SAINTS AND HEROES, WAR AND PEACE. A ROMANIAN ORTHODOX HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
SAINTS AND HEROES, WAR AND PEACE. A ROMANIAN ORTHODOX HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Summary/Abstract: In the Orthodox tradition, there is no systemic theory on the issue of war. Some contemporary authors attempted to deduce a theory and to establish Orthodox regulations concerning war, but, in most cases,these attempts proved to be only personal reconstructions, based upon a particular pattern.This is the reason why historical research proves to be useful; it evinces all the concrete ways the Orthodox world dealt with war, in various temporal and spatial contexts.My communication focuses on the perspective Romanian Orthodoxy has had upon war, from the creation of the Romanian states (in the XIV-th century) until today. The organisation of the Orthodoxy intonational churches, each having its own particular evolution, makes this attempt legitimate.My paper does more than selecting the references to war from the documents. The problem of war has never been an autonomous issue,but it is closely connected to the fate of a community, to the choices it makes, according to its major aspirations, to the ways the community represents itself and relates itself to the others. Therefore, war is discussed in the broader context of the relations between religion,church, society and state.

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