Wandering Jew

[Third world]

Wandering Jew:

in Christian legend, character doomed to live until the end of the world because he taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion. A reference in John 18:20–22 to an officer who struck Jesus at his arraignment before Annas is sometimes cited as the basis for the legend. The medieval English chronicler Roger of Wendover describes in his Flores historiarum how an archbishop from Greater Armenia, visiting England in 1228, reported that there was in Armenia a man formerly called Cartaphilus who claimed he had been Pontius Pilate's doorkeeper and had struck Jesus on his way to Calvary, urging him to go faster. Jesus replied, “I go, and you will wait till I return.” Cartaphilus was later baptized Joseph and lived piously among Christian clergy, hoping in the end to be saved. An Italian variant of the story named the culprit as Giovanni Buttadeo (“Strike God”).

The legend was revived in 1602 in a German pamphlet, “Kurze Beschreibung und Erzählung von einem Juden mit namen Ahasverus” (“A Brief Description and Narration Regarding a Jew Named Ahasuerus”). This version, in which the name Ahasuerus is first given to the wanderer, who was not baptized, describes how at Hamburg in 1542 Paulus von Eitzen (d. 1598), a Lutheran bishop of Schleswig, Ger., met an aged Jew who claimed to have taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion. He received the reply “I stand and rest, but you will go on.” The popularity of the pamphlet may have been the result of the anti-Jewish feeling aroused by the belief that the Antichrist would appear in 1600 and be aided by the Jews. The pamphlet was rapidly translated into other languages of Protestant Europe. Appearances of the wandering Jew were frequently reported in various European cities. As late as 1868 he was reputedly seen in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The wandering Jew has been the subject of many plays, poems, novels, and works of visual art. One of the best-known literary treatments is Eugène Sue's Romantic novel Le Juif errant, 10 vol. (1844–45; The Wandering Jew), but this anti-Jesuit melodrama has little to do with the original legend. Gustave Doré produced a series of 12 wood engravings on the theme in 1856.

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Has anyone seen him lately?

[Third world]

The earliest surviving mention of the Wandering Jew occurs in the book of the chronicles of the Abbey of St Albans, the Chronica Majors which was copied and continued by Matthew Paris. Matthew records that in the year 1228 'a certain Archbishop of Armenia Major came on a pilgrimage to England to see the relics of the saints, and to visit the sacred places in the kingdom, as he had done in others. He also produced letters of recommendation from his Holiness the Pope to the leaders of religious communities and to the prelates of the churches, in which they were enjoined to receive and entertain him with due reverence and honour. On his arrival, he went to St Albans, where he was received with all respect by the abbot and the monks. At this place, being fatigued with his journey, he remained some days to rest himself and his followers. A Conversation was commenced between him and the inhabitants of the convent, by means of their interpreters, during which he made many inquires concerning the religion and religious observances of this country, and related many strange things concerning Eastern countries. In the course of the conversation he was asked whether he had ever seen or heard anything of Joseph, a man of whom there was much talk in the world, who, when our Lord suffered, was present and spoke to him, and who is still alive, in evidence of the Christian faith. A knight in the archbishop's retinue replied, speaking French:

"My lord well knows that man, and a little before he took his way to the western countries, the said Joseph ate at the table of my lord the Archbishop of Armenia, who had previously often seen and held converse with him."

The knight was then asked about what had passed between Christ and the said Joseph, to which he replied:

"At the time of the suffering of Jesus Christ, he was seized by the Jews and led into the hail of judgment before Pilate, the governor, that he might be judged by him on the accusation of the Jews; and Pilate, finding no cause for adjudging him to death, said to them 'Take him and judge him according to your law.' The shouts of the Jews, however, increasing, he at their request released unto them Barabbas, and delivered Jesus to them to be crucified. When, therefore, the Jews were dragging Jesus forth and he had reached the door, Cartaphilus, a porter of the hall in Pilate's service, as Jesus was going out of the door, imperiously struck him on the back with his hand and said in mockery 'Go quicker, Jesus, go quicker. Why do you loiter?' Jesus, looking back on him with a severe countenance, said to him 'I am going, and you will wait till I return.' And according as our Lord said, this Cartaphilus is still awaiting his return. At the time of our Lord's suffering he was thirty years old, and when he attains the age of a hundred years he always returns to the same age as he was when our Lord suffered. After Christ's death, when the Catholic faith gained ground, this Cartaphilus was baptized by Ananias (who also baptized the apostle Paul), and was called Joseph. He often dwells in both divisions of Armenia and other Eastern countries, passing his time amidst the bishops and other prelates of the Church. He is a man of holy conversation, and religious; a man of few words, and circumspect in his behavior; for he does not speak at all unless when questioned by the bishops and religious men; and then he tells of the events of old times, and of the incidents which occurred at the suffering and resurrection of our Lord, and of the witnesses of the resurrection - namely, those who rose with Christ and went into the holy city and appeared unto men. He also tells of the creed of the apostles, and of their separation and preaching. And all this he relates without smiling or levity of conversation, as one who is well practiced in sorrow and fear of God, always looking forward with fear to the coming of Jesus Christ, lest at the Last Judgment he should find Christ in anger whom, when he was on his way to death, he had provoked to just vengeance. Numbers came to him from different parts of the world, enjoying his society and conversation; and to them, if they are me of authority, he explains all doubts on the matters on which he is questioned. He refuses all gifts that are offered to him, being content with slight food and clothing. He places his hope of salvation on the fact that he sinned through ignorance, for the Lord when suffering prayed for his enemies in these words: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'

Shortly after the date of the chronicle of Matthew Paris, Philip Mouskes, afterwards Bishop of Tournay, wrote a rhymed chronicle in 1242 which contains a similar account of the Jew derived from the same Armenian prelate, mentioning that this man had visited the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury (who had been martyred in 1170) and had then made the great pilgrimage to the church of St. James of Compostella, and had come back east to Cologne to see the heads of the Three Kings.

Edited December 14, 2003 by Third world