Welcome to the forum
So as not to cause confusion, I should say that I used to be Orthodox, and right now I'm ... um.. sort of on the fringe looking in. Anyway...
I can certainly understand that in the course of history mistakes are made, or misinformation is gathered up. I guess I was just hoping to to get an Orthodox perspective on this, as well as on the broader issue of anti-semitism in eastern orthodoxy and how it is dealt with.
I can't speak to what most Orthodox think of this, though fwiw I can say what I thought of when I struggled with this kind of stuff (especially the seeming antisemitic remarks of prominent saints) I guess the first thing was, I always approached the issue assuming that stereotyping a particular people wasn't really a good thing, though sometimes the shoe fit a group. For example, if at a certain point in history someone made negative remarks about the "warlike Mongols," well maybe not all Mongols were warlike, but it's understandable why someone might say that. Understandable in a "let's keep this in mind" type of way, not in a "oh, well that's perfectly fine" type of way. The larger problem, it seems to me, is that people make negative remarks about opponents (political, military, and otherwise) even when their remarks aren't even close to being accurate, and when people shouldn't be having such issues (e.g. during times of peace, or when peace is possible). I don't know the history of the Jewish people, but only bits and pieces here and there, but it seems to me that they generally attacked (verbally anyway) Christians as a people and religion, and Christians did vice versa.
Of course, once Christians came to wield more power, this went from two religions arguing to a potentially dangerous situation. I don't know to what extent it was in fact dangerous, only that there was probably a climate in which taking certain liberties could be easily rationalized. (And on this point, at least as far as the early Church goes, I can remember reading about examples of paganism being suppressed, but I don't recall off hand Jewish temples being destroyed, or Jewish people being persecuted... but again, there may be examples of this that I don't know about).
As for more recent times, and in the west, I know mostly what I've witnessed on blogs/sites/forums, with a stray news story here and there. There are some people who are, let's say, quick to pull the trigger when speaking negatively of Jewish people (or blaming them for something, or conspiracy theories, or whatever). However, I would guess that such people make up less than 1-2% of active forum members here. Such people generally aren't taken seriously, at least when speaking on Jewish/Judaism matters. That is not to say that Judaism is treated with deference on this forum, or seen as something very respectable and held in high regard, as it is among some other Christian groups. (for example, I remember being at a Promise Keepers meeting one time, and people were oohing and aahing and really enamored with Jewish traditions that some Jewish people were sharing... yet many of the people from my church who were having such a reaction would have vehemently attacked a Catholic or Orthodox if they had tried to share their "man made traditions").
As for what to do about those sincere individuals who speak ill of Jews (or Americans, or Italians, or whoever), or worse, well everyone is fallible I guess. Approving of someone's good conduct, even their sanctity in some cases, doesn't mean that everything they did is approved of. I think people are generally doing the best they can, and sometimes we just get things very wrong. Or, people make mistakes, and everyone could do a better job than they actually end up doing. This is not to excuse needlessly divisive--or even in some cases downright hateful and dangerous--language. We should confront such language and actions in various ways, which seems best for the situation: ridicule them, refute them, physically stand in their way, etc. But at the end of the day, at least in the west, there is free speech, and people are generally going to be allowed to say things we won't like. We have to respond in a way that minimizes harm from them, but doesn't require us to do as much harm ourselves.
Generally this is the kind of thing I wouldn't let bother me, though I understand you are in a different situation. If worst came to worst, I'd just say "Well they're wrong if they really thought/did such-and-such". The Church does not condone racism or antisemitism as a body (of Christ), though I'll admit that I'm not sure if racism was part of what was condemned when nationalism was condemned in an 1872 council in Constantinople.
