| Pretty soon, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is set to begin an information campaign of why its actions in Ukraine were justified, and how “bad information” in social networks is misportraying this master plan of creating unity and “peace and love in Christ”. It is likely what I have to say here will be received by some as “Russian disinformation”, but I will dare to make my opinion known to my fellow Orthodox Greeks and others, in hope it will at least make them think more deeply about the potential consequences of what just happened this January in the Phanar. 1. The Ecumenical Patriarchate stepped into a civil conflict at the invitation of just one of the conflicting parties. This is not a mediation, it is an act of taking sides. Therefore, the Ecumenical Patriarchate cannot call itself a mediator in a conflict, it is a co-belligerent. History has shown that foreign parties that become involved in a civil conflict will not be looked upon favorably by either side if the conflict ever resolves. 2. The level of the Moscow Synod’s involvement with the affairs of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate does not affect either the day to day operations of the church, nor its strategic orientation. During the civil war in Ukraine, Metropolitan Onuphry called upon both sides to cease violence, whereas the schismatic jurisdictions that form the backbone of the new Ukrainian jurisdiction took a clear stance in the conflict and backed the new Ukrainian government’s assault on its own civilians in Donbass, with the false Patriarch Philaret (now carrying the honorary ‘patriarch’ title in the new church structure) calling for blood vengeance against the anti-government faction. This shows, clearly, that one side is more politicized than the other. There was no pressing need for the faithful of Ukraine to have a different church, the only reason for the existence of the schismatic jurisdictions was and remains political. There is no ‘loyalty to Russia’ required of the canonical Ukrainian church’s clergy or flock. |
| Patriarch Kirill calls on Catholics to jointly oppose de-Christianization of human civilization Source: Interfax-religion Rio de Janeiro, February 20, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has called on Orthodox Christians and Catholics to join efforts in the fight against the ousting of Christian values. “We still have some doctrinal disagreements, but no one is preventing us from fighting, hand in hand, to end the persecutions, the ousting of Christian values, to end the de-Christianization of the 21st century human civilization,” the patriarch said, after conducting a prayer service near the Jesus Christ statue on Mount Corcovado, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the world’s largest Catholic country, on Saturday. All travelers, especially seafarers, know, and not so much these days as they did in the days when the Americas were being discovered: when the human ability to weather a storm or other hardships runs out, there is always hope for the power of God, the Russian Church leader said. Today, many Christians are being killed in the Middle East and Africa, their churches and monasteries are being destroyed, and whole settlements and towns of believers are being exterminated, all the while, the global community has been unable to work out joint approaches on how to combat terrorism, and “very often attempts to defeat terrorism involve the attaining of other ends far from this declared goal,” thus instilling “the fear of a greater war.” Christians also suffer in Europe “where an evil political force disguised as tolerance is ousting Christianity out of the public life; when people are banned from wearing, in public places, and especially at the workplace, the cross that was laid upon them when they were baptized; when some countries ban the use of the word ‘Christmas’, and replace it with an incomprehensible one, or simply call it a ‘winter holiday’; when a country passes legislation that justifies the human sin in the refusal to understand marriage as a sacred union between man and woman; when humankind still suffers from a huge number of abortions killing children, from the ever increasing number of divorces,” said the Russian patriarch. |
| Is War Ever Justified? What we see in all this that Christ when He introduced in our world – a world where there is killing and death – a new reality: the new divine life which liberates us from fear, He did not order us out of the world, but send us into the world, so that we may transform it from inside. Being and living in the world implies involvement, not withdrawal; responsibility, not escape. 10 May 2009 Source: The Orthodox Christian Education Commission The Gospel tells us that we live in a world which is not the world as God wanted it. Our world is, at least partially, controlled by the “prince of this world’ (John 12:31), who was “a murderer from the beginning.” (John 8:44) Murder, killing, war, death are the intrinsic parts of the world’s very existence. Somehow, man was always able to understand the tragedy of killing, for he experienced fear for himself, for his loved ones, but he was never able to stop wars, murders, and other forms of killing. The Gospel explains why this is so: Behind the world’s tragedy, there is an evil Planner – the “murderer” from the beginning – Jesus Christ first unmasked him, called him by his true name – “the Murderer” – and then stripped him from his power by first submitting Himself to death freely, and then rising from the dead and giving us freedom from death. The Christian’s responsibility consists, therefore, in acting with Christ and in Christ by giving life to other men, to the world itself. How can he then be involved in killing? Throughout the centuries, the Church—its Saints, its councils, its best members—has solved this problem in diverse ways, which excludes a single universal formula. One the one hand, the Church has always unequivocally considered killing as an evil. St.Basil the Great (+379) prescribed a period of repentance, with several years’ abstention from Holy Communion, to all soldiers who participated in war. There are other cases, however, when divine blessing was given to other saints before wars and battles: to St. Constantine before his battle with the pagan Emperor Licinius; to St. Alexander Nevsky when he struggled with Western Crusaders, St. Sergius blessed Dimitry Donsko before his decisive confrontation with the Tartars and even sent two of his monks to participate in the fighting. These examples do not prove that killing is good. The Saints did not encourage killing, but sacrifice; they blessed men to give their lives, not to take the lives of others; for they also, all of them, rejoiced in peace not in war. His idea of blessed sacrifice is actually found in the words of Christ Himself. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 16:13) |
| May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Clergymen,To Those Desiring the Priestly Rank, and to Priests’ Wives. Part 3 He leads our rickety boat Dear Fr. T.! It is necessary and important on our part to have an inner spiritual yearning and desire to fulfill God’s will in our lives. Believe me, the Lord accepts and justifies our sincere feelings. Beyond our understanding and comprehension, He leads our rickety little boat with His firm hand. I am ninety-one years old, and I can witness to myself and others that the Lord knows our hidden thoughts, and guides our lives according to our faith and striving for the truth, often healing and correcting things that due to our ignorance and misunderstanding might prevent us from fulfilling the will of God in our lives. I passed the seminary examinations after I was already ordained, without ever having attended seminary; before ordination I was examined by the representative commission of the Moscow diocesan authorities. Dear Fr. T., I was not bound by such a multitude of titles as you are now, but a living zeal to serve interceded for me before God and people as for a spiritual father. During that post-war period this was very responsible, serious, and I might say, dangerous. I gave myself over to service in this. I attended [Theological] Academy as an external student. Half a year before I graduated, when my dissertation was already written, the Lord transferred me to another obedience—imprisonment, to a new flock and new authorities. Did I think before that there would be such an expression of God’s will? Of course not. Why am I telling you this? You, too, give your soul truly over to God’s will, without making your own plans, without regulating your own possibilities. Now, thank God, there is Vladyka. Fulfill his blessing, do not think over today what it might develop into tomorrow. The main thing is that you trust him, for he has passed through the school of novice to bishop. And if his plans should nevertheless suddenly slip over into purely human desires, then believe me, the Lord will intervene decisively and authoritatively, and Divine Truth will triumph. |
| Gracheva: Your Eminence, we usually end our programme by discusses the coronavirus. The head of the UK armed forces Nick Carter in an interview with Sky News warned of the global risks as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This is what he believes the risks are linked to and I quote: “Economic crises in the past have led to security crises which in turn spilled over into world wars.” General Carter does not exclude the possibility of a new world war. Your Eminence, do you think such concerns are justified? Will we see a new world war? Metropolitan Hilarion: The danger of a new world war exists, we felt it even before the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. I don’t think that the coronavirus pandemic has added any new dimensions to the international political scene in which today we can observe a polarization between certain centres of power and influence. Polarization can always be seen as dangerous as the world in which we live is a powder keg and all it takes is one fuse for the keg to explode. And the amount of weapons, including nuclear ones, is such that it would only take a small part of them to destroy life on the planet. I believe that a great responsibility rests on the leaders of those super powers which have nuclear weapons. Of course, in spite of the current political disagreements, it is important to come to some arrangement and dialogue between each other should not be done through the language of sanctions, threats or blackmail but precisely through the language of dialogue. We have to learn how to respect various approaches while remembering that we all live in the same world, that this is the only world we have and that we are all responsible for maintaining peace on earth. Ye. Gracheva: Thank you, Your Eminence. I look forward to meeting you next week. Metropolitan Hilarion: Thank you, Yekaterina. In the second half of the programme metropolitan Hilarion answered questions put to him by viewers through the The Church and World website. Question: Are there any prayers that a believer can recite during the pandemic? People more than ever are in need of the Lord God’s help. |
| What we see in all this that Christ when He introduced in our world – a world where there is killing and death – a new reality: the new divine life which liberates us from fear, He did not order us out of the world, but send us into the world, so that we may transform it from inside. Being and living in the world implies involvement, not withdrawal; responsibility, not escape. Where there is war – especially modern war – who are the participants? The military alone? Surely not, but also all those involved in supplying the Armies and, therefore, every taxpayer. A truly consistent “pacifist” attitude implies refusal to pay taxes and a total withdrawal from society. But is this the best way of making society better, and of “loving one’s brothers?” ltimately the real difference between a soldier on the front line and the taxpayer in the rear is that the first “lays down his life for his brothers,” while the second doesn’t. But both are, in act, involved in war. The real problem it seems to me, is to stop wars rather than to practice individual “conscientious objection,” which is a quick deceptive way of keeping oneself “uninvolved in killing.” The Christian does indeed have the duty to struggle against war, as a means of solving conflicts, and especially against the madness of national power seeking. But what about legitimate defense? Should Poland in 1939, have practiced non-violence when Hitler attacked it? Was it better for England, France, and America to let Hitler kill Poles, Jews, Rumanians, and Greeks, without interfering militarily? Obviously, the problem of “wars of aggression” and “defensive wars” is not a problem of good and evil as such, but of greater or lesser evil. If Christianity has never condoned absolute pacifism, it is only because it knew that absolute good, absolute love and blessedness are not of this world. The Christian has a foretaste of them. He tries to introduce as much of them as he can in his own life, and in the life of society, but – as long as he lives in this world – he is forced to think in terms of “lesser evil,” not of “absolute good.” This is the foundation of a justified self-defense. |
| But never did the Church condemn responsible and selective “conscientious objection,” especially when it includes a meaningful service to society, and is not understood as selfrighteous escape; but as a witness for truth and justice. The state alone cannot be given the absolute and infallible right to judge which wars are just! Killing in any form is evil, even if somehow coupled with personal risk and sacrifice. It may be lesser evil than self-righteous withdrawal from responsibility, for the latter can lead to even more killing – by others – of innocent brothers and sisters of ours. Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Is War Ever Justified? What we see in all this that Christ when He introduced in our world – a world where there is killing and death – a new reality: the ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life " s purpose, family and society. Donate Also by this author " “Le monde entier reste silencieux au sujet de l’Artsakh” : 120 000 personnes sont bloquées, dont des enfants en bas âge. pravmir_com_team Depuis le 12 décembre 2022, la région de l " Artsakh, où vivent 120 000 Arméniens, est bloquée par l " Azerbaïdjan.… |
| Refrain: Holy mother Mary, pray for us. To St. Mary of Egypt: Having crossed Jordan’s stream, thou didst find rest by giving a wide berth to the deadening pleasure of the flesh, from which deliver us also by thy prayers, O saint. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: To The Trinity: Thee, O Trinity, we glorify, the one God: Holy, Holy, Holy art Thou, Father, Son and Spirit, simple Being, Unity ever adored. Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Theotokion: From thee, O pure maiden Mother and Virgin, God Who created the worlds and ages was clad in my clay and united to Himself human nature. Song 6. Eirmos: I cried with my whole heart to the merciful God, and He heard me from the lowest hell and raised my life out of corruption. Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. Troparia: Rise and make war against the passions of the flesh, as Joshua did against Amalek, and ever conquer the Gibeonites – illusive thoughts. (Exodus 17:8; Josh. 8:21) Pass through the flowing nature of time, like the Ark of old, and take possession of the Land of Promise, my soul: It is God’s command. (Josh. 3:17; Deuteronomy 1:8) As Thou savedst Peter when he cried, “Save me!”, forestall and deliver me from the beast, O Savior; stretch out Thy hand and raise me from the depths of sin. (Matthew 14:25-31) I know Thee as a calm haven, O Lord, Lord Christ; but forestall and deliver me from the innermost depths of sin and despair. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: To The Trinity: I am the Trinity, simple and undivided, divided Personally, and I am the Unity, united in nature, says the Father, the Son, and the Divine Spirit. Now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Theotokion: Thy womb bore God for us Who took our form. Implore Him as the Creator of all, O Mother of God, that through thy intercessions we may be justified. Kontakion, tone 6: My soul, my soul, arise! Why are you sleeping? The end is drawing near, and you will be confounded. Awake, then, and be watchful, that Christ our God may spare you, Who is everywhere present and fills all things. |
| The Latin theory of Just War was one result. Considered primarily (as it was meant to be) as a theory of the limitation of hostilities in the ancient context (hand to hand fighting of massed armies whose very size limited the time of possible engagement to a matter of months at most), it too was an ‘economic’ theory that had much merit. It’s usefulness became moot in the medieval period when armament manufacture took ancient warfare into a new age, and it has become utterly useless in the modern age of mechanized warfare, where it could not stop the fatal transition (on which modernized mechanical warfare depends – both that sponsored by states, and that sponsored by smaller groups which we call ‘terrorism’) to the centrally important role of the murder of noncombatants. Be that as it may, it is not the purpose of the present essay to offer a sustained critique on Just War theory – merely to raise up a mainline Christian tradition of the ancient East which has never believed in Just War – and to offer instead of an elegant theory, a poor threadbare suggestion of old saints: that War is never justified or justifiable, but is de facto a sign and witness of evil and sin. When it falls across the threshold of the Church in an unavoidable way, it sometimes becomes our duty (so the old canons say) to take up arms; though when that is the case is to be determined in trepidation by the elect who understand the value of peace and reconciliation, not in self-glorifying battle cries from the voices of the bloodthirsty and foolish. But in no case is the shedding of blood, even against a manifestly wicked foe, ever a ‘Just Violence.’ The eastern canons, for all their tentativeness, retain that primitive force of Christian experience on that front. It may be the ‘Violence of the Just’ but in that case the hostility will necessarily be ended with the minimal expenditure of force, and be marked in retrospect by the last act of the ‘violent Just’ which will be repentance that finally resolves the untenable paradox. |
| Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. Rise up and make war upon the passions of the flesh, as Joshua against Amalek, ever gaining the victory over the Gibeonites, thy deceitful thoughts. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. O my soul, pass through the flowing waters of time like the Ark of old, and take possession of the land of promise: for God commands thee. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. As Thou hast saved Peter when he cried out, ‘Save me’, come quickly, O Savior, before it is too late, and save me from the beast. Stretch out Thine hand and lead me up from the deep of sin. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. I know Thee as a calm haven, O Lord, Lord Christ: come quickly, before it is too late, and deliver me from the lowest depths of sin and despair. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me. O Savior, I am the coin marked with the King’s likeness, which Thou hast lost of old. But, O Word, light Thy lamp, Thy Forerunner, and seek and find again Thine image. FOR SS. MARY AND ANDREW IN TONE SIX Holy Mother Mary, pray to God for us. Thy soul on fire, O Mary, thou hast ever shed streams of tears, to quench the burning of the passions. Grant the grace of these thy tears to me also, thy servant. Holy Mother Mary, pray to God for us. Through the perfection of thine earthly life, O Mother, thou hast gained a heavenly freedom from the sinfulness of passion. In thine intercessions pray that this same freedom may be given to those who sing thy praises. Holy Father Andrew, pray to God for us. Shepherd and bishop of Crete, intercessor for the inhabited earth, to thee I run, O Andrew, and I cry: Deliver me, father, from the depths of sin. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. ‘I am the Trinity, simple and undivided, yet divided in Persons, and I am the Unity by Nature one’, says the Father and the Son and the divine Spirit. Both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Thy womb bore God for us, fashioned in our shape. O Theotokos, pray to Him as the Creator of all, that we may be justified through thine intercessions. |
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