WYDARZENIA W INMESTAR. KOMENTARZ DO HISTORII KOŚCIELNEJ VII 16 SOKRATESA
THE INMESTAR INCIDENT. A COMMENTARY TO SOCRATES ECCLUSTICAL HISTORY ( VII 16)

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the Inmestar incident, described in Socrates’ Church History (VII 16) and often erroneously considered to be the first accusation of a ritual murder, which the Jews have indeed faced regularly since the 12th century. According to Socrates in ca 415 CE drunken Jews in a Syrian town Inmestar tied a Christian boy to a cross and killed him. Some scholars link this incident with the feast of Purim: drunken people celebrating this holiday would have blasphemed the crucifixion of Jesus and instead of hanging an effigy of Haman on the gallows they would have affixed a child to a cross. This interpretation is hardly convincing, because Socrates does not suggest any festival context of this episode. Other scholars contest the historicity of the incident. However, it seems to be a real event, which fits quite well into the context of the sudden deterioration of Jewish-Christian relations, manifest in violent acts against the Jews, well documented at the beginning of the 5th century.

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