The Greek Orthodox Tradition8

Orthodox Christianity and the Byzantine Empire were interdependent. The latter lasted over eleven hundred years despite corruption, duplicity, incompetence, perfidy, revolts, schisms, and nearly continuous attack from all sides.

In the Orthodox view, peace is the goal for all Christians. War is a manifestation of sin and can never be just. The Orthodox canon contains none of the thinking about entrance into or behavior during war found in the Western tradition. Instead, one finds a negative moral assessment coupled with an admission that war might be necessary, and that service is a legitimate requirement of citizenship. Because any act of violence contradicts the ethics and principles of the Kingdom of God, clergy are to be pacifists and are not to be involved in any military activity or even to enter military camps.

St. Basil (c. 330-379), Archbishop of Caesarea, established the doctrine that although killing in war was not murder, veterans were to abstain from communion for three years in penance. Six hundred years later, the church refused Emperor Nicephorus II Phocas’s request to grant martyrdom to soldiers killed in battle as inconsistent with this requirement.

Orthodoxy requires pursuit of peaceful resolution of conflicts without limit. However, the church recognizes that pacifism makes for easy victims and increases the likelihood of attack. Government cannot meet the requirements of the gospels. War increases the evil in the world but the innocent deserve protection. For Orthodox Christians, “just war” is an oxymoron.