Abstract
The historical and religious roots, transformations and current manifestations of attitudes to peace and peacebuilding in Eastern Orthodox cultures have attracted less thorough investigation and attention than their Western Christian counterparts to which they offer a number of parallels and differences. The present chapter examines the historical and theological background of these attitudes and their principal sources to chart the principal trajectories of their development into the medieval and modern era. Their significance to the current debates on and approaches to the topical problematic of peace and warfare needs a cautious reassessment, as Orthodox churches and networks have started addressing in earnest the most pressing questions arising from contemporary global and regional models of peacemaking and peacebuilding.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Asfaw, S., Chehadeh, A., & Simion, M. G. (Eds.). (2012). Just Peace: Orthodox Perspectives. Geneva: WWC Publications; Ayer, MA: Institute for Peace Studies in Eastern Christianity.
Bainton, R. H. (1960). Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace: A Historical Survey and Critical Re-evaluation. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Bartholomew, I. Patriarch. (2003). Cosmic Grace + Humble Prayer: The Ecological Vision of the Green Patriarch Bartholomew (J. Chryssavgis, Ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
Bartholomew, I. Patriarch. (2008). Encountering the Mystery: Understanding Orthodox Christianity Today. New York: Doubleday Books.
Bos, H., & Forest, J. (Eds.). (1999). For the Peace from Above: An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace and Nationalism. Bialystok, Poland: Syndesmos/The World Fellowship of Orthodox Youth.
Brundage, J. A. (1969). Medieval Canon Law and the Crusader. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Clapsis, E. (2010). Peace and Peacemaking as the Interfaith and Ecumenical Vocation: An Orthodox View. Religion and Theology, 92(4), 35–53.
Clapsis, E. (2011, May 18). Peace, Economic Injustice, and the Orthodox Church. Greek Orthodox Diocese in America. Retrieved from: https://www.goarch.org/-/peace-economic-injustice-and-the-orthodox-church.
Dragas, G. (1992). Justice and Peace in the Orthodox Tradition. In G. Limouris (Ed.), Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation: Insights from Orthodoxy (pp. 40–44). Geneva: WCC Publications.
Goodin, D. K. (2004). Just War Theory and Eastern Orthodox Christianity: A Theological Perspective on the Doctrinal Legacy of Chrysostom and Constantine-Cyril. Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 48(3–4), 249–267.
Haldon, J. (1999). Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204. London: University College Press.
Haldon, J. (Ed.). (2007). Byzantine Warfare. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Hamalis, P. T. (2007). Peace and War in the Thought of St. John Chrysostom. In Proceedings of the International Symposium, St. John Chrysostom Archbishop of Constantinople: Yesterday and Today (pp. 73–81). Seoul: Orthodox Metropolis of Korea.
Hamalis, P. T. (2018). Just Peacemaking and Christian Realism: Possibilities for Moving Beyond the Impasse in Orthodox Christian War Ethics. In P. T. Hamalis & V. A. Karras (Eds.), Orthodox Christian Perspectives on War (pp. 335–361). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Hamalis, P. T., & Karras, V. A. (Eds.). (2018). Orthodox Christian Perspectives on War. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Harakas, S. S. (1981). The Morality of War. In J. J. Allen (Ed.), Orthodox Synthesis: The Unity of Theological Thought (pp. 67–95). Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir Seminar Press.
Harakas, S. S. (1999). The Teaching of Peace in the Fathers. In S. S. Harakas (Ed.), The Wholeness of Faith and Life: Orthodox Christian Ethics: Part One: Patristic Ethics (pp. 137–161). Brookline, MA: Holy Orthodox Press.
Helgeland, J., Daly, R., & Burns, J. P. (1985). Christians and the Military: The Early Experience. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
Hunter, D. (1992). A Decade of Research on Early Christians and Military Service. Religious Studies Review, 18(2), 87–94.
Karras, V. A. (2018). Their Hands Are Not Clean: Origen and the Cappadocians on War and Military Service. In P. T. Hamalis & V. A. Karras (Eds.), Orthodox Christian Perspectives on War (pp. 125–159). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Khrapovitskii, A. (1916 [1973], November 21). Khristianskaiia vera i voina [The Christian Faith and War]. Russkii inok (Translated as Metropolitan A. Khrapovitsky) (pp. 872–877). Jordanville, NY: Holy Trinity Monastery.
Kostić, S. (2016). Pro-Peace Consensus of the Orthodox Church. In Z. Kindjic, M. Blagojević, & M. Lolić (Eds.), Religion and Violence (pp. 67–81). Belgrade: Forel.
Kyrou, A., & Prodromou, E. H. (2018). Debates on Just War, Holy War, and Peace: Orthodox Christian Thought and Byzantine Imperial Attitudes to War. In P. T. Hamalis & V. A. Karras (Eds.), Orthodox Christian Perspectives on War (pp. 216–248). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
LeMasters, P. (2010). A Dynamic Praxis of Peace: Orthodox Social Ethics and Just Peacemaking. Revista Teologica, 4(1), 69–82.
McGuckin, J. A. (2006). Non-violence and Peace Traditions in Early and Eastern Christianity. In K. Kuriakose (Ed.), Religion, Terrorism and Globalisation: Non-violence: A New Agenda (pp. 189–202). New York: Nova Science Publishers.
McGuckin, J. A. (2008). The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to Its History, Doctrine, and Spiritual Culture. Oxford: Blackwell.
McGuckin, J. A. (2011). A Conflicted Heritage: The Byzantine Religious Establishment of a War Ethic. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 65/66(1), 29–44.
Papanikolaou, A. (2018). The Ascetics of War: The Undoing and Redoing of Virtue. In P. T. Hamalis & V. A. Karras (Eds.), Orthodox Christian Perspectives on War (pp. 13–37). Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Rancour-Laferriere, D. (2007). Tolstoy’s Quest for God. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Saggau, E. H. (2017). Eastern Orthodox Perspectives on Violence. In E. Aslan & M. Hermansen (Eds.), Religion and Violence (pp. 73–91). Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
Solov’ev, V. (1899 [1990]). War, Progress and the End of History: Three Conversations (A. Bakshy, Trans.). New York: Lindisfarne Press.
Stoyanov, Y. (2009). Norms of War in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. In G. Reichberg & V. Popovski (Eds.), World Religions and Norms of War (pp. 84–128). Tokyo: United Nations University Press.
Stoyanov, Y. (2014). Eastern Orthodoxy and the Ethics of War. In G. M. Reichberg & H. Syse (Eds.), Religion, War and Ethics: A Sourcebook (pp. 164–235). Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Swift, L. J. (1983). Early Fathers on War and Military Service (Message of the Fathers of the Church). Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier.
Webster, A. F. C. (2003). Justifiable War as a “Lesser Good” in Eastern Orthodox Moral Tradition. St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly, 47(1), 3–59.
Zampaglione, G. (1973). The Idea of Peace in Antiquity. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stoyanov, Y. (2019). The Role of Religious Institutions: Peace in Eastern Orthodoxy. In: Kulnazarova, A., Popovski, V. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Global Approaches to Peace. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78905-7_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78905-7_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78904-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78905-7
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)