An Orthodox Christian can NOT celebrate an OT Feast as a Rabbinic Jew. WE celebrate Pascha (which was a Feast within Judaism) and we celebrate Pentecost (which was a Feast within Judaism). Are you getting this? Orthodoxy is more than just what we do today...but our roots show that other things were also done, even if they are not done today by all. Those ORTHODOX that have done so in the past, using your logic, would today be called Judaizers and heretics by you. It is hypocritical. Either we accept it or we can't say they were part of the Church...but then you have no roots...
It does seem that one of the central logical problems that can lead to a lot of issues is false categories.
It has been noted a couple of times, for example, that it is problematic to observe the Jewish religion on any level with its holidays - and the logic utilized behind this is that Orthodox Christian can certainly celebrate non-religious holidays of his native culture even though they cannot (regardless of whatever culture) celebrate the holidays of another religion, even if that religion is connected to his native culture.
Of course, the entire problem with that train of thinking is that it is rooted in
Argument by Selective Observation (Cherry Picking) - no different than one saying "I think one shouldn't be involved using social media to communicate regardless of culture!!!" and yet still using email or writing letters via hand-written format and then saying "But it's not the same as T.V or Radio - those are corrupt!". Social media is social media and has been done for good as well as bad - we cannot switch definitions or do things comparable to disregarding some data in an experiment and only using those pieces that support the hypothesis.
Likewise, when it comes to the very concept of Judaism, one cannot claim that celebrating Chanukah is a religious holiday of Jews/Judaism who REJECTED Orthodoxy - and yet
blatantly ignore where Jewish Christians/Orthodox and the Apostles of the early Church celebrated it in appreciation.
One cannot say "Well, we're to have NO association with the Jewish Holidays of Judaism" - in the false idea that doing so means rejecting Christ as many Jews today do - and then ignoring where you already have it where Jewish Holidays from Judaism were already a part of the Orthodox Church which are celebrated (Passover and Pentecost being quick examples) - just as Jews from Modern Rabbinical Judaism today STILL Celebrate those same holidays (as Passover and Pentecost).
Both Judaism and Christianity share the same Old Testament as our holy scriptures and the foundations of our faith in God are rooted in the Old Testament, so also that of the Jews, for their history and their laws are all in the Old Testament. Moreover, the entire Old Testament was written by Jews - while the New Testament (giving our foundation in revelation of what the OLD Testament was about and what the NEW Testament declared in the New Covenant) was also written by Jews with the exception of Luke. Ultimately,
Judaism is the name that men have attached to the formative stages of biblical faith (Old Testament) and Christianity is the name that men have attached to the completing stage of biblical faith (New Testament) - even though others in the Early Church noted how Christianity was the reflection of what Mature Judaism/Biblical Judaism was always meant to look like.
Jesus did not abolish Judaism but He reformed Judaism (
Hebrews 9:10), with reforms being what many Jews could not accept as of God, thus opening the way for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles who gladly received the gospel. It also opened the door for Jewish Christians to be distinct in their practices and showing what it meant to celebrate the heritage the Lord gave the Jewish people from Christ-centered focus ....and not feel as if they had to compete anymore with the older ways of doing things.
It has been said (as noted earlier in #175 ) that Judaism does not need Christianity to explain its existence, but Christianity needs Judaism both to explain its existence and what it believes - hence, Christianity has also been termed historically as the Judeo-Christian faith. In the early years of the Christian faith, Christianity was regarded as just another sect of Judaism (Acts 28:22) known as the sect of the Nazarenes.
As the early disciples and the 12 Apostles were all Jewish and the Apostle Paul even took a Nazarite vow (Num. 6) to prove to his critics that he valued God's Law/Torah(Acts 21:17-26) - and Paul himself was already noted to be the ringleader of the Nazarene sect (
Acts 24:4-6/
Acts 24), there is no escaping the fact that Christianity as a religion was an offshoot of Judaism - seen within the camp of Judaism and even when going against their form of "Modern Judaism" relative to what believers faced in the day, they were still not concerned with disconnecting from the Jewish world.
Thus, it'd be erroneous for anyone - at ANY time - to use a Faulty Comparison claiming that to be against "Judaism" (with Chanukah ) is to be for the Church. It'd be more accurate to note that to be against any practices found WITHIN Judaism that are not based in Christ is to be for the Church - and there's no avoiding where others in the Church always celebrated practices people today try to condemn (such as Chanukah) based on how modern Rabbinical Jews reject Christ while celebrating it. As early believers celebrated those same holidays but did so in honor of Christ, one honors them by doing the same.
If one were to truly wish to be consistent with the logic of "No connections or practices from Judaism!!!!", the only logical option would be seeing that all reference to ANY holiday celebrated by the Church which is done in Modern Rabbinical Judaism today would need to be eradicated - from Pascha to Pentecost to the developments in Liturgy developed with Temple Worship.....the style of argumentation the Fathers developed from Rabbis in the Early Church...the list goes on.
There's a bad form of logic utilized when it comes to assuming "What the Church has not preserved is an indication of what was NOT meant to be engaged in!!!" - but that's an argument purely from speculation and silence. For it rests on ignoring the fact that never was it the case that ALL parts of the Church ever ceased certain practices that others continued in - thus meaning one cannot speak in sweeping terms of "The ENTIRE Church" to skew an argument one side.
As it is, much of the Church often went BACK to practices that ceased for a time - with Divine Liturgy practices being one of them when seeing how often they have shifted. One Orthodox scholar did an excellent job breaking down in regards to Liturgy - the ways it is often misunderstood and the ways that people not only forget the reasons behind why Liturgy is done - but the ways that many in Orthodoxy often miss the ability for adaptation because they don't know the roots of traditions. For reference, one can see the commentary on the historical development of the Liturgy by Sister Vassa (Larin), given at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC. Very well done
That said, there's again a gap in category when saying a practice not continued in by large numbers means that it was not meant to continue and that others cannot engage in it if they wish - and yet ignoring where the history of the Church already had it where others continued in practices in small numbers and in time the Church came BACK to those things after recognizing it.
Additionally, one cannot argue on the basis of "Well, this practice continued but this didn't so that means it's wrong!!" when the reality is that culture makes a difference at all times - certain parts of the Church would not continue a practice when it had no relevance for them, nor would certain groups do so when there was no freedom to do it for fear of persecution historically.
So it's really a bad form of argument whenever one claims to speak for the entire Church saying "We do not want to welcome Judaic observances that the Church has not preserved" when there was never evidence that the Church didn't preserve them ......nor evidence given that what the Early Church was opposite of what Judaism was about.
You can't jump from a claim of "Modern Judaism doesn't celebrate Christ" to working backwards claiming "Hannukah therefore was never approved of by the Apostles or practiced by Jewish Christians!!!!" ....or say that it cannot be celebrated from a perspective of fulfillment in Christ just as it was with other practices/customs in the Judaic world.
For it is universally recognized as a Jewish (Judaic) holiday and celebrated by Jewish believers as it has always been done for CENTURIES - Jews celebrating Messiah. If one has an issue with the Jewish people in what Christ allowed/condoned alongside the Apostles, it simply needs to be acknowledged/dealt with rather than argued around...
