DIASPORA. – The term διασπορά (“dissemination,” “dispersion”) occurs 7 times in the Greek Bible (Deut. 28, 25 [cod. B]; Ps. 146, 2; Iud. 5, 19 [Volg. 23]; II Mach. 1, 27; Io. 7, 35; Iac. 1, 1; I Pt. 1, 1), and, except in the last text cited, which seems to allude to the community of Christians (“new Israel”) dispersed among the pagan nations, it denotes, as in the usage of Hellenistic Judaism, the body of Israelites “scattered” outside Palestine. James too, writing “to the twelve tribes of the d.,” intends to address the Jews converted to Christianity who were dispersed outside Palestine.
An idea of the immense diffusion of the Jews throughout the d. is given by Act. 2, 5: “Among the Jews residing in Jerusalem [on the occasion of Pentecost] there were devout men from every nation under heaven.” Hearing the Christians speak in various languages, they asked themselves: “How is it, then, that we hear them speaking each in our own native language? Some of us are Parthians, Medes, Elamites; others inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea (perhaps one should read ‘India’) or Cappadocia, Pontus or Asia [proconsular], Phrygia or Pamphylia, Egypt or the regions of Libyan Cyrene; others transient Romans, Jews or proselytes; others Cretans and Arabs; and yet we all hear them speaking of the greatness of God in our own languages” (ibid. 2, 8-11). The Sibylline Oracles (around 140 B.C.) write that “the whole earth and the whole sea is full” of Jews (III, 271).
While recognizing the hyperbole in the citations given here, one must admit that the dense network of communities of the d., which encompassed not only the Roman world but extended beyond Mesopotamia and Persia, was providential for the spread of Christianity. The Jews of the d., who witnessed the miracles at the first Christian Pentecost, carried throughout the world the first sparks of faith in the Messiah who had come. In their missions the Apostles, and St. Paul in particular, addressed themselves first to the Jews, then to the pagans (Rom. 1, 16). Among the causes that gave rise to and fostered the Jewish d., in addition to commercial motives, one should recall the deportations carried out by the invaders of Palestine and the flight undertaken to escape enemy oppression.
I. IN ASSIRIA, MEDIA, BABILONIA. - In 732 B.C. Theglathphalasar III (Pdl) deported numerous inhabitants of the northern regions of the kingdom of Israel to Assyria and Media (II Reg. 15, 29); after the conquest of Samaria (722 B.C.), Sargon increased the number of exiles (II Reg. 17, 6; 18, 6). In his inscription in the temple of Horsabad he speaks of 27,290 Israelites deported.
From 603 to 581 B.C. (especially in 587, when Jerusalem fell), Nabuchodonosor II deported many inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah to Babylonia, together with the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel and King Iechonia (II Reg. 23, 24–25, 21; Dan. 1, 1; Ez. 1, 1–3).
With the edict of Cyrus, some returned under the leadership of Zorobabel (538 B.C.); others returned to Palestine a century later with Ezra and Nehemiah, but many Jews who had regained their freedom preferred to remain in Babylonia under the administration of an exilarch (r'e'l galitha). There they devoted themselves to commerce, without neglecting religious instruction. As early as the fifth century B.C., a kind of Jewish bank, “Murašu and Sons,” operated at Nippur (in the time of Artaxerxes I and Darius II). The Babylonian rabbinical school, which counted the celebrated Hillel among its teachers, flourished until the High Middle Ages. From these regions the Jews gradually spread throughout the entire Eastern world. The Jews of Babylonia and Media received from Alexander the Great permission to live according to their own laws; they were favored by the Seleucids. Indeed, Antiochus the Great, convinced of their loyalty, transplanted 2,000 families from these regions to the troubled lands of Lydia and Phrygia (Josephus Flavius, Antiq. Jud., XII, 3, 4).
II. IN SYRIA AND ASIA MINOR. – As early as 857 B.C., King Achab obtained permission to establish in Damascus commercial “quarters” for the Israelites (II Reg. 20:34). Many Jews settled in Syria during the Hellenistic period, especially after the foundation of Antioch (301 B.C.). There they were granted permission to live according to their customs; they retained these privileges even under the Romans. In Damascus they had several synagogues (Act. 9:2).
The presence of numerous Jews in Asia Minor is attested by Philo (Leg. ad Caium, 33), by Josephus (Antiq. Jud., XIV, 10; XVI, 6), by Cicero (Pro Flacco, 28), by many decrees of Caesar and Augustus granting privileges to the Jews of those provinces, and also by the account of the missionary journeys of St. Paul (Act. 13:13–14, 28, etc.).
III. IN EGYPT AND CYRENAICA. — It is known from Jeremiah (chs. 42–44) that many Jews took refuge in Egypt during the invasions of Nebuchadnezzar. Some had settled in Pathros, in Upper Egypt. Psammetichus had made use of Jewish soldiers in the campaign against Ethiopia. A strong Jewish colony existed at Elephantine, whose life is attested to us by famous papyri from the fifth century B.C. A Jewish temple stood there. A Jewish temple is also recorded at Leontopolis in the second century B.C. It is clear that the law of the unity of the sanctuary was considered valid only for Palestine. Very many Jews settled in Alexandria in Egypt after its founder (Alexander the Great) granted them rights equal to those of the Macedonians. There, between 250 and 150 B.C., they published the Greek version of the Bible known as that of the “Seventy.” According to Philo (In Flaccum, 6), after the battle of Actium there were a million Jews in Egypt. They were governed by their own ethnarch and their own senate (gherusia).
IV. IN EUROPE (MACEDONIA, GREECE, ROME). — S. Paolo found prosenché and synagogues of the Jews at Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and Corinth. It is known from Filone and Giuseppe Flavio that Jewish colonies existed on the islands of Euboea, Crete, Cyprus, and the smaller islands of the Aegean archipelago.
At Rome, the greatest immigration of Jews took place in 63 B.C., when Pompey, after conquering Jerusalem, brought numerous Jewish slaves to the capital. Many of these were soon freed, also because they did not adapt to the worship and diet of their pagan masters. Even before 62, Jewish colonies must have resided at Rome, whence they sent offerings to the Temple of Jerusalem. They lived predominantly in Trastevere. They experienced alternating fortunes: favored by Caesar, persecuted and expelled by Tiberius and Claudius, they constantly managed to return, obtaining privileges. In Rome,
as throughout the rest of the Empire, they enjoyed freedom of worship, their own financial administration, and exemption from military service.
The Jewish diaspora continues still in the world, even after the establishment of the new State of Israel. S. Paolo weeps over the unbelief of the Jews and foretells their return to the Father’s house (Rom. 9–11).
The term diaspora is also used in modern times to denote the same phenomenon, on a religious basis, that occurs when groups adhering to a given belief come to be scattered, as minorities, within or outside their own original nation, while maintaining relations and contacts with the central religious authorities. Thus there is a Protestant diaspora, subdivided into as many smaller diasporas as there are different forms of faith; a schismatic diaspora, and a Catholic diaspora, formed by Catholic minorities scattered throughout Protestant, schismatic, or pagan nations or territories. The Catholic diaspora creates several important and complex problems, at times fatal for the Faith (mixed marriages, apostasies, indifference, relaxed religious education, less frequent reception of the Sacraments, prolonged deprivation of a priest).