Get your own Free Home Page9 May 99
Commemoration of the Holy Prophet Isaias
Isaias 2: 1- 4
Matt 4:13-16
Mar Michael, Metran, Antiochian Catholic Church in America
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"In days to come. . . they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again." (Isaias 2: 4)
Oh, how we long for the fulfillment of these words! As deeply as Isaias longed for the coming of Messiah, so we who have received Messiah in our time long for the fulfillment of this prophecy. Early in the 20th century there was a lot of rhetoric about World War I being the end of all wars. Many of those who died in battle believed very deeply that their sacrifice was making it possible for their children never to have to go to war. But their children did -- in World War II, in the Korean War, in the Viet Nam War, in the Gulf War. Can there be any end to it?
In the midst of the First World War, Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Antony of Kiev wrote:
"It is made clear that war is an unavoidable condition of governmental life, i.e. of the very existence of a state." (Christian Faith and War)
A generation later, Russian Orthodox philosopher, Nikolai Berdyaev (d.1948) affirms this:
"The state, in its will to power and its expansion creates war. War is the fated destiny of the state." (Slavery and Freedom)
Even the great scientist Albert Einstein was in agreement:
"As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable." (Ideas and Opinions)
Are things really as bleak as that? Is war truly inevitable? Well, in all of recorded history there has never been a period of even ten consecutive years during which there was not a major war being waged somewhere in the world -- revolutions, military coups, civil wars, nations against nations. Not even ten consecutive years of peace, and when I speak of peace as not being at war, I am using the word peace in a very minimalist way. Jesus spoke of such things, saying:
"You are bound to hear of revolutions and rumours of wars; look out and do not be disturbed; for all of these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." (Matthew 24: 6 - 7)
So yes, I am afraid that wars are inevitable, for Jesus speaks here to every generation, all generations, including ours and including the very last. The reason? It is the brokenness of our world and the fallenness of our nature -- the inclination toward evil. Blessed James, the brother of our Lord, speaks to this:
"From whence come conflicts and quarrels among you? Is it not from the passions that war in your members? You covet, and do not obtain; you kill and envy, but you cannot possess; you strive and fight; yet you have nothing; all this because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive because you do not ask sincerely; you ask that you may satisfy your passions." (James 4: 1- 3)
Pride, covetousness, anger, envy -- the passions, part of the human condition -- is there nothing we can do to resist the impulses that can drive us to violence and to war? Is the prophecy of Isaias a false prophecy? I shall save my remarks on that for later. First, I wish to articulate, as best I can, the historic and true teaching of the Orthodox Catholic Church concerning war, peace, freedom, defense, and security. This doctrine is rooted in the Old Testament, so let us begin there.
The Witness of the Old Testament
Even one who is not a student of the Bible knows that the Hebrew Scriptures are full of wars, battles and wars apparently sanctioned by God. There is the story of the utter destruction of the Egyptian army in the Book of Exodus, chapter 14. There is the story of the taking of the city of Jericho by the Israelite army led by Joshua, in Joshua, chapter six. There is the blinding of the Syrian army by means of the word of the prophet Eliseus, told in 1st Kings, chapter six; and Yehoshaphat's victory over the Ammonites, told in 2nd Chronicles, chapter 20.
Yes, much of the Old Testament seems to have been written in blood. What can we make of this? The answer lies in the fact that in each case it is the Lord himself who brings about the victory for the Israelites by means of direct intervention. In each case it is the Lord who is the divine warrior fighting for Israel. It is the role of the Israelites, then, as God's "Chosen People," to place their trust in his protection and defense.
"O God, we have heard with our own ears, our fathers have told us of the deeds you performed in their days, in days long ago, by your hand. To put them in the land you dispossessed the nations, you harried the peoples to make room for them; it was not by their swords they won the land, it was not by their arms they gained the victory; it was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face, because of your love for them. . . My trust was not in my bow, my sword did not gain me victory; . . our boast was always of God. . . ." (Psalm 44: 1- 3, 6)
When God provided Israel with victories it was always and only for his own purposes, which with postResurrection hindsight can be seen as the working out of our salvation in history. But the prophets spoke against Israel when, in their pride, they sought to rely upon their own military might:
"Woe to those. . . who depend upon horses; who put their trust in chariots because of their number, and in horsemen because of their combined power, but look not to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord!" (Isaias 31: 1)
And God even bitterly opposed Israel when their leaders strayed from the righteous path:
"Listen to the word of the Lord, king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, your ministers, and your people that enter by these gates! Thus says the Lord: Do what is right and just. Rescue the victim from the hand of his oppressor. Do not wrong or oppress the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. If you carry out these commands, kings who succeed to the throne of David will continue to enter the gates of this palace, mounted on chariots and horses, they, with their ministers and their people. But if you do not obey these commands, I swear by myself, says the Lord, this palace shall become rubble. Thus says the Lord concerning the palace of the king of Judah: Though you be to me like Gilead, like the peak of Lebanon, I will turn you into a waste, a city uninhabited. Against you I will send destroyers, each with his axe; they shall cut down your finest cedars, and cast them into the fire." (Jeremias 22: 3- 7)
For salvation to come, it had to come in the form of a human being, a man who would be born to a particular people in a particular place, in a particular time, and into particular circumstances. The Law and the prophets, and God's intervention in the affairs of Israel and the nations (including wars), served the purpose of bringing together into a certain time and place all the elements necessary for the salvation of humanity.
The Witness of the New Testament
In the fuller revelation given in the New Testament, there is both continuity and discontinuity with the Old Testament. There is continuity, for example, in the emphasis on the need for absolute trust in God. But there is a break in continuity (a transformation, really) in certain ideas and attitudes; in particular, covenant promises and the concept of peoplehood, which become universalised so that neither God's grace nor the status of being God's people are confined to a particular race or nation. Jesus commands his disciples to love their enemies. The New Testament Church saw herself as the prototype, the template, the model, of a new humanity; one in which old enemies, Jews and Gentiles, could live together in true peace (not merely a pause in hostilities). This peace was to be not only an inner sense of peace, but also peace between peoples alienated from each other for the very reasons wars are fought. Blessed Paul writes to the Ephesians:
"At that time you were without Christ, being aliens to the customs of Israel, and strangers to the covenant and its promise, without hope, and without God in the world. But now, through Christ Jesus, you who were once far off are brought near through the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made the two of us one, and has broken down the barrier of hostility that kept us apart. . . reconciling both of us to God as one body, and with his cross he destroyed the enmity." (Ephesians 2: 12-16)
The Witness of History
During the second and third centuries, the Church developed a dual view of the relationship between the faithful and the state. On the one hand, she maintained upon biblical authority that Christians were duty-bound to be subject to the state, as it is only by God's will that any such civil authority can exist:
"Let every soul be subject to the sovereign authorities. For there is no power which is not from God; and those who are in authority are established by God. Whoever therefore resists the civil authority, resists the command of God; and they that resist shall receive judgement to themselves." (Romans 13: 1, 2)
On the other hand, when it came to the issue of participation in war, or even military service in general, Christians believed they had a greater loyalty and a higher calling to obey the "Law of Christ," which in this case meant doing good to, and even loving, one's enemies, and "beating swords into plowshares," which equated to refusal of all military service. This attitude, this pacifist response to the call of the state to military service was upheld by such luminaries as Saints Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Hippolytus to name a just a few.
Part of this attitude certainly came from the fact that they could not in good faith participate in the idolatry required by those in military service, that of emperor worship. But more than this, they believed that theirs was a call to spiritual warfare, praying against the demonic powers that inspire nations to wage wars, as witnessed in the writings of Origen and Saint Athanasios, to name two. A large number of faithful Christians were martyred for this principle during this period.
However, with the Edict of Milan in 313 and later, the advent of the state-sanctioned church, the matter of idolatry became a non-issue, and Christians hesitantly began entering into military service. By the fifth century, though, things had changed so dramatically that in 439 a new law in the Empire allowed no one but Christians to serve in the military! I should qualify this just a bit by saying that I speak here of Christians belonging to the state-approved church, not of the Syrian Christians. The Syrian Church was never the officially sanctioned church, always the outsider Church, and so while they tolerated the state, they continued to maintain a laissez-faire attitude toward it, in some ways rather like the Amish and Mennonite communities of our time.
The Witness of the Fathers
I have mentioned several of the Fathers of the Church as upholders of pacifism as an appropriate response to the state's "will to power," as Berdyaev put it. Similarly, one finds in the writings of Tertullian of Carthage, Saint Athenagoras of Athens, Saint Paulinus of Nola, and others, unqualified condemnations of human violence under any circumstances. The clear and unequivocal teaching of the Fathers is that war, all war, is the result of human failing. But in the fourth century, in the thoughts of Saint Basil the Great (of Ceasarea) there developed, as a concession to human sin, a lesser moral option -- an ethic of "justifiable war."
The Justifiable War Ethos
It should be mentioned that at around this same time, Blessed Augustine developed what would become accepted in the Western Church as the "just war doctrine," wherein he laid down cri teria for waging a war that is genuinely just. But Saint Basil's concept, while similar in some ways to Augustine's, denies that war can ever be "just," for to say that a war is just is to ascribe to it a positive good, a virtue, that war cannot possibly have under any circumstances. Saint Basil, in conceding that war is sometimes inevitable, teaches essentially that war and participation in war by Christians can be justified when it is in defense of one's own nation or in defense of a friendly nation that cannot defend itself against an aggressor.
"Our fathers did not consider killing on the field of battle murder, pardoning (as it seems to me) defenders of chastity and piety." (The 13th Canon of St. Basil the Great)
War can never be justified for the sake of revenge or for conquest. Even so, for a nation to choose to go to war is at best the choice of a lesser evil. Christians must regard their enemies (national or otherwise) as nothing less than human beings, who, like themselves, are created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore the ultimate goal of war, from a Christian perspective must be for the sake of repentance, forgiveness, and rehabilitation.
Mercy and Justice
I have shown that the Orthodox Catholic Church speaks with one voice in condemning the causes of war, which are the passions. But she does not offer only a single response to the reality of war. She supports both the conscientious objector as well as the active soldier inasmuch as both act (presumably) in good conscience, and therefore in good faith.
On the one hand, radical pacifism as an individual choice has long been seen as an authentic and prophetic witness to the Gospel imperative. This has also been upheld by the later Fathers, such as Saints Boris and Gleb during the medieval period, and Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk in the eighteenth century, and it reverberates in the nineteenth century writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky.
On the other hand, Saint John the Baptist, when given the opportunity, does not ask soldiers to forsake their duties:
"And the soldiers also asked him saying, 'What shall we do?' And he said to them, 'Do not abuse anyone, and do not despise anyone. Your own wages should be enough for you'." (Luke 3:14)
Jesus commends a soldier's faith, as told in Luke 7: 2-10, and a soldier named Cornelius was the first Gentile admitted into the Church, as related in The Acts, chapter 10. There is no indication in Scripture of criticism, whether explicit or implied, of their soldierly occupations. In fact, within the context of Saint Basil's teaching concerning justifiable war, it should be noted that those who take up arms courageously in defense of the innocent do so at great personal cost. Whereas the conscientious objector will not compromise his commitment to non-violence even for a reasonably just cause, the Christian soldier's intent is that evil should not triumph through his own inaction, and is willing to risk his personal safety and sacrifice his personal serenity for the sake of justice. Twentieth century Maronite (Antiochian) Catholic poet Kahlil Gibran speaks thus:
"Dying for freedom is nobler than living in the shadow of weak submission, for he who embraces death with the sword of truth in his hand will eternalize with the Eternity of Truth, for Life is weaker than Death and Death is weaker than Truth." From: "Dead Are My People"
Likewise, Metropolitan Antony of Kiev wrote:
"Our soldiers going into the field of battle [during the First World War]. . . did not think about how they would kill, but about how they would die. In their eyes a soldier is not a self-satisfied conqueror, but a self-denying ascetic, laying down his life for Faith and Fatherland." (Christian Faith and War)
And the Canonical Epistle of Saint Athanasios the Great sums up this aspect of the Church's doctrine in these words:
"In the various occurences of life we find differences which exist according to different situations, for example: it is not lawful to kill, but to kill an enemy in battle is tolerated and permitted."
The Witness of the Orthodox Church Today
Father Stanley Harakas, a priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, is regarded as one of Orthodoxy's leading moral theologians. He comments:
"I think that we can say with confidence that Jesus' teaching regarding the Kingdom of God excludes the idea and practice of wars among nations. This means that measured against the teaching of Jesus in which people are to live in harmony with God and in love and harmony among each other, that the killing, maiming, destruction, horror and evil which is war does not fit the idea of "kingdom living." Everyone who is a follower of Jesus prays, 'thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.' Our goal and desire is Jesus' goal -- peace and harmony among all people.
"If we seek opportunities to 'turn the other cheek,' to 'not return evil for evil,' and yes, even to 'return good for evil,' we frequently become agents for reconciliation, and bring about peaceful solutions for situatons which otherwise could cause serious conflict and continued antagonism. Jesus' teaching presupposes at least the possibility that our opponent, or the enemy who seeks to do us harm, is open to dialogue or influence. What happens, however, if the enemy is intent on attacking us, regardless of what we do?
"It is clear that Jesus would have us suffer injustice, rather than commit it. . . . If we are attacked, whenever and wherever possible, we are to seek ways to peacefully influence our enemy to change and to deal with us righteously. Where we cannot, the most we can do, in the spirit of the Kingdom, is to defend ourselves, without seeking to harm the other beyond what is necessary to stop the attacker. This becomes all the more an obligation when we are responsible to defend the innocent lives of others. Nevertheless, the ethic of Jesus does not focus on the rights of self-defense, but rather on the seeking of peace, the establishment of justice and righteousness in human relationships, and the resolution of disputes through concern about the other.
"Violence, war, insurrection, etc. are indicators of a failure to live the 'kingdom life.' They always fall short of what is good. . . It may be necessary that wars be fought. . . But war can never be our goal, it can only be a falling away from our goal for which repentance is the only appropriate response.
"Especially, as we find ourselves facing the terrible possibility of nuclear destruction, the Christian approach takes on greater relevance. We simply cannot and must not allow nuclear war to happen, for it means the destruction of the world. There are many approaches to this issue, some quite controversial. It is not within the competency of the Church to determine which is the "right" political solution --[my emphasis -- Mar Michael] only to constantly and persistently remind civil leaders that nuclear war is a totally unacceptable alternative to international conflict.
"In practice, Christians will strive always to be 'peacemakers' seeking to make peace a priority." (The Orthodox Church: 455 Questions & Answers)
Father Harakas' comments on this are solidly within the historic Orthodox Catholic teaching. But what of the Orthodox leaders, the bishops of our time, especially those in North America? Father Alexander Webster, a priest of the Orthodox Church in America, is a moral theologian of equal stature to Father Harakas. His answer is very instructive:
" 'Parochial' may serve as an apt one-word description of the public moral witness of the Orthodox jurisdictions in the United States on issues of freedom and human rights. . . This predominance of parochial concerns has both positive and negative features. On the credit side, the relentless determination of the several jurisdictions to champion the cause of religious and political freedom in their countries of origin has provided oppressed Orthodox believers there -- who would be virtually neglected by the major American media -- with intrepid advocates in the most powerful nation on earth. . .
"On the debit side, however, this parochial public moral witness betrays two dangerous tendencies: one toward phyletism [i.e. extreme nationalism -- Mar Michael] and a corresponding one away from catholicism. Bishop Kallistos Ware. . . once lamented, 'Nationalism has been the bane of Orthodoxy for the last ten centuries'.
"The tendency of the Orthodox jurisdictions to narrow their moral compass to their 'own' peoples in Eastern Europe and the Middle East also precludes a truly universal vision. . . . The moral credibility of the Orthodox Churches must invariably suffer from this skewed prophetic vision.
"The encyclicals, resolutions, and other proclamations on peace, freedom, and security issued by leaders of the Orthodox Churches. . . have, on the whole, been woefully deficient as expressions of authentic Orthodox moral tradition. . . Instead of employing cogent moral reasoning based on unmistakable Orthodox virtues to reach morally sound conclusions, cautiously free at once of empirical error and from ideological contagion, these mostly brief, pungent statements have been marred by superficiality, acute historical conditioning and hence a lack of universal relevance, and distinct ideological bias.
"Further, it does not take long in such cases for Church leaders to exceed their competence in defense policy or political theory. The net result is usually devastating for the Church, which is widely perceived as a bunch of rank amateurs intruding in technical, professional matters beyond their ken." (The Price of Prophecy)
In The Price of Prophecy Father Webster illustrates his point with examples too numerous to mention; but I witnessed just such an example taken from recent events (as I write), while watching a news broadcast of a political rally of Serbian-Americans showing support for the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosovic. Standing behind the speaker, giving their tacit moral support was a group of Serbian Orthodox bishops and priests. I have no criticism of the Serbian-American laymen -- their loyalties are quite natural. But how very sad to see fellow Orthodox churchmen lending their moral approval to the political and social agenda of an atheist, Communist, dictator! And how outrageous! The Church must stand above national politics, and bearing in mind Father Harakas' statement that "It is not within the competency of the Church to determine which is the 'right' political solution," she must instead offer herself as a mediator of peace. That is the proper role of Church leaders in these matters -- diplomacy and mediation -- not in taking sides, as Blessed Paul writes to the church in Corinth:
"And all things have become new through God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of rereconciliation. . . . Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. . . ." (II Corinthians 5:18, 20)
The Orthodox family could learn a great deal from the Anglican Communion in this area.
And while all this should be especially so for Christian believers, the non-Christian religions also each in their own way obligate their faithful (ideally) to the practice of a humane ethic at minimum.. But in the arena of global politics, all too often religion is used merely as a means to an end, as the Parliament of the World's Religions stated in 1993 in its Declaration Toward a Global Ethic:
"Time and again we see leaders and members of religions incite aggression, fanaticism, hate, and xenophobia -- even inspire and legitimate violent and bloody conflicts. Religion often is misused for purely power-political goals, including war. We are filled with disgust."
How then shall we live?
As I mentioned at the beginning of this address, the Church today longs for peace, but she longs for more than merely the absence of war -- far more. In Syriac, shlama, and in Greek, eirene, the peace that is spoken of in our greetings and blessings implies also physical security, inward serenity, outward tranquility, and even universal brotherhood. It is "the peace of God, that passes all understanding" (Philippians 4: 7). We take it on faith that such peace can only be ultimately won for us by God-in-Christ at the time of the Parousia. At that time Messiah will bring about the Apocatastasis Panton, the Tikkun ha Olam, the "restoration of all things," when all the created order will be purified and restored to unity with God, and God will be "all in all" (1 Corinthians 15). On that day the prophecy of Isaias will be fulfilled. The question, the moral dilemma is, between that time and our own time, how shall we live? And how should we as individuals, as people of conscience, how should we respond when we "hear of revolutions and rumours of wars"? How can we bear an authentically prophetic witness to the world? And is there any good in it? Is there any point to it? Father Alexander Schmemann, of happy memory (d. 1983), former Dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, answers:
"To these questions there exist no answers in the form of 'recipes.'. . . It all depends primarily on our being real witnesses to the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit, to that new life of which we are made partakers in the Church. The Church is the sacrament of the Kingdom -- not because she possesses divinely instituted acts called 'sacraments,' but because first of all she is the possibility given to man to see in and through this world the 'world to come,' to see and to live it in Christ. It is only when in the darkness of this world we discern that Christ has already 'filled all things with Himself ' that these things, whatever they may be, are revealed and given to us full of meaning and beauty. A Christian is one who, wherever he looks, finds Christ and rejoices in Him. And this joy transforms all his human plans and programs, decisions and actions, making all his mission the sacrament of the world's return to Him who is the life of the world." (For the Life of the World)
Wars may be inevitable, but not every war is inevitable, not all wars. People of faith, people of conscience, can make a difference. The Christian programme for peace is quite simple -- not easily accomplished perhaps, but simple nonetheless. It is not only for the great ascetics or the great heroes of faith, but rather it is for each and every one of us. We each have something to contribute. And these simple contributions, with God's help, have a positive, healing, transformational effect upon the world, as Father Schmemann affirms. In his First Letter to the Thessalonians Blessed Paul outlines it thus:
"Now we beseech you, my brethren, correct those who offend, comfort those who lack courage, bear the burdens of the weak, and be patient toward all men. See that none of you render evil for evil; but always follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Be joyful always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ concerning you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not reject prophecies. Test all things; uphold that which is good. Abstain from every sort of evil. May the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved without blemish unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:14-23)
Our Ascesis
How can we put this godly advice into practice? There are as many ways as there are minutes in each day, but I shall touch broadly here upon three.
First, we must teach peace to our children as an essential part of their moral formation. I am not saying that we must teach pacifism, but whether as parents or grandparents, whether as aunts and uncles, as teachers or simply as neighbours, we are role models for the children in our lives, and it is they who will inherit the world from us, from whom will come another generation of leaders and decision-makers. By our words and by our example, within our individual spheres of influence we must teach our children to seek peaceful ways of resolving conflicts, for:
"Train a child in the way he should go; and even when he is old, he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22: 6)
Blessed Theophan the Recluse (d.1894) offers this:
"Let parents themselves furnish a fine example of good life. . . . At the same time, one must inspire the children themselves to do good deeds, and then guide them into doing them themselves. The most ordinary good deeds in this regard are: almsgiving, compassion, mercifulness, yielding to others, and patience. It is not difficult to train them to do these things. Opportunities for them occur every minute; one has only to use them." (Raising them Right)
Secondly, we must try as best we can to disentangle our lives from the worldly powers which contend for our time and energy, our money, and our loyalty. The simplest way is to become conscientiously aware consumers. When we buy ordinary and innocuous products, are we aware of who is ultimately profitting, or what sort of agenda we might be ultimately supporting? When we buy our personal computer do we give any thought to whether that company also might manufacture missile guidance systems? When we buy that child's toy are we aware that the same company might also makes M-16's? Metropolitan Antony again teaches us:
"There are no words sufficient to condemn the criminality of factory owners, merchants, or landlords who enrich themselves from the misfortunes of war." (Christian Faith and War)
Many of us, for example will have money invested in an IRA, a company pension fund, or perhaps in some other investment vehicle. Are we aware of how those monies are being used and by whom? In these situations one always has certain choices available. Do we make socially responsible, prudent, choices? Libraries, bookstores, and the Internet offer many resources for educating ourselves in this area.
"Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. . . Bear hardships as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No man that wages war entangles himself with the things of this life; if he would please Him who has chosen him to be a soldier. . . Reflect on these things, and the Lord will make my meaning fully clear." (2 Timothy 2: 1, 3, 4, 7)
Thirdly, but most importantly, we must embrace something of the sensibility of those first Christians who took so seriously the vocation of the "spiritual warrior," that is, one earnestly engaged in spiritual warfare, for as Blessed Paul writes:
"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For your conflict is not only with flesh and blood, but also with pricipalities and with powers, withthe rulers of this world of darkness, and with the evil spirits under the heavens." (Ephesians 6:11, 12)
Blessed Tikhon of Zadonsk (d. 1783) adds this:
"Beloved Christians, let us see whether we have this warfare, whether we take part in this saving struggle, whether we walk in the newness of life, whether we oppose the inclinations and desires of the flesh, and whether we not allow sin to reign over us and to rule us." (Journey to Heaven)
In Blessed Tikhon words are recapitulated not only the teaching of Blessed James, quoted earlier, but Father Schmemann's as well, especially in that because we are joined to Christ in baptism, our efforts, our struggles, have redemptive, saving, transformative value. Blessed Theophan likewise reminds us that "Freely choosing and loving good is a powerful weapon."
Unseen Warfare
Entire books are devoted to this subject, but again I will limit my remarks to three points. Spiritual warfare begins with simply governing one's senses, for again Blessed Theophan reminds us that "the senses are essentially doors for the soul." Television, radio, motion pictures, and other media, if we choose wisely can bring beauty into our lives, can be instructive and even inspirational as well as a source of light and relaxing entertainment. But unfiltered they also will present us with a barrage of images and messages of violence, immodesty, and ungodliness. Doctor Constantine Cavarnos, past Professor of Philosophy at Holy Cross Orthodox Seminary, points out:
"Usually, what one sees and hears on television [and other media] has the effect of polluting our vision, our hearing, and the soul of man: crimes, robberies, murder, obscene and sinful acts of all kinds, impassioned and brazen words spoken in anger, endless and tiring commercials, and other things of this type. When compared with television, videotapes are advantageous in that we can choose them ourselves in the stores where they are sold, as opposed to television, which presents us with whatever is being shown at the moment we turn it on -- good or bad." (The Church in the Home)
Secondly, we must actively seek after what is good and holy. This has ramifications in all aspects of one's life -- in the home, in the workplace, in the Church, and in the larger community, and is manifested in all of our relationships. We must strive to live with Christian integrity, applying the same Gospel values in every arena, not living by one standard in church, another at work, and still another at home. Above all we must endeavor to dissolve harmful and hostile stereotypes. To accomplish this, with the help God provides in the Church we must cultivate a well-formed conscience and then be obedient to it. Blessed Tikhon of Zadonsk again advises:
"Do not do what conscience forbids you to do, for an unerring conscience forbids what the Law of God also forbids. For a good conscience is in agreement with the Law of God. The Law of God says, Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal (Ex 20:13, 15), and so on. You also hear the same thing within your conscience, and it tells you the same thing. Avoid then, doing what conscience forbids, lest having wounded your conscience you wound your soul.
"Shun evil and do good for God's sake, and for no other reason than God forbade the former and commanded the latter, for everything that is not done for God's sake is not pleasing to God. Let your aim in all your deeds, then, be the will of God, which does not desire evil, but desires good." (Journey to Heaven)
And lastly, we must cultivate the prayer life.
"The effect of prayer is union with God; and if someone is with God, he is separated from the enemy. Through prayer we guard our chastity, control our temper, and rid ourselves of vanity. It makes us forget injuries, overcomes envy, defeats injustice, and makes amends for sin.
"Through prayer, physical well-being, a happy, peaceful home, and a strong, well-ordered society are obtained. Prayer shields the wayfarer, protects the sleeper, and gives courage to those who keep vigil. It will refresh you when you are weary and comfort you when you are sorrowful.
"Prayer is the delight of the joyous, and the solace of the afflicted. It is intimacy with God and contemplation of the invisible. Prayer is joy in things of the present, and the substance of things to come." -- Saint Gregory of Nyssa, 4th century
Concluding Remarks
We have covered a great deal in this brief study, so allow me to recapitulate:
I shall end with more of the God-inspired wisdom of Blessed Tikhon of Zadonsk:
"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Consider these things, Christian, how necessary and useful peace and harmony are to Christians. Hence it is written of the first Christians, And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul (Acts 4:32)
"O that lovely friendship and that most beloved brotherhood, when among many heart and soul were one! Know that they were led by the Spirit of their heavenly Father alone. For where there is peace, harmony, and oneness of soul, there is the God of peace. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God (Romans 8:14)." (Journey to Heaven)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God in both worlds, and unto the Aeon of aeons. Amen.
Sources and Resources:
Nikolai Berdyaev, Slavery and Freedom. New York, NY: Scribner's, 1944.
Constantine Cavarnos, The Church in the Home. Point Reyes Station, CA: Monastery of St. John of Shanghai, 1998.
Sheldon M. Cohen, Arms and Judgment: Law, Morality, and the Conduct of War in the Twentieth Century. Boulder, CO: Westview Press,1989.
Everett Ferguson, ed., Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. New York, NY: Garland Publishing Co., 1990.
Stanley S. Harakas, The Orthodox Church: 455 Questions and Answers. Minneapolis, MN: Light and Life Publishing Co., 1987.
Metropolitan Antony Khraqovitsky, The Christian Faith and War. Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery, 1988.
Hans Kung, A Global Ethic for Global Politics and Economics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1995.
Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation. Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1996.
Theophan the Recluse, Raising Them Right: A Saint's Advice on Raising Children. Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1989.
Katherine Scholes, Peace Begins with You. Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co., 1989.
Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat and a Treatise on Peace of Soul. Rock ford, IL: TAN Books, 1993.
Alexander F. C. Webster, The Price of Prophecy: Orthodox Churches on Peace, Free dom, and Security, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995.
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