Question first appeared on April
16, 2000
Why
is it okay for someone to go into the army and to kill someone?
Your
question is short and to-the-point. If I answer by just saying
that it isn't okay, we have many more questions.
Fr.
Stanley Harakas writes the following in his book, Contemporary Moral Issues:
"The
Orthodox Church constantly remembers that the Lord Himself is a peacemaker and
blesses those who make peace (Matthew 5:9). As a result, the Church as a whole
and its ethical teaching is opposed to war, which it sees as a most terrible
evil which nations inflict upon each other, In the strict sense of the word,
there is no good war. The early Church strongly condemned war. St. Cyprian's
(246 A.D.) denunciation of war is typical when he condemned wars scattered
everywhere with the bloody horror of camps. 'The world is wet with mutual
bloodshed; and homicide is a crime when individuals commit it, but is called a
virtue when it is carried on publically. Not the method of innocence, but the
magnitude of savagery, procures impunity for crimes.' (To Donatus, 6, 10).
"Yet
other moral realities keep the Church from adopting and advocating a pacifist
position. Thus, recognition that the innocent need to be defended and human
life must be protected, became especially vivid to the Church with the
establishment of the Byzantine Empire in 325 A.D., an Orthodox Christian
state. The Church then recognized the possibility of just wars of defense and
even named as saints some persons who were soldiers or military leaders.
',However,
none of this changed the essential conviction of the Church that peace is a
great good to be prayed for, worked for and sought after with Christian love
and diligence. The spirit of the Orthodox Church is captured in this passage
from St. John Chrysostom: 'If in order to put an end to public wars, and
tumults, and battles, the priest is
exhorted to offer prayers for kings and governors, much more ought private
individuals do it.' He proceeds then to speak of 'grievous kinds of war'
including...'when our soldiers are attacked by foreign armies.' He does not
mention, however, offensive wars of conquest or retribution (Homily
on Timothy, Homily VII)."
How
are we to reconcile this with our present life as Orthodox Christians living
in the Untied States of America in the year 2000? There is no mandatory
military service, neither does the "draft" exist anymore. Service in
our armed forces is voluntary. And, when it is conducted within peaceful
times, primarily providing a peaceful defense for our nation and its citizens,
there is little moral dilemma for the Orthodox.
But
the fact remains that there may come a time of conflict. We may be called upon
to defend our nation and it's interests. In the case of a "shooting
war," every Orthodox soldier will face the situation alone. The ethics of
his faith will be in tension with his "oath to duty and to country."
He will be faced with "kill or be killed." And, having made the
decision, he will be in prayer with His Lord seeking wisdom, guidance, and
forgiveness for the actions that he must do.
Should
the Orthodox soldier's convictions against taking another person's fife be
strong enough, there has always been the opportunity within the United States
military for service in a non-combatant role. Many soldiers or sailors
who have professed a "pacifist" position have served with
distinction as medics or hospital corpsmen.
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