OCU theologian: Christians' Messiah and Jews' Mashiach are the same person

OCU cleric Andriy Dudchenko. Photo: "Pravoslavni Skhidniaky”

The secretary of the OCU’s theological and liturgical commission and associate professor at the theological academy, Andriy Dudchenko, has stated that Christianity is “Judaism 2.0,” and that the Savior of Christians and the Mashiach of the Jews are the same figure.

In a podcast titled “Christianity and Judaism: Do We Seek the Same God?” featuring Torah instructor and Jew Yuriy Radchenko, Dudchenko claimed that Christianity is the highest form of Judaism.

“If we take the faith of the first century – the Judaism of the Intertestamental period, before and during the life of Jesus Christ – then that, I would say, is Judaism 1.0. What we have today – the modern versions of Judaism – would be Judaism 1.5. And what we, Christians, have is Judaism 2.0, which I believe we belong to,” the OCU theologian argued.

He emphasized that Christians and Jews believe “in one and the same God.” “And the variety of traditions indicates that there are different paths leading to this one God,” the OCU cleric said.

Speaking about the coming of the Messiah, Dudchenko asserted that “we (Christians and Jews – Ed.) are awaiting the same person.”

“Yeshua Mashiach, ben Yosef, ben David – Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Joseph. I think that if the Jews wait for their true Mashiach, they will be surprised to discover that it is the same one. For us, He will come a second time, and for them, He will come for the first,” Dudchenko said.

Radchenko categorically disagreed. According to him, Jesus cannot be the Mashiach of the Jews under any circumstances.

“Either this person never existed, or he was simply a man – as we said, an interesting rabbi, a Pharisee, non-systemic, who was simply killed. And the disciples created a story about his resurrection and similar things. This is the general Jewish view, if we put it simply.”

The main argument, Radchenko continued, is that “there is no peace after the coming of Jesus. There is no peace, wars have not ceased after the coming of Jesus. That is the primary response: wars have not ended, and therefore we have no signs that the Mashiach has come. And the Jewish people remain scattered.”

“We (Judaism and Christianity – Ed.) are separate religions, separate worldviews,” he stressed.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that, according to Elpidophoros, head of the American Archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, all religions are myriad paths leading to one God.

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