the Tradition of the Orthodox Church. A Contribution to Dialogue

The present article deals with the question of Jewish and Christian-Orthodox dialogue. The author focuses on the ambivalences regarding the relation to Jewish heritage in the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church: on the one hand, an un-reflected anti-Judaism of the old byzantine texts (especially in the “Holy and Great Week”), on the other hand a distinctive, hagiographical appreciation of the personalities of the Old Testament. The main challenge remains the development in the Orthodox collective mentality of a new sensibility (in sense of a metanoia) regarding this matter.