For the Peace from Above

478 Pages·2011·2.12 MB·English

For the Peace from Above
Other books published by the Orthodox Research Institute include:
Charles B. Ashanin. Essays on Orthodox Christianity and Church History
Rev. Dr. Steven Bigham. Early Christian Attitudes toward Images
David G. Bissias. Th e Mystery of Healing: Oil, Anointing, and the Unity of the
Local Church
V. Rev. Fr. Sebastian Dabovich. Th e Holy Orthodox Church: Th e Ritual, Ser-
vices and Sacraments of the Orthodox Church
V. Rev. Fr. Sebastian Dabovich. Th e Lives of Saints: With Several Lectures and
Sermons
V. Rev. Fr. Sebastian Dabovich. Preaching in the Orthodox Church: Lectures
and Sermons by a Priest of the Holy Orthodox Church
Margaret G. Dampier. Th e Orthodox Church in Austria-Hungary: Th e Met-
ropolitanate of Hermannstadt
Protopresbyter George Dion. Dragas. Ecclesiasticus I: Introducing Eastern
Orthodoxy
Protopresbyter George Dion. Dragas. Th e Lord’s Prayer according to Saint
Makarios of Corinth
Protopresbyter George Dion. Dragas. St. Cyril of Alexandria’s Teaching on
the Priesthood
Daniel Fanous. Taught by God: Making Sense of the Diffi cult Sayings of Jesus
Alphonse and Rachel Goettmann. Th e Spiritual Wisdom and Practices of
Early Christianity
Fr. Stephen C. Headley. Christ aft er Communism: Spiritual Authority and Its
Transmission in Moscow Today
Archimandrite Kyprian Kern. Orthodox Pastoral Service. Edited by Fr. Wil-
liam C. Mills
Matthew the Poor. Th e Titles of Christ
For the Peace from Above
An Orthodox Resource Book
on War, Peace and Nationalism
Revised Edition
Edited by
Fr. Hildo Bos & Jim Forest
orthodox
research
institute
Rollinsford, New Hampshire
Published by Orthodox Research Institute
20 Silver Lane
Rollinsford, NH 03869
www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org
© 2011 Jim Forest and Fr. Hildo Bos
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, in-
cluding photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retriev-
al system, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
ISBN 978-1-933275-55-0
Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................iii
Chapter One: Defining Terms .......................................................1
Chapter Two: Reference Texts from Holy Scripture .............15
Chapter Three: Canonical and Synodical
Reference Texts ............................................................................43
Case Study 1 ...................................................................................69
Case Study 2 ...................................................................................73
Case Study 3 ...................................................................................88
Chapter Four: Reference Texts from Authors
from the Patristic Period ...........................................................99
Case Study 4 .................................................................................147
Case Study 5 .................................................................................152
Chapter Five: War, Peace and Nationalism ............................155
Case Study 6 .................................................................................177
Case Study 7 .................................................................................179
Chapter Six: Reference Texts from Modern Authors ..........199
ii For the Peace from Above
Case Study 8 .................................................................................233
Case Study 9 .................................................................................238
Chapter Seven: Various Recent Official Statements ...........243
Case Study 10 ................................................................................287
Chapter Eight: Essays and Texts ..............................................303
Chapter Nine: Study and Action Guide ...................................451
Introduction
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called children of God.
Matthew 5:9
In peace, let us pray to the Lord. For the peace
from above and the salvation of our souls, let us
pray to the Lord.
Opening litany of the Divine
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
All religious communities must turn to the very
depth of their doctrine and to the best pages of their
respective traditions in order to fi nd the principles
of a sacred anthropology which puts the emphasis
on sincere respect of the whole human person.
Archbishop Anastasios of Albania
Since the early days of the Church, Christians have struggled to
come to terms with Christ’s words of peace and his example of
peace. In Christ’s life as recorded in the New Testament, it is striking
that he neither killed anyone nor summoned any of his disciples to
kill. Indeed the fi nal miracle Christ performed before his execution
was to heal an enemy’s wound, an injury caused by the Apostle Peter
in an attempt to defend his master.
Yet in the course of more than twenty centuries of Christian his-
tory, we see Christians oft en involved in war and, in surveying the
iv For the Peace from Above
calendar of saints, fi nd not only those who refused to take part in
war but also those who served in the military, though no one has
been canonized due to his skill as a soldier. Besides the millions of
Christians who have fought in armies, oft en against fellow Christians,
we also fi nd many priests, bishops and theologians who have advo-
cated war and blessed its weapons.
Our subject is an urgent one. Many people today live either near
confl ict areas or are directly touched by war or in areas where terror-
ist actions may suddenly occur. Everyone on the planet is in some
way aff ected by wars in progress or wars in the making as well as the
consequences of wars in the past. Every day thousands of Christians
struggle in thought and prayer with some of the most diffi cult of
questions: May I fi ght injustice by violent methods? Am I allowed
to kill in combat? Are there limits on what I can do in the defense of
my country? Am I as a Christian allowed to disobey demands that I
believe are unjust or violate the Gospel? When the demands of my
country seem at odds with the demands of the Kingdom of God, how
do I respond to this confl ict?
Rarely do we fi nd easy answers to these and similar questions.
Th us those of us in the Orthodox Christian tradition search for help
in Holy Scripture, the canons provided to us by ecumenical councils,
the witness of the saints, the writing of the Fathers of the Church as
well as theologians of recent times.
Imitation of saintly forebears alone, however, will not solve our
problems. Diff erent eras have adopted diff erent attitudes. Also many
of today’s problems never existed before, not least the changed char-
acter of war in an era of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and
mass propaganda. Yet knowledge of the thought and action undertak-
en by the Orthodox Churches on the issues of war and peace in recent
decades surely can help us fi nd ways out of the dead ends that many
communities are experiencing today. Th is is the aim of this book.
Th is resource book is a revised and expanded edition of a book
fi rst published in 1999 by Syndesmos, the World Fellowship of
Orthodox Youth, working in cooperation with the Orthodox Peace
Introduction v
Fellowship. Now thanks to the Orthodox Research Institute, it will
reach a broader audience, not only Orthodox, we hope, but Christians
from other churches.
No matter who is reading it, we hope this resource book will as-
sist the reader in coming to a deeper clarity about the issue of war and
the challenge of peace. Th ose who preceded us in the faith off er us
examples to follow, and also examples to reject. Th e tradition of the
Orthodox Church has much to give every Christian caught up in the
horrors of modern warfare.
* * *
Th e present resource book attempts to provide original resource texts
concerning Orthodoxy, War, Peace and Nationalism. In compiling
the book, to supplement the primary tests, we have also sought to
gather documents that express a variety of points of view.
We express our gratitude to all those who have made this book
possible. We especially thank His All-Holiness the Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew for blessing this book and permitting us
to quote from several of his speeches. We also thank Archbishop
Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania, Metropolitan George of
Mount Lebanon, Bishop Irinaeus of Backa, Fr. Stanley Harakas,
Archimandrite Grigorios Papathomas, and the late Olivier Clément
for permission to use their texts.
Finally, this book would not have been possible without the
support of many others, including: Alan Kreiger, André Lossky,
Fr. Andrew Louth, Mr. Albert Laham, Metropolitan Jeremy of
Switzerland, and the Secretariat of the Great and Holy Council of
the Orthodox Church. We also owe a special word of thanks to Fr.
Cosmas Shartz and John Brady for the many hours they spent discov-
ering errors, tidying up sentences and helping us make this a better
text and to Fr. Alexis Vinogradov for assistance with the translation
of a diffi cult passage.
Fr. Hildo Bos and Jim Forest
d