More Israel Zolli conversion story. Therefore, when a Jew is willing to take such a cross as this as the price of his conversion, he makes his momentous break with the past only from rock-like conviction that he is doing what God wishes him to do, and only by the power of God. This is clear in Zollis case, from his defense of his decision. When the good Rabbi was asked why he had given up the Synagogue for the Church, he gave an answer that showed he had a keen understanding of his present position: But I have not given it up. Christianity is the integration (completion or crown) of the Synagogue. For, the Synagogue was a promise, and Christianity is the fulfillment of that promise. The Synagogue pointed to Christianity: Christianity presupposes the Synagogue. So you see, one cannot exist without the other. What I converted to was the living Christianity. Then you believe that the Messias (the Christ) has come? the interviewer asked. Yes, positively, replied Zolli. I have believed it many years. And now I am so firmly convinced of the truth of it that I can face the whole world and defend my faith with the certainty and solidity of the mountains. But why didnt you join one of the Protestant denominations, which are also Christian? Because protesting is not attesting. I do not intend to embarrass anyone by asking: Why wait 1,500 years to protest? The Catholic Church was recognized by the whole Christian world as the true Church of God for 15 consecutive centuries. No man can halt at the end of those 1,500 years and say that the Catholic Church is not the Church of Christ without embarrassing himself seriously. I can accept only that Church which was preached to all creatures by my own forefathers, the Twelve (Apostles) who, like me, issued from the Synagogue. I am convinced that after this war, the only means of withstanding the forces of destruction and of undertaking the reconstruction of Europe will be the acceptance of Catholicism, that is to say, the idea of God and of human brotherhood through Christ, and not a brotherhood based on race and supermen, for there is neither Jew nor Greek; neither bond nor free; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. I was a Catholic at heart before the war broke out; and I promised God in 1942 that I should become a Christian if I survived the war. No one in the world ever tried to convert me. My conversion was a slow evolution, altogether internal. Years ago, unknown to myself, I gave such an intimately Christian form and character to my writings that an Archbishop in Rome said of my book, The Nazarene, Everyone is susceptible of errors, but so far as I can see, as a bishop, I could sign my name to this book. I am beginning to understand that for many years I was a natural Christian. If I had noticed that fact 30 years ago, what has happened now would have happened then. As was to be expected, the announcement caused a great stir in Jewish religious circles. Overnight, the once venerated, learned Rabbi who had offered his life for sheep, became to some an ignoramus, and to all a heretic and traitor. The Synagogue of Rome proclaimed a several days fast in atonement for Zollis defection, and mourned him as dead, while at the same time they denounced him as a meschumad(apostate, one struck by God) and excommunicated him.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 14:16:48 +0000
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