Navigating War with the Theotokos

Navigating War with the Theotokos Delivered to the 2023 Academic ISEC Conference VK McCarty What are we to make of the war between Russia and Ukraine, and now the awful war between Israel and Hamas—and the moral stain of bloodshed which continues to cripple our world? How will this story be told in which we are living today? Where is the movement of living Christianity in these tragic ongoing actions? And yet, what point is our state-side academic protest this day, when, no matter what is said about advocating peace here today, truth be told, I probably work, as you do, my friends, every Monday and part of Tuesday so that my taxes can pay for the deadly weapons of military action in other countries. Continuing violence, the military and political leaders continuing to call for violence, creates a tremendous and increasing eschatological tension, one which will surely be resolved in the Kingdom of Heaven, when indeed all of us will participate in peace, and violence itself will be destroyed. In the meantime, however, let us recognize that, even in the face of biblical images of war and vengeance which are often blamed for “advocating the sanctification of war theories within the Church in later ages…it is worthy of note that from early times, the war passages of 1 the Old Testament were consistently preached as allegorical symbols of the battle to establish peaceful virtues in human hearts, and not the advocating of conquests of specific territories.”1 Furthermore, since the Orthodox Canons “do stipulate that one who kills in war find spiritual healing through repentance before approaching the chalice.” So, surely, it is paramount that today’s political and military leaders with the responsibility for deploying troops and violent war action need also to repent before approaching the chalice. For indeed: “to take the life of a human being—created in the image and according to the likeness of God—is a grave matter which, regardless of the circumstances, threatens to do profound damage to the soul” of those political and military leaders.2 Finally, challenging as it may be to accept, John McGuckin has stated that any “truly honorable termination of war, for a Christian, has to be an honorable repentance.”3 Where, then, is anyone to begin? One perhaps with a rifle in hand, one perhaps with a war deployment decision pending, one perhaps with a beloved son sent to war, where are we to begin? How can we even begin to humbly admit that we are part of sinful mankind and its tendency toward pride and bloodlust? One is reminded of the first Ecumenical Council held at Nicaea, where one of the Canons issued by the Bishops stated: “As many as were called by grace, and displayed the first zeal, having cast aside their military belts, but afterwards returned, like dogs, to their own vomit…let these be prostrators.” Today’s explosion of war violence is baffling and infuriating to behold—and make no mistake about it: we all have blood on our hands. We all need to make lamentation for the actions of war. We all need to repent of these current wars—for the blood that has been shed, and for the lives that have been crushed. It may be our only effective response. Let us pray that our Christian reflection from the Eastern Orthodox Churches this day helps the nations come to their senses John McGuckin, “Nonviolence and Peace Traditions in Early and Eastern Christianity,” in Bos, Forest, eds For the Peace From Above: An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace, and Nationalism (New York: Orthodox Research Institute, 2011), pg. 439. 2 Philip LeMasters, “Peace in Orthodox Liturgy and Life,” Worship 77:5 (Sept. 2003), pg. 413. 3 McGuckin, “Nonviolence and Peace Traditions,” pg. 446. 1 2 and save their faithful people and their inheritance for the future, and our precious youth from further destruction and family suffering. Indeed, for a multitude of generations, the progress of the Orthodox Church has appeared to be a narrative of immense suffering; and yet, as Jim Forest has observed: “Without a doubt there were more Christian martyrs in the twentieth century than in all other centuries combined.”4 May our Christian prayer for the strength from above begin to make an honorable repentance for the bloodshed of war, all of us, even in the face of ongoing military action, which we ourselves may be paying for with our taxes. Therefore, in the face of this tragic procession of faithful Orthodox Christians whose houses and schools and hospitals have been ravaged, how can we activate the cycle of renewal and reparation which we know in good faith God intends? Here, in the collapse of peace ideals, when: “the spread of hubris and violence on the earth,” as John McGuckin observes: “is a clear mark of all those dark forces hostile to the heavenly kingdom,” how are we to reach again a blossoming of what he calls: “reform and repristination of the primitive righteousness?”5 Will we ever be able to turn the hearts of those who find enemy slaughter and war violence to be justified and praiseworthy? As a single individual among the Orthodox faithful, is there any action whatsoever that can effectively make a difference? We are fortunate, as we ponder these questions, that there are key resources among the Early Church Fathers defending a tradition of peace. Yet, one doubts whether anybody in power, whether anybody responsible for sending soldiers to the trenches of Ukraine and Palestine, is pondering the Augustine and Aquinas debate about Just War. So, is that all I am? Just another academic in my ivory tower positing peace at an ISEC Conference? The fact that we are part of sinful mankind whose tendency is toward pride and bloodlust may not be burnished by debate, but I can offer one man’s prayer. I can humbly pray Jim Forest, “War and Peace in the Orthodox Tradition,” in Bos, Forest, eds. For the Peace From Above: An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace, and Nationalism (New York: Orthodox Research Institute, 2011). 5 McGuckin, “Nonviolence and Peace Traditions,” pg. 448. 4 3 that all the unceasingly war-fatigued souls may find comfort and relief in the merciful arms of the Theotokos. For what are we to make of the minefields of violence and bloodshed which mankind so often sets up against mankind—and as we can tragically see, with even neighbor against neighbor? In the face of it, I pray that Our Holy Lady Theotokos can melt the hearts of the military and political commanders operating on both sides of the conflict. I pray for every man who is tasked with sending our boys daily to enact military violence, that their hearts may be warmed by the peace of God. Should our modern-day soldiers be encouraged to raise aloft icons of their faith as they march, as did the mighty Byzantines? It might simply identify them as moving targets. But I can pray for them, we can all pray together, begging God our Father that the hearts of the powerbrokers of weaponized conflicts sending our boys daily to suffer military violence melt with repentance before the face of the Lord. When we pray and when we stand together participating in the Divine Liturgy: We prepare to receive the medicine of immortality. We pray that the Lord’s salvation will come upon all those created in the image and according to the likeness of God. Because we believe in the Incarnation and the goodness of God's Physical creation, we pray for peace and salvation upon people in “real life” situations of peril and suffering, for deliverance from the kinds of calamities and hardships that beset our mortal bodies in this life. Because we believe that human beings are persons created for communion with God and others, we pray for those who govern, protect the innocent, and endure the social and political realities of war and oppression.6 And here I lift my own hands to the icon of the Mother of God, as did my sister in faith, Mary of Egypt, asking that Mary Our Lady Theotokos captivate the hearts of those with military decisions to make. I surround them with the merciful love I ask of the Theotokos and I ask you to join me. 6 LeMasters, “Peace in Orthodox Liturgy and Life,” pg. 409. 4 Here, we are still rounding the corner from the Millennium, but let us call to mind a celebrated Byzantine poet, John Geometres, from the turn of the first millennium. His Life of the Virgin Mary has recently been made available by the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (2023).7 Its soaring finale blends hagiography with the voice of intercessory prayer calling to the Holy Theotokos, and it is here humbly excerpted to voice our prayer. Please stand with me and pray: Now, Sovereign Lady, as you stand at the right hand of the King, hear us now as we pray to you and grant us peace. O Mother who gave birth to the new man and God O Commingling of new virtues O Amalgam of all the beautiful things of nature O Ornament and complement of divine hands and virtues O Flower of all Creation O Gift and loan of God to human beings Now, more than ever, visit and continue to visit your inheritance, and be gracious to your people. May you remember your flock and take care of us. May you see what a state we are in, how beset we are with violence and with the disaster of prideful assaults on our enemies. May you see how we rage against one another and plunder ourselves like wild beasts, since we as the sheep have turned into beasts of every kind, and all of us hostile to each other. And worst of all, no one is learning anything from the evils befalling each other, but rather we are provoked against each other. But you, O Holy Mother, may you forgive our violence, our murder, our impiety. May you be with us, especially at this time, not only as a reconciler and mediator between us and each other, but also between us and your Son. 7 John Geometres, Life of the Virgin Mary, Maximos Constas, Christos Simelidis, trans (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2023). 5 By your supplication and tears as you have done in the past, defend your flock and bring us together. May you bless our going out and our coming in. May you nourish us and bring us to pasture in a place of green grass, by waters of rest. May you receive this gift of our prayer for the one who is being graced, Christ himself, your son and our God, together with his incorruptible and co-unoriginate Father, and his life-creating and coeternal Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Thus, my friends, may we may re-commit ourselves to becoming part of the Christian vocation of true peacemaking and healing. In closing, let us consider a popular saying attributed to St. Seraphim of Sarov which bears repeating here. To the leaders of the nations, may it be said: “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.” May it be on the lips of our prayer this day and unto ages of ages. Bibliography Hilda Bos, Jim Forest, eds, For the Peace From Above: An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace, and Nationalism (New York: Orthodox Research Institute, 2011). Jim Forest, “War and Peace in the Orthodox Tradition,” in Bos, Forest, eds. For the Peace From Above: An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace, and Nationalism (New York: Orthodox Research Institute, 2011). John Geometres, Life of the Virgin Mary, Maximos Constas, Christos Simelidis, trans (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2023). Philip LeMasters, “Peace in Orthodox Liturgy and Life,” Worship 77:5 (Sept. 2003), pp. 408425. 6 John McGuckin, “Nonviolence and Peace Traditions in Early and Eastern Christianity,” in Bos, Forest, eds For the Peace From Above: An Orthodox Resource Book on War, Peace, and Nationalism (New York: Orthodox Research Institute, 2011), pp. 439-460. VK McCarty lectures on Ascetical Theology and Early Christianity, leads workshops and retreat days, and preaches for St. Gregory the Theologian Eastern Orthodox Church in New York City. She is the author of From Their Lips: Voices of Early Christian Women which is available through 2023 from GorgiasPress.com, using the special Discount Code FTLVKM30% at this link. Her Orthodox sermons are collected at: publicorthodoxy.org/author/vk-mccarty/ 7