Samaritan

Historical Palestine

Name used for the Israelites living in a region of Palestine: Samaria. At the time of Jesus, the Jews consider the Samaritans as schismatics and even as pagans who must not be associated with and from whom no service must be requested.

In "The Gospel as It Was Revealed to Me"

• The Samaritan woman (the Living Water): Jesus meets Photina in Sychar, in January/February of the 2nd year of his public life.
• Parable of the good Samaritan. – At the Temple, during the Feast of Tabernacles of the second year, to a doctor of the Law who tries to trap him.
• Particularities of Samaria and Samaritan mentality.
• Evangelization of Samaria.
• I find no difference between the place of prayer of the Samaritans and those I have seen in other regions. Always the same lamps, the same desks and the same shelves with scrolls on them, the place of the chief or of the one who teaches in his place, except that here there are far fewer scrolls than in other synagogues.
• They (the Samaritans) do not have to defend sectarian or caste interests. They have nothing, except an instinctive need to feel forgiven and loved by Him whom their ancestors offended and whom they continue to offend by remaining outside the Religion perfect. Outside, because they being proud and you the same, no one on either side knows how to give up the grudge that divides and to reach out in the name of the Unique Father.

In other sources

Origins of the Samaritans and hostility towards them

The origin of the Samaritans dates back to the 8th century BCE. After the fall of the kingdom of Israel, King Shalmaneser repopulated the land by sending settlers from different provinces of Assyria (including Babel). These settlers mixed with the remaining Jewish population and eventually adopted their Religion. The Pentateuch, and only these five books, was their sacred code.

This mixture of races, customs, and this rejection of the Religion as advocated by the Judeans created animosity that worsened over time and through incidents that fueled it.

Inevitably, this hatred erupts upon the return of the exiles from Babylon led by Zerubbabel and Joshua (in 520 BCE.) and increases when Ezra and Nehemiah arrive in Palestine (in 445 BCE.). The Samaritans are anathematized and excommunicated in the name of Jehovah.

Under Alexander the Great, Manasseh, brother of the high priest Jaddua, marries the daughter of the governor of Samaria; jealous of his brother and eager for power, he obtains from Alexander permission to build a rival Temple on Mount Gerizim to that of Jerusalem. He becomes its high priest, attracts a clergy whom he allows to marry foreign women. Relations between the two peoples are then broken.

At the time of Jesus, the Samaritan Temple no longer existed; a king of the Jewish Asmonean dynasty had destroyed it about one hundred fifty years earlier; but the Samaritans continued to perform their sacrifices on Mount Gerizim.

Under the procurator Coponius, one of the predecessors of Pilate, Samaritans break into the Temple at night during Passover, scatter bones, and defile the Holy Place. The priests cannot enter to officiate. Later, under procurator Cumanus (48-52), Galilean pilgrims passing through Samaria are murdered by the inhabitants.

In the first century, relations between Jews and Samaritans were at their worst. Galileans passing through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem had to expect to be insulted and had no relations with them. Jews even avoided asking Samaritans for food: "a piece of bread from a Samaritan, it was said, is like pork meat."

It is also in groups that the Apostles go to get bread at Shechem, leaving a weary Jesus alone.

Calling a man a Samaritan! was the ultimate insult. In fact, in the parable of the good Samaritan, the questioned Jew uses a periphrasis to avoid naming the Samaritan.

A small community of Samaritans, numbering a few hundred, still exists.