War / Self-Defense

Scriptures on War:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:38-48

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21

And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. – Isaiah 2:4

And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. – Luke 3:14

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. – Matthew 5:9

What is the source of wars and strife among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? – James 4:1

For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. – James 1:20

You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. – Matthew 5:38-41.

For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth;” who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. – 1 Peter 2:19-23

Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.” So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is sufficient.” – Luke 22:36-38

When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “No more of this!” And He touched his ear and healed him. – Luke 22:49-51

But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. – Matthew 26:52

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. – Matthew 10:34

In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. – Revelation 1:16

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. – Ephesians 6:17

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. – 2 Corinthians 10:3-4

Church Fathers on War and Self-Defense

The Didache:

And of these sayings the teaching is this: Bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you. For what reward is there for loving those who love you? Do not the Gentiles do the same? But love those who hate you, and you shall not have an enemy. Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts. If someone strikes your right cheek, turn to him the other also, and you shall be perfect. – Didache (A.D. 80-140), Chapter 1.

Clement of Rome:

Peter answered: Why are you afraid of hearing frequently of peace? For do you not know that peace is the perfection of law? For wars and disputes spring from sins; and where there is no sin, there is peace of soul; but where there is peace, truth is found in disputations, righteousness in works. – Peter, Recognitions of Clement, book 2, chapter 36

“Then ensued a tumult on either side, of the beating and the beaten. Much blood is shed; there is a confused fight, in the midst of which that enemy attacked James, and threw him headlong from the top of the steps; and supposing him to be dead, he cared not to inflict further violence upon him. But our friends lifted him up, for they were both more numerous and more powerful than the others; but, from their fear of God, they rather suffered themselves to be killed by an inferior force, than they would kill others.“ – Recognitions, Book 1, Chapters 70-71.

For if there be no hope for the future, why should not mercy be given up, and men indulge in luxury and pleasures, from which it is manifest that all unrighteousness springs? And while you introduce so impious a doctrine into the miserable life of men, you call yourself pious, and me impious, because, under the hope of future good things, I will not suffer men to take up arms and fight against one another, plunder and subvert everything, and attempt whatsoever lust may dictate. And what will be the condition of that life which you would introduce, that men will attack and be attacked, be enraged and disturbed, and live always in fear? For those who do evil to others must expect like evil to themselves. — Peter, Recognitions of Clement, Book 3, chapter 42

Wherefore, brethren, leaving [willingly] our sojourn in this present world, let us do the will of Him that called us, and not fear to depart out of this world. For the Lord says, You shall be as lambs in the midst of wolves. And Peter answered and said to Him, What, then, if the wolves shall tear in pieces the lambs? Jesus said to Peter, The lambs have no cause after they are dead to fear the wolves; and in like manner, fear not them that kill you, and can do nothing more unto you; but fear Him who, after you are dead, has power over both soul and body to cast them into hell-fire. And consider, brethren, that the sojourning in the flesh in this world is but brief and transient, but the promise of Christ is great and wonderful, even the rest of the kingdom to come, and of life everlasting. By what course of conduct, then, shall we attain these things, but by leading a holy and righteous life, and by deeming these worldly things as not belonging to us, and not fixing our desires upon them? For if we desire to possess them, we fall away from the path of righteousness. – Clement of Rome, 2 Clement, chapter 2

Ignatius of Antioch:

Against their outbursts of wrath be you meek; against their proud words be you humble; against their railings set you your prayers; against their errors be you steadfast in the faith; against their fierceness be you gentle. And be not zealous to imitate them by requital. Let us show ourselves their brothers by our forbearance; but let us be zealous to be imitators of the Lord, vying with each other who shall suffer the greater wrong, who shall be defrauded, who shall be set at naught; that no herb of the devil be found in you: but in all purity and temperance abide you in Christ Jesus, with your flesh and with your spirit. – Ignatius: to the Ephesians (A.D. 35-105) ch.5

Only request in my behalf both inward and outward strength, that I may not only speak, but [truly] will; and that I may not merely be called a Christian, but really be found to be one. For if I be truly found [a Christian], I may also be called one, and be then deemed faithful, when I shall no longer appear to the world. Nothing visible is eternal. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For our God, Jesus Christ, ismore visible now that He is with the Father. – Ignatius, Letter to the Romans, chapter 3

I write to all the churches, and I bid all men know, that of my own free will I die for God, unless you should hinder me. I exhort you, be not an unseasonable kindness to me. Let me be given to the wild beasts, for through them I can attain unto God. I am God’s wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread [of Christ]. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb and may leave no part of my body behind, so that I may not, when I am fallen asleep, be burdensome to any one. Then shall I be truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not see my body. Supplicate the Lord for me, that through these instruments I may be found a sacrifice to God. – Ignatius, Letter to the Romans, chapter 4

Mathetes:

The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it (1 Peter 2:11), though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet keeps together that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they keep together the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens. The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number. God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake. – Mathetes to Diognetus, chapter 6

Aristides:

They comfort their oppressors and make them their friends. They do good to their enemies. – Aristides (c. 125, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 9, Page 276.

Justin Martyr:

We who hated and destroyed one another, and on account of their different manners would not live with men of a different tribe, now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them, and pray for our enemies, and endeavour to persuade those who hate us unjustly to live conformably to the good precepts of Christ, to the end that they may become partakers with us of the same joyful hope of a reward from God the ruler of all. – Justin Martyr (A.D. 160), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 1, Page 167.

We who formerly used to murder one another do not only now refrain from making war upon our enemies, but also, that we may not lie nor deceive our examiners, willingly die confessing Christ. – Justin Martyr (A.D. 160), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 1, Page 176.

We who were filled with war, and mutual slaughter, and every wickedness, have each through the whole earth changed our warlike weapons – our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into implements of tillage – and we cultivate piety, righteousness, philanthropy, faith, and hope, which we have from the Father Himself through Him who was crucified. – Justin Martyr (A.D. 160), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 1, Page 254.

Tatian the Syrian:

I have no desire to rule. I crave not riches. I decline military command. – Tatian, Address to the Greeks, Chapter 11

For what is divination? And why are you deceived by it? It is a minister to you of worldly lusts.** You wish to make war, and you take Apollo as a counsellor of slaughter. **You want to carry off a maiden by force, and you select a divinity to be your accomplice. You are ill by your own fault; and, as Agamemnon wished for ten councillors, so you wish to have gods with you. Some woman by drinking water gets into a frenzy, and loses her senses by the fumes of frankincense, and you say that she has the gift of prophecy. Apollo was a prognosticator and a teacher of soothsayers: in the matter of Daphne he deceived himself. An oak, forsooth, is oracular, and birds utter presages! And so you are inferior to animals and plants! It would surely be a fine thing for you to become a divining rod, or to assume the wings of a bird! He who makes you fond of money also foretells your getting rich; he who excites to seditions and wars also predicts victory in war. If you are superior to the passions, you will despise all worldly things. Do not abhor us who have made this attainment, but, repudiating the demons, follow the one God. All things John 1:3 were made by Him, and without Him not one thing was made. If there is poison in natural productions, this has supervened through our sinfulness. I am able to show the perfect truth of these things; only do you hearken, and he who believes will understand. —Tatian, Address to the Greeks, Chapter 19.

Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius:

[The following was written by a pagan Roman emperor regarding his experience with professing Christian soldiers in his army who refused to fight, but instead offered prayers on his behalf.] The Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius, to the People of Rome, and to the sacred Senate…. I was surrounded by the enemy; And the enemy being at hand…. there was close on us a mass of a mixed multitude of 977,000 men, which indeed we saw…. Having then examined my own position, and my host, with respect to…. the enemy, I quickly betook myself to prayer to the gods of my country. But being disregarded by them, I summoned those who among us go by the name of Christians. And having made inquiry, I discovered a great number and vast host of them, and raged against them, which was by no means becoming; for afterwards I learned their power. Wherefore they began the battle, not by preparing weapons, nor arms, nor bugles; for such preparation is hateful to them, on account of the God they bear about in their conscience. Therefore it is probable that those whom we suppose to be atheists, have God as their ruling power entrenched in their conscience. For having cast themselves on the ground, they prayed not only for me, but also for the whole army as it stood, that they might be delivered from the present thirst and famine. For during five days we had got no water, because there was none; for we were in the heart of Germany, and in the enemy’s territory. And simultaneously with their casting themselves on the ground, and praying to God (a God of whom I am ignorant), water poured from heaven, upon us most refreshingly cool, but upon the enemies of Rome a withering hail. And immediately we recognized the presence of God following on the prayer – a God unconquerable and indestructible. Founding upon this, then, let us pardon such as are Christians, lest they pray for and obtain such a weapon against ourselves. And I counsel that no such person be accused on the ground of his being a Christian. But if any one be found laying to the charge of a Christian that he is a Christian, I desire that it be made manifest that he who is accused as a Christian, and acknowledges that he is one, is accused of nothing else than only this, that he is a Christian; but that he who arraigns him be burned alive. And I further desire, that he who is entrusted with the government of the province shall not compel the Christian, who confesses and certifies such a matter, to retract; neither shall he commit him. And I desire that these things be confirmed by a decree of the Senate. And I command this my edict to be published in the Forum of Trajan, in order that it may be read. The prefect Vitrasius Pollio will see that it be transmitted to all the provinces round about, and that no one who wishes to make use of or to possess it be hindered from obtaining a copy from the document I now publish. – Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius (A.D.160), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 1, Page 187.

Athenagoras:

For when they know that we cannot endure even to see a man put to death, though justly; who of them can accuse us of murder or cannibalism? … But we, deeming that to see a man put to death is much the same as killing him, have abjured such spectacles. How, then, when we do not even look on, lest we should contract guilt and pollution, can we put people to death? – Athenagoras (A.D. 1777), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Page 147.

We have learned not to return blow for blow, nor to go to law with those who plunder and rob us. Not only that, but to those who strike us on one side of the face, we have learned to offer the other side also. – Athenagoras (c. 177, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Page 129.

Irenaeus:

He commanded [His followers] . . . not only not to strike others, but even, when they themselves are struck, to present the other cheek. [He commanded them] not only not to injure their neighbors, nor to do them any evil, but also, when they are dealt with wickedly, to be long-suffering. – Irenaeus (c. 180, E/W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 1, Page 408.

No new covenant was given, but they used the Mosaic law until the coming of the Lord; but from the Lord’s advent, the new covenant which brings back peace, and the law which gives life, has gone forth over the whole earth, as the prophets said: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and He shall rebuke many people; and they shall break down their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and they shall no longer learn to fight.”… the law of liberty… caused such a change in the state of things, that these [nations] did form the swords and war-lances into ploughshares, and changed them into pruning-hooks for reaping the corn, [that is], into instruments used for peaceful purposes, and that they are now unaccustomed to fighting, but when smitten, offer also the other cheek. – Irenaeus (A.D. 180), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 1, Page 512.

Wherefore also we need not the Law as a tutor. Behold, with the Father we speak, and in His presence we stand, being children in malice, and grown strong in all righteousness and soberness. For no longer shall the Law say, “Do not commit adultery,” to him who has no desire at all for another’s wife; and “Thou shalt not kill,” to him who has put away from himself all anger and enmity; (and) “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s field or ox or ass,” to those who have no care at all for earthly things, but store up the heavenly fruits: nor “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” to him who counts no man his enemy, but all men his neighbors, and therefore cannot stretch out his hand at all for vengeance. It will not require tithes of him who consecrates all his possessions to God, leaving father and mother and all his kindred, and following the Word of God. – Irenaeus, Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus chapter 96

Clement of Alexandria:

The philosophers will then with propriety be taken up in a friendly exposure, but not in the manner of avenging ourselves on our detractors. Rather, it will be for the purpose of their conversion. For vengeance is far from being the case with those persons who have learned to bless those who curse. – Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Page 347.

The spiritual man never cherishes resentment or harbors a grudge against anyone—even though deserving of hatred for his conduct. – Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Page 540.

Paul does not merely describe the spiritual man as being characterized by suffering wrong, rather than doing wrong. Rather, Paul teaches that a Christian does not keep count of injuries. For Paul does not allow him even to pray against the man who has done wrong to him. For he knows that the Lord expressly commanded us to pray for our enemies. – Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Page 548.

For He says, “Take no anxious thought for tomorrow,” meaning that the man who has devoted himself to Christ ought to be sufficient to himself, and servant to himself, and moreover lead a life which provides for each day by itself. For it is not in war, but in peace, that we are trained. War needs great preparation, and luxury craves profusion; but peace and love, simple and quiet sisters, require no arms nor excessive preparation. The Word is their sustenance. – Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Page 235.

In their wars, therefore, the Etruscans use the trumpet, the Arcadians the pipe, the Sicilians the pectides, the Cretans the lyre, the Lacedaemonians the flute, the Thracians the horn, the Egyptians the drum, and the Arabians the cymbal. The one instrument of peace, the Word alone by which we honor God, is what we employ. We no longer employ the ancient psaltery, and trumpet, and timbrel, and flute, which those expert in war and despisers of the fear of God were wont to make use of also in the choruses at their festive assemblies; that by such strains they might raise their dejected minds. – Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Pages 248-249.

For we do not train our women like Amazons to manliness in war; since we wish the men even to be peaceable. I hear that the Sarmatian women practice war no less than the men; and the women of the Sacae besides, who shoot backwards, feigning flight as well as the men. I am aware, too, that the women near Iberia practice manly work and toil, not refraining from their tasks even though near their delivery; but even in the very struggle of her pains, the woman, on being delivered, taking up the infant, carries it home. – Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Page 420.

Above all, Christians are not allowed to correct with violence the delinquencies of sins. For it is not those that abstain from wickedness from compulsion, but those that abstain from choice, that God crowns. It is impossible for a man to be steadily good except by his own choice. For he that is made good by compulsion of another is not good; for he is not what he is by his own choice. For it is the freedom of each one that makes true goodness and reveals real wickedness. Whence through these dispositions God contrived to make His own disposition manifest. – Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 2, Page 581.

Tertullian:

Hippias [a pagan] is put to death for laying plots against the state. No Christian ever attempted such a thing on behalf of his brethren, even when persecution was scattering them abroad with every atrocity. – Tertullian, The Apology, chapter 46

If dragged to trial, he does not resist. – Tertullian (c. 197, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 110.

The practice of the old law was to avenge itself by the vengeance of the sword. It was to pluck out “eye for eye,” and to inflict retaliatory revenge for injury. However, the practice of the new law points to clemency. – Tertullian (c. 197, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 154.

Men of old were used to requiring “eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” and to repay evil for evil, with usury! . . . But after Christ has supervened and has united the grace of faith with patience, now it is no longer lawful to attack others even with words, nor to merely say “fool,” without danger of the judgment. . . . Christ says, “Love your enemies and bless your cursers, and pray for your persecutors.” – Tertullian (c. 200, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 711.

If someone attempts to provoke you by physical violence, the admonition of the Lord is at hand. He says, “To him who strikes you on the face, turn the other cheek also.” Let outrageousness be worn out by your patience. Whatever that blow may be, joined with pain and scorn, it will receive a heavier one from the Lord. – Tertullian (c. 200, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 712.

For what difference is there between provoker and provoked? The only difference is that the former was the first to do evil, but the latter did evil afterwards. Each one stands condemned in the eyes of the Lord for hurting a man. For God both prohibits and condemns every wickedness. In evil doing, there is no account taken of the order. . . . The commandment is absolute: evil is not to be repaid with evil. – Tertullian (c. 200, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 713.

Christ plainly teaches a new kind of long-suffering, when He actually prohibits the reprisals that the Creator permitted in requiring “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” – Tertullian (c. 207, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 370.

The Lord will save them in that day—even His people—like sheep. . . . No one gives the name of “sheep” to those who fall in battle with arms in hand, or those who are killed when repelling force with force. Rather, it is given only to those who are slain, yielding themselves up in their own place of duty and with patience—rather than fighting in self-defense. – Tertullian (c. 207, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 415.

But now inquiry is made about this point, whether a believer may turn himself unto military service, and whether the military may be admitted unto the faith, even the rank and file, or each inferior grade, to whom there is no necessity for taking part in sacrifices or capital punishments. There is no agreement between the divine and the human sacrament, the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot be due to two masters— God and Cæsar. And yet Moses carried a rod, and Aaron wore a buckle, and John (Baptist) is girt with leather and Joshua the Son of Nun leads a line of march; and the People warred: if it pleases you to sport with the subject. But how will a Christian man war, nay, how will he serve even in peace, without a sword, which the Lord has taken away? For albeit soldiers had come unto John, and had received the formula of their rule; albeit, likewise, a centurion had believed; still the Lord afterward, in disarming Peter, disarmed every soldier. No dress is lawful among us, if assigned to any unlawful action. – Tertullian, On Idolatry, Chapter 19

I think we must first inquire whether warfare is proper at all for Christians. What sense is there in discussing the merely accidental, when that on which it rests is to be condemned? Do we believe it lawful for a human oath to be superadded to one divine, for a man to come under promise to another master after Christ, and to abjure father, mother, and all nearest kinsfolk, whom even the law has commanded us to honor and love next to God Himself, to whom the gospel, too, holding them only of less account than Christ, has in like manner rendered honor? Shall it be held lawful to make an occupation of the sword, when the Lord proclaims that he who uses the sword shall perish by the sword? And shall the son of peace take part in the battle when it does not become him even to sue at law? – Tertullian (A.D. 198), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 99.

Of course, if faith comes later, and finds any preoccupied with military service, their case is different, as in the instance of those whom John used to receive for baptism, and of those most faithful centurions, I mean the centurion whom Christ approves, and the centurion whom Peter instructs; yet, at the same time, when a man has become a believer, and faith has been sealed, there must be either an immediate abandonment of it, which has been the course with many; or all sorts of quibbling will have to be resorted to in order to avoid offending God, and that is not allowed even outside of military service; or, last of all, for God the fate must be endured which a citizen-faith has been no less ready to accept. Neither does military service hold out escape from punishment of sins, or exemption from martyrdom. – Tertullian (A.D. 198), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 3, Page 100.

Who will ply the sword without practicing the contraries to lenity and justice; that is, guile, and asperity, and injustice, proper (of course) to the business of battles? See we, then, whether that which has another action be not another sword — that is, the Divine word of God, doubly sharpened with the two Testaments of the ancient law and the new law; sharpened by the equity of its own wisdom; rendering to each one according to his own action. Lawful, then, it was for the Christ of God to be precinct, in the Psalms, without warlike achievements, with the figurative sword of the word of God; to which sword is congruous the predicated bloom, together with the grace of the lips; with which sword He was then girt upon the thigh, in the eye of David, when He was announced as about to come to earth in obedience to God the Father’s decree. The greatness of your right hand, he says, shall conduct you — the virtue to wit, of the spiritual grace from which the recognition of Christ is deduced. Your arrows, he says, are sharp, — God’s everywhere-flying precepts (arrows) threatening the exposure of every heart, and carrying compunction and transfixion to each conscience: peoples shall fall beneath you, — of course, in adoration. Thus mighty in war and weapon-bearing is Christ; thus will He receive the spoils, not of Samaria alone, but of all nations as well. Acknowledge that His spoils are figurative whose weapons you have learned to be allegorical. And thus, so far, the Christ who has come was not a warrior, because He was not predicted as such by Isaiah. – Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews, Chapter 9

Therefore, we conquer when we are killed; in short, we escape when we are overwhelmed. You may call us “men of the wood bundles” (sarmenticios) and “men of the half-axle” (semaxios) if you like, because we are bound to a half-axle post and burned in a circle of brushwood. This is the vestment of our victory; this is our embroidered robe of triumph; in such a chariot do we celebrate our triumph! Appropriately, therefore, we do not please those who are defeated; for this reason, we are thought to be desperate and ruined men. Yet this very “despair” and “ruin” among you, in the cause of glory and fame, raises high the standard of virtue. Mucius willingly left his right hand upon the altar: oh, sublimity of soul! Empedocles gave his whole self over to the fires of Etna in Catana: oh, vigor of mind! A certain female founder of Carthage [Dido] gave herself to the funeral pyre to avoid a second marriage: oh, heraldry of chastity! Regulus, so that he might not live as a single man exchanged for many enemies, suffers tortures across his entire body: oh, brave man, and conqueror even in captivity! Anaxarchus, when he was being pounded with a pestle like barley grain, kept saying: “Pound, pound the shell of Anaxarchus, for you do not pound Anaxarchus himself!”: oh, magnanimity of the philosopher, who even joked about such an end of his! I omit those who, with their own sword or by some other milder kind of death, bargained for praise. For look, even contests of torture are crowned by you. An Athenian harlot [Leaina], when the executioner was already weary, finally bit off her own tongue and spat it into the face of the raging tyrant, so that she might spit out her voice as well, lest she be able to confess her fellow conspirators even if, being overcome, she should wish to do so. Zeno of Elea, when asked by Dionysius what philosophy could bestow, replied: “A contempt for death.” Being then subjected to the tyrant’s scourges, he sealed his opinion right up to the moment of his death. Certainly, the scourging of the Spartans—made more severe under the very eyes of encouraging relatives—confers as much honor of endurance upon their house as the amount of blood they shed. Oh, lawful glory, because it is human! To it is imputed neither a “ruined presumption” nor a “desperate persuasion” in its contempt for death and every kind of atrocity—a glory to which it is permitted to suffer as much for country, for land, for empire, or for friendship, as is not allowed to be suffered for God!

And yet, for all of those men, you cast statues, you engrave images, and you carve inscriptions for eternity; as far as you are able by means of monuments, you yourselves grant, in a certain way, a resurrection to the dead. Yet he who hopes for a true resurrection from God, if he suffers for God, is deemed insane! But go on, good governors! You will be much better in the eyes of the populace if you sacrifice Christians to them. Crucify, torture, condemn, crush us: your iniquity is the proof of our innocence. For this reason God allows us to suffer these things. Why, just recently, by condemning a Christian woman to a panderer (lenonem) rather than to a lion (leonem), you confessed that a stain upon our chastity is considered by us to be more atrocious than any punishment and any death. Yet none of your quite exquisite cruelties profits you anything; rather, it is an enticement to our sect. We become more numerous every time we are harvested by you: the blood of Christians is seed. Many among you exhort men to the endurance of pain and death—such as Cicero in the Tusculan Disputations, Seneca in his Remedies against Chance, Diogenes, Pyrrho, and Callinicus. Yet their words do not find as many disciples as Christians do by teaching through their deeds. That very obstinacy which you reproach us with is a teacher. For who, in contemplating it, is not shaken into inquiring what is really at the bottom of the matter? Who, when he has inquired, does not join us? And who, when he has joined us, does not long to suffer, so that he may purchase the fullness of God’s grace, and obtain complete pardon from Him by the compensation of his own blood? For all offenses are forgiven to this work. Hence it is that, at the very moment of your sentencing, we give you thanks; since there is a rivalry between divine and human things, when we are condemned by you, we are absolved by God. – Tertullian, The Apology, chapter 50

Origen:

But with regard to the Christians, because they were taught not to avenge themselves upon their enemies (and have thus observed laws of a mild and philanthropic character); and because they would not, although able, have made war even if they had received authority to do so —they have obtained this reward from God, that He has always warred in their behalf, and on certain occasions has restrained those who rose up against them and desired to destroy them. For in order to remind others, that by seeing a few engaged in a struggle for their religion, they also might be better fitted to despise death, some, on special occasions, and these individuals who can be easily numbered, have endured death for the sake of Christianity —God not permitting the whole nation to be exterminated, but desiring that it should continue, and that the whole world should be filled with this salutary and religious doctrine. – Origen, Against Celsus Book 3, chapter 8 

Moreover, the command about the right cheek being struck is most [literally] impossible, since everyone who strikes (unless he happens to have some bodily irregularity) strikes the left cheek with his right hand. – Origen (c. 225, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 4, Page 467.

And yet, if a revolt had led to the formation of the Christian commonwealth, so that it derived its existence in this way from that of the Jews, who were permitted to take up arms in defense of the members of their families, and to slay their enemies, the Christian Lawgiver would not have altogether forbidden the putting of men to death; and yet He nowhere teaches that it is right for His own disciples to offer violence to any one, however wicked. For He did not deem it in keeping with such laws as His, which were derived from a divine source, to allow the killing of any individual whatever. Nor would the Christians, had they owed their origin to a rebellion, have adopted laws of so exceedingly mild a character as not to allow them, when it was their fate to be slain as sheep, on any occasion to resist their persecutors. – Origen, Against Celsus, Book 3, chapter 7

[Celsus, a pagan critic,] says, “They also have a teaching to this effect: that we should not avenge ourselves on one who injures us.” Or, as Christ expresses it: “Whoever will strike you on the one cheek, turn the other to him also.” – Origen (c. 248, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 4, Page 634.

We revile no one, for we believe that “revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God.” And we read, “Bless them that curse you; bless, and curse not.” Also, “Being reviled, we bless.” – Origen (c. 248, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 4, Page 654.

If someone desires to entertain other examples where the letter of the New Testament kills, let him listen for an example to the passage where Jesus says to the Apostles, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” to which it follows, “They said, ‘Nothing.’ Jesus said to them, therefore, ‘But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one’” (Lk 22.35, 36). For if, because of these things Jesus has said, someone who lacks insight into the intention of what has been recorded sells his material cloak and buys a man-slaying sword, as though in acquiring such a sword he has acted according to the intention of Jesus, he will perish, having misinterpreted his word. Perhaps he will even perish “by the sword” (Matt 26.52)! But this is not the time to offer an explanation of the sword in question. – Origen, Commentary on Matthew, book 15, chapter 2

“But if you approach a city to besiege it.” Deut. 20:10 Similar to this: “When you enter a city, examine who among them is worthy.” Matthew 10:11 And this, with peace, is like the apostolic: “That the servant of the Lord must not fight.” – Origen, Selections on Deuteronomy (Patrologia Graeca vol. 17.29)

“And you will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not frightened, for these things must happen, but the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:6) Luke has it this way: “When you shall hear of wars and rebellions, do not be frightened, for these things must happen first, but the end is not immediate.” He sets forth two things in these words: one is, “You will hear of wars”; and the other: “reports of wars.” Let us observe first, in accord with the simple tradition in the way most people understand it, that “reports of wars” are different from wars. Consider with me that “wars” are where cities rise up against cities, or nations against nations, for one to take something away from the other, or so that the stronger may kill the strong. What, then, might “reports of wars” mean following “wars”? Especially because it was not said, You will see “wars” and you will hear of “wars,” but he asserted “you will hear” with the one and the other, that is, “You will hear of wars” and “you will hear reports of wars.” And let us consider what it is to hear of “wars” because the sons of peace keep their eyes pure from wars that they might not see evil things, and (since they cannot look at trouble and grief) they hear about wars —what sort of city fights against what sort of city, or what sort of nation is conquered by what sort. — The Commentary of Origen on the Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2, Series 34

“Then Jesus said to him, Put your sword back in its place.” Matthew 26:52. Thereupon Jesus does not say to him who had used his sword and cut off the right ear of that servant, “Get rid of the sword,” but “Put the sword back in its place.” There is, therefore, some place for the sword, from which he who is not willing to perish by the sword is not permitted to take it. For Jesus wants his disciples to be peacemakers, that they might put away this sword of war and take up the other peacemaking sword that Scripture calls “the sword of the Spirit.” And the following statement seems to me to be similar: “All who take the sword will also perish by the sword”—that is, all who are not peacemakers but are agitators of war will perish in that war that they stir up, so that the sword against them is the mystery of war and strife. And I think that all who are tumultuous and agitators of war and disturbers of human souls, especially of the churches, take the sword by which they themselves will also perish, since “he who digs a hole falls into it himself,” since their “pain is turned back on” their own “head,” and their “iniquity will descend on” their own “skull.” But even hearing what he says in a simple way, “They who take the sword will perish by the sword,” summons us to beware that we not take out a sword on the occasion of warfare or vengeance for our own injuries or for any other reason—all of which this Gospel teaching of Christ abhors, commanding us to fulfill the Scripture, “I was a peacemaker with those who hate peace.” If, therefore, we ought to be peacemakers with those who hate peace, we ought not use the sword against anyone. — The Commentary of Origen on the Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2, Series 85 

Unless those physical wars bore the figure of spiritual wars, I do not think the books of Jewish history would ever have been handed down by the apostles to the disciples of Christ, who came to teach peace, so that they could be read in the churches. For what good was that description of wars to those to whom Jesus says, “My peace I give to you; my peace I leave to you,” and to whom it is commanded and said through the Apostle, “Not avenging your own selves,” and, “Rather, you receive injury,” and, “You suffer offense”? In short, knowing that now we do not have to wage physical wars, but that the struggles of the soul have to be exerted against spiritual adversaries, the Apostle, just as a military leader, gives an order to the soldiers of Christ, saying, “Put on the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand firm against the cunning devices of the Devil.” And in order for us to have examples of these spiritual wars from deeds of old, he wanted those narratives of exploits to be recited to us in church, so that, if we are spiritual—hearing that “the Law is spiritual”—“we may compare spiritual things with spiritual” in the things we hear. And we may consider, by means of those nations that fought visibly against physical Israel, how great are the swarms of opposing powers from among the spiritual races that are called “spiritual wickedness in the heavens,” and that stir up wars against the Lord’s Church, which is the true Israel. – Origen (A.D. 248), Commentary on Joshua, Homily 15, paragraph 1

In the next place, Celsus urges us “to help the king with all our might, and to labour with him in the maintenance of justice, to fight for him; and if he requires it, to fight under him, or lead an army along with him.” To this our answer is, that we do, when occasion requires, give help to kings, and that, so to say, a divine help, “putting on the whole armour of God.” And this we do in obedience to the injunction of the apostle, “I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority;” [1 Timothy 2:1,2] and the more any one excels in piety, the more effective help does he render to kings, even more than is given by soldiers, who go forth to fight and slay as many of the enemy as they can. And to those enemies of our faith who require us to bear arms for the commonwealth, and to slay men, we can reply: “Do not those who are priests at certain shrines, and those who attend on certain gods, as you account them, keep their hands free from blood, that they may with hands unstained and free from human blood offer the appointed sacrifices to your gods; and even when war is upon you, you never enlist the priests in the army. If that, then, is a laudable custom, how much more so, that while others are engaged in battle, these too should engage as the priests and ministers of God, keeping their hands pure, and wrestling in prayers to God on behalf of those who are fighting in a righteous cause, and for the king who reigns righteously, that whatever is opposed to those who act righteously may be destroyed!” And as we by our prayers vanquish all demons who stir up war, and lead to the violation of oaths, and disturb the peace, we in this way are much more helpful to the kings than those who go into the field to fight for them. And we do take our part in public affairs, when along with righteous prayers we join self-denying exercises and meditations, which teach us to despise pleasures, and not to be led away by them. And none fight better for the king than we do. We do not indeed fight under him, although he require it; but we fight on his behalf, forming a special army—an army of piety—by offering our prayers to God. – Origen (A.D. 248), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 4, Pages 668-669.

Paul troubles [me] by these words, that he calls the secular authority and the worldly judgment a minister of God; and he does this not merely one time, but he even repeats it a second and a third time. I would like to endeavor to ascertain the sense in which a worldly judge is a minister of God… In these precepts, then, in which he says that no further burden is to be imposed upon the Gentile believers except that they should abstain from what is sacrificed to idols and from blood and from strangled things and from fornication, neither murder is prohibited nor adultery nor theft nor homosexuality nor other crimes that are punished by divine and human laws. But if that which he mentioned above alone has to be observed by Christians, it will appear that he has given them license in respect to these other crimes. But observe the ordinance of the Holy Spirit; for indeed since the other crimes are avenged by secular laws and since it was deemed superfluous now to prohibit these things by divine law, since they are adequately punished by human law, he decrees only those things concerning which no human law had spoken about but which seemed to be in agreement with the religion. From this it is clear that the worldly judge fulfills the greatest part of God’s law. For all the crimes that God wants to be punished, he has willed that they be punished not through the priests and leaders of the churches, but through the worldly judge. And aware of this, Paul rightly names him a minister of God and an avenger of the one who does what is evil. – Origen, Commentary on Romans 9.28

Hippolytus of Rome:

They will inquire concerning the works and occupations of those are who are brought forward for instruction…. A military man in authority must not execute men. If he is ordered, he must not carry it out. Nor must he take military oath. If he refuses, he shall be rejected. If someone is a military governor, or the ruler of a city who wears the purple, he shall cease or he shall be rejected. The catechumen or faithful who wants to become a soldier is to be rejected, for he has despised God. – Hippolytus (A.D. 215), Apostolic Tradition, chapter 16

Mark Minucius Felix:

To us it is not lawful either to see or to hear of homicide; and so much do we shrink from human blood, that we do not use the blood even of eatable animals in our food. – Mark Minucius Felix, Octavius, chapter 30

Commodianus:

Warned by example, do not sin gravely; translated by the laver, rather have charity; flee far from the bait of the mouse-trap, where there is death. Many are the martyrdoms which are made without shedding of blood. Not to desire other men’s goods; to wish to have the benefit of martyrdom; to bridle the tongue, you ought to make yourself humble; not willingly to use force, nor to return force used against you, and you will be a patient mind, understand that you are a martyr. – Commodianus, The Instructions of Commodianus, chapter 48 (240 AD)

Cyprian of Carthage:

The adversary had leapt forth to disturb the camp of Christ with violent terror; but, with the same impetuosity with which he had come, he was beaten back and conquered; and as much fear and terror as he had brought, so much bravery and strength he also found. He had thought that he could again overthrow the servants of God, and agitate them in his accustomed manner, as if they were novices and inexperienced—as if little prepared and little cautious. He attacked one first, as a wolf had tried to separate the sheep from the flock, as a hawk to separate the dove from the flying troop; for he who has not sufficient strength against all, seeks to gain advantage from the solitude of individuals. But when beaten back as well by the faith as by the vigour of the combined army, he perceived that the soldiers of Christ are now watching, and stand sober and armed for the battle; that they cannot be conquered, but that they can die; and that by this very fact they are invincible, that they do not fear death; that they do not in turn assail their assailants, since it is not lawful for the innocent even to kill the guilty; but that they readily deliver up both their lives and their blood; that since such malice and cruelty rages in the world, they may the more quickly withdraw from the evil and cruel. What a glorious spectacle was that under the eyes of God! What a joy of His Church in the sight of Christ, that not single soldiers, but the whole camp, at once went forth to the battle which the enemy had tried to begin! – Cyprian, Letter 56, chapter 2

For this reason it is that none of us, when he is apprehended, makes resistance, nor avenges himself against your unrighteous violence, although our people are numerous and plentiful. Our certainty of a vengeance to follow makes us patient. The innocent give place to the guilty; the harmless acquiesce in punishments and tortures, sure and confident that whatsoever we suffer will not remain unavenged, and that in proportion to the greatness of the injustice of our persecution so will be the justice and the severity of the vengeance exacted for those persecutions. – Cyprian, An Address to Demtrianus, chapter 17

We may not hate. And we please God more by rendering no return for wrong. Therefore, we exhort you to make satisfaction to God. Do this while you have the power, while there yet remains in you something of life. . . . We do not envy your comforts, nor do we conceal the divine benefits. We repay kindness for your hatred. In return for the torments and penalties that are inflicted on us, we point out to you the ways of salvation. – Cyprian (c. 250, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 5, Page 465.

The Christian has departed from rage and carnal contention as if from the hurricanes of the sea. He has already begun to be tranquil and meek in the harbor of Christ. Therefore, he should allow neither anger nor discord within his breath. For he must neither return evil for evil, nor bear hatred. – Cyprian (c. 250, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 5, Page 488.

Even our enemies are to be loved. – Cyprian (c. 250, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 5, Page 546.

Theonas of Alexandria:

Do no one any injury at any time; provoke no one to anger. If an injury is done to you, look to Jesus Christ. And even as you desire Him to forgive your transgressions, also forgive others theirs. – Theonas of Alexandria (c. 300, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 6, Page 161.

Lactantius:

“For he who reckons it a pleasure, that a man, though justly condemned, should be slain in his sight, pollutes his conscience as much as if he should become a spectator and a sharer of a homicide which is secretly committed … Therefore they do not spare even the innocent, but practice upon all that which they have learned in the slaughter of the wicked. It is not therefore befitting that those who strive to keep to the path of justice should be companions and sharers in this public homicide. For when God forbids us to kill, He not only prohibits us from open violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but He warns us against the commission of those things which are esteemed lawful among men. Thus it will be neither lawful for a just man to engage in warfare, since his warfare is justice itself, not to accuse anyone of a capital charge, because it makes no difference whether you put a man to death by word, or rather by the sword, since it is the act of putting to death itself which is prohibited. Therefore, with regard to this precept of God, there ought to be no exception at all; but that it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be a sacred animal.” Lactantius (Divine Institutes, 6:20) – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Divine Institutes, book 6, chapter 20

Religion is to be defended—not by putting to death—but by dying. Not by cruelty, but by patient endurance. Not by guilt, but by good faith. For the former belongs to evil, but the latter to the good. . . . For if you wish to defend religion by bloodshed, tortures, and guilt, it will no longer be defended. Rather, it will be polluted and profaned…. And, therefore, when we suffer such impious things, we do not resist even in word. Rather, we leave vengeance to God. We do not act as those persons who would have it appear that they are defenders of their gods, who rage without restraint against those who do not worship them. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Pages 157-158.

Torture and piety are widely different; nor is it possible for truth to be united with violence, or justice with cruelty. . . . For religion is to be defended, not by putting to death, but by dying; not by cruelty, but by patient endurance; not by guilt, but by good faith: for the former belong to evils, but the latter to goods; and it is necessary for that which is good to have place in religion, and not that which is evil. For if you wish to defend religion by bloodshed, and by tortures, and by guilt, it will no longer be defended, but will be polluted and profaned. For nothing is so much a matter of free-will as religion; in which, if the mind of the worshipper is disinclined to it, religion is at once taken away, and ceases to exist. The right method therefore is, that you defend religion by patient endurance or by death; in which the preservation of the faith is both pleasing to God Himself, and adds authority to religion. – Lactantius, Divine Institutes 5.20

If we all derive our origin from one man whom God created, we are clearly of one blood. Therefore, it must be considered the greatest wickedness to hate a man—even if he is guilty. On this account, God has forbidden us to ever contract enmities. Rather, they are to be eliminated, so that we soothe those who are our enemies by reminding them of their relationship. For, if we are all inspired and quickened by one God, what else are we except brothers?… Therefore, they are to be considered as savage beasts who injure man, who—in opposition to every law and right of human nature—plunder, torture, slay, and banish. On account of this relationship of brotherhood, God teaches us never to do evil, but always good. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Pages 172-173.

When we suffer such ungodly things, we do not resist even in word. Rather, we leave vengeance to God. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Page 158.

The Christian does injury to no one. He does not desire the property of others. In fact, he does not even defend his own property if it is taken from him by violence. For he knows how to patiently bear an injury inflicted upon him. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Page 160.

We do not resist those who injure us, for we must yield to them. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Page 182.

If anyone should be so shameless as to inflict injury on a good and just man, such a man must bear it with calmness and moderation. He will not take upon himself his revenge. Rather, he will reserve it for the judgment of God. He must maintain innocence at all times and in all places. And this commandment is not limited to merely his not [being the first to] inflict injury on another. Rather, he should not even avenge it when injury is inflicted on him. For there sits on the judgment-seat a very great and impartial Judge. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Page 183.

Why do contests, fights, and contentions arise among men? Is it because impatience against injustice often excites great tempests? However, if you meet injustice with patience, then no virtue can be found more true. In contrast, if injustice . . . has met with impatience on the same level as itself, . . . it will ignite a great fire that no stream can extinguish, but only the shedding of blood. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Page 184.

In what respect, then, does the wise and good man differ from the evil and foolish one? Is it not that he has unconquerable patience, of which the foolish are destitute? Is it not that he knows how to govern himself and to mitigate his anger—which those are unable to curb because they are without virtue? . . . What if a man gives way to grief and anger and indulges these emotions (which he should struggle against)? What if he rushes wherever injustice will call him? Such a man does not fulfill the duty of virtue. For he who tries to return an injury desires to imitate that very person by whom he has been injured. In short, he who imitates a bad man cannot be good. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Page 184.

When provoked by injury, if he returns violence to his assailant, he is defeated. – Lactantius (c. 304-313, W), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 7, Page 185.

Arnobius:

For since we, a numerous band of men as we are, have learned from His teaching and His laws that evil ought not to be requited with evil, that it is better to suffer wrong than to inflict it, that we should rather shed our own blood than stain our hands and our conscience with that of another. – Arnobius (Against the Heathen, 1:6)

Archelaus of Carrhae:

“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” That is the expression of justice. However, His injunction that a man who is struck on the one cheek should offer the other also—that is the expression of goodness. Now, are justice and goodness opposed to each other? Far from it! Rather, there has only been advancement from simple justice to positive goodness. – Disputation of Archelaus and Manes (c. 320, E), Ante-Nicene Church Fathers – Vol. 6, Page 216; see also Vol. 3, Pages 370-372.

“And though we were men who had never learned to do injury to any one, they wounded us pitilessly with their missiles, and thrust us through with their spears, and cut our throats with their swords…. And those who had sufficient powers of endurance did indeed hold out; but very many fell down before the face of their cruel masters, and breathed out their life there; and mothers, with arms wearied, and utterly powerless with their burdens, and distracted by the threats of those behind them, suffered the little ones that were hanging on their breasts to fall to the ground; while all those on whom old age had come were sinking, one after the other, to the earth, overcome with their toils, and exhausted by want of food. The proud soldiers nevertheless enjoyed this bloody spectacle of men continually perishing, as if it had been a kind of entertainment, while they saw some stretched on the soil in hopeless prostration, and beheld others, worn out by the fierce fires of thirst and with the bands of their tongues utterly parched, lose the power of speech, and beheld others with eyes ever glancing backwards, groaning over the fate of their dying little ones, while these, again, were constantly appealing to their most unhappy mothers with their cries, and the mothers themselves, driven frantic by the severities of the robbers, responded with their lamentations, which indeed was the only thing they could do freely. And those of them whose hearts were most tenderly bound up with their offspring chose voluntarily to meet the same premature fate of death with their children; while those, on the other hand, who had some capacity of endurance were carried off prisoners here with us.” – Disputation of Archelaus and Manes (c. 320,E), Chapter 2.

“On a certain occasion, when a large body of captives were offered to the bishop Archelaus by the soldiers who held the camp in that place, their numbers being some seven thousand seven hundred, he was harassed with the keenest anxiety on account of the large sum of money which was demanded by the soldiers as the price of the prisoners’ deliverance. And as he could not conceal his solicitude, all aflame for the religion and the fear of God, he at length hastened to Marcellus, and explained to him the importance and difficulty of the case. And when that pattern of piety, Marcellus, heard his narration, without the least delay he went into his house, and provided the price demanded for the prisoners, according to the value set upon them by those who had led them captive; and unlocking the treasures of his goods, he at once distributed the gifts of piety among the soldiers, without any severe consideration of number or distinction, so that they seemed to be presents rather than purchase-moneys. And those soldiers were filled with wonder and admiration at the grandeur of the man’s piety and munificence, and were struck with amazement, and felt the force of this example of pity; so that very many of them were added to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, and threw off the belt of military service, while others withdrew to their camp, taking scarcely a fourth part of the ransom, and the rest made their departure without receiving even so much as would defray the expenses of the way.” – Archelaus, Acts of the Disputation with Manes, chapter 1

Apostolic Constitutions:

Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts. If any one gives you a stroke on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. Not that vengeance is evil, but that patience is more honourable. For David says, If I have made returns to them that repaid me evil. If anyone compels you to go one mile, go with him two. And, He that will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. And from him that takes your goods, require them not again. Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you do not shut your hand. For the righteous man is pitiful, and lends. For your Father would have you give to all, who Himself makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust. It is therefore reasonable to give to all out of your own labours; for says He, Honour the Lord out of your righteous labours, but so that the saints be preferred. You shall not kill; that is, you shall not destroy a man like yourself: for you dissolve what was well made. Not as if all killing were wicked, but only that of the innocent: but the killing which is just is reserved to the magistrates alone. – Apostolic Constitutions, book 7, Section 1, Chapter 2

We command that a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon who strikes the faithful that offend, or the unbelievers who do wickedly, and thinks to terrify them by such means, be deprived, for our Lord has nowhere taught us such things. On the contrary, when Himself was stricken, He did not strike again; when He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not. – Apostolic Constitutions, book 8, chapter XLVI, Canon 28

Council of Nicaea:

As many as were called by grace, and displayed the first zeal, having cast aside their military girdles, but afterwards returned, like dogs, to their own vomit, (so that some spent money and by means of gifts regained their military stations); let these, after they have passed the space of three years as hearers, be for ten years prostrators. But in all these cases it is necessary to examine well into their purpose and what their repentance appears to be like. For as many as give evidence of their conversions by deeds, and not pretence, with fear, and tears, and perseverance, and good works, when they have fulfilled their appointed time as hearers, may properly communicate in prayers; and after that the bishop may determine yet more favourably concerning them. But those who take [the matter] with indifference, and who think the form of [not] entering the Church is sufficient for their conversion, must fulfil the whole time. – Council of Nicaea, Canon 12

Athanasius:

While they were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels with each other. Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with the weapons, and the sword with them replaced the staff and was the mainstay of all aid. – Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word, chapter 51

Who, then, is He Who has done these things and has united in peace those who hated each other, save the beloved Son of the Father, the common Savior of all, Jesus Christ, Who by His own love underwent all things for our salvation? Even from the beginning, moreover, this peace that He was to administer was foretold, for Scripture says, “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles, and nation shall not take sword against nation, neither shall they learn any more to wage war.” Nor is this by any means incredible. – Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word, chapter 52

The barbarians of the present day are naturally savage in their habits, and as long as they sacrifice to their idols they rage furiously against each other and cannot bear to be a single hour without weapons. But when they hear the teaching of Christ, forthwith they turn from fighting to farming, and instead of arming themselves with swords extend their hands in prayer. In a word, instead of fighting each other, they take up arms against the devil and the demons, and overcome them by their self-command and integrity of soul. These facts are proof of the Godhead of the Savior, for He has taught men what they could never learn among the idols. It is also no small exposure of the weakness and nothingness of demons and idols, for it was because they knew their own weakness that the demons were always setting men to fight each other, fearing lest, if they ceased from mutual strife, they would turn to attack the demons themselves. For in truth the disciples of Christ, instead of fighting each other, stand arrayed against demons by their habits and virtuous actions, and chase them away and mock at their captain the devil. Even in youth they are chaste, they endure in times of testing and persevere in toils. When they are insulted, they are patient, when robbed they make light of it, and, marvelous to relate, they make light even of death itself, and become martyrs of Christ. – Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word, chapter 52

They were so alarmed that they… pretended an unseemly excuse, that they were not able to come now on account of the war which was begun by the Persians. But this was not the true cause of their delay, but the fears of their own consciences. For what have Bishops to do with war? – Athanasius, History of the Arian Controversy, chapter 11

Eusebius of Caesarea:

Now Julian, once he had come into the east to drive out the Persians by war and begun to be carried away by the unconcealed craze for idolatry which earlier he had kept secret, showed himself more astute than the others as a persecutor in that he ruined almost more people by rewards, honors, flattery, and persuasion, than if he had proceeded by way of force, cruelty, and torture. Forbidding Christians access to the study of the pagan authors, he decreed that elementary schools should be open only to those who worshiped the gods and goddesses. He [Julian the Apostate] ordered that posts in the [armed or civil] service should be given only to those who sacrificed. He decreed that the government of provinces and the administration of justice should not be entrusted to Christians, since their own law forbade them to use the sword. – Rufinus, Church History, book 10, chapter 33

Ephrem the Syrian:

“He who has no sword, let him buy one:” he said this in order to instill humility in them. Simon himself had one of the two swords, so that when he used it to show his zeal, the word of the Lord might instruct him: “He who strikes you on the jaw.” This, Simon had forgotten out of love. Or else Our Lord said this to show Simon that it is not only when such things are beyond our reach, and when our hand cannot attain them, that we must abstain, but also that even if they are within our reach — such as this sword which is in your hand — you must not use it. And so that it might be clear that he said this as a rebuke and not to propose war, he added: “Two are enough.” For if this had been said for the fight, then it would have been necessary that all take up a sword. — Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron (translated from Commentaire de l’Évangile concordant ou Diatessaron page 336)

Ambrose of Milan:

It is clear, then, that all must consider and hold that the advantage of the individual is the same as that of all, and that nothing must be considered advantageous except what is for the general good. For how can one be benefited alone? That which is useless to all is harmful. I certainly cannot think that he who is useless to all can be of use to himself. For if there is one law of nature for all, there is also one state of usefulness for all. And we are bound by the law of nature to act for the good of all. It is not, therefore, right for him who wishes the interests of another to be considered according to nature, to injure him against the law of nature. For if those who run in a race are, as one hears, instructed and warned each one to win the race by swiftness of foot and not by any foul play, and to hasten on to victory by running as hard as they can, but not to dare to trip up another or push him aside with their hand, how much more in the course of this life ought the victory to be won by us, without falseness to another and cheating? Some ask whether a wise man ought in case of a shipwreck to take away a plank from an ignorant sailor? Although it seems better for the common good that a wise man rather than a fool should escape from shipwreck, yet I do not think that a Christian, a just and a wise man, ought to save his own life by the death of another; just as when he meets with an armed robber he cannot return his blows, lest in defending his life he should stain his love toward his neighbour. The verdict on this is plain and clear in the books of the Gospel. Put up your sword, for every one that takes the sword shall perish with the sword. (Matthew 26:52) What robber is more hateful than the persecutor who came to kill Christ? But Christ would not be defended from the wounds of the persecutor, for He willed to heal all by His wounds. Why do you consider yourself greater than another, when a Christian man ought to put others before himself, to claim nothing for himself, usurp no honours, claim no reward for his merits? Why, next, are you not wont to bear your own troubles rather than to destroy another’s advantage? For what is so contrary to nature as not to be content with what one has or to seek what is another’s, and to try to get it in shameful ways. For if a virtuous life is in accordance with nature — for God made all things very good — then shameful living must be opposed to it. A virtuous and a shameful life cannot go together, since they are absolutely severed by the law of nature. – Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy, Book 3, chapter 4

53 “He that has a purse, let him take it, and also a wallet; and if anyone does not have a sword, he should sell his tunic and buy it” (Lk 22:36). Why, Lord, do you tell me to make such a purchase, when you have forbidden me to strike back (cf. Mt 26:52)? Why do you tell me to have a sword that I am not allowed to draw from its scabbard? Maybe it is for purposes of defence, but not of vengeance – to show that you could avenge yourself, but did not choose to do so. The Law, however, does not forbid me to strike back. So perhaps that is why you say to Peter, when He offers you two swords, “That is enough” (Lk 22:38). It is as if you are saying that to strike back was allowable up to the time of the Gospel; and that the Law gave us the rudiments of justice, but the Gospel gives the finishing touch of kindness and mercy. 54 Many people are shocked by these words (cf. Lk 22:36), but the Lord is not doing anything wrong. He could have taken revenge; instead, He sacrificed Himself. Remember, too, that there is a spiritual sword, and that spiritual sword obliges you to sell your inheritance to buy the word that will clothe the inmost recesses of your soul. — Ambrose of Milan, Commentary on Luke, Book 10, chapter 53-54

John Chrysostom:

For Christians above all men are not permitted forcibly to correct the failings of those who sin. Secular judges indeed, when they have captured malefactors under the law, show their authority to be great, and prevent them even against their will from following their own devices: but in our case the wrong-doer must be made better, not by force, but by persuasion. – John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, Book 2

Basil of Caesarea:

The Big Reversal:

The one wrote on lifeless tables, the Other wrote the perfect commandments of the new covenant on living minds. And His disciples, accommodating their teaching to the minds of the people, according to the Master’s will, delivered on the one hand to those who were able to receive it, the teaching given by the perfect master to those who rose above human nature. While on the other the side of the teaching which they considered was suitable to men still in the world of passion and needing treatment, they accommodated to the weakness of the majority, and handed over to them to keep sometimes in writing, and sometimes by unwritten ordinances to be observed by them. Two ways of life were thus given by the law of Christ to His Church. The one is above nature, and beyond common human living; it admits not marriage, child-bearing, property nor the possession of wealth, but wholly and permanently separate from the common customary life of mankind, it devotes itself to the service of God alone in its wealth of heavenly love! And they who enter on this course, appear to die to the life of mortals, to bear with them nothing earthly but their body, and in mind and spirit to have passed to heaven. Like some celestial beings they gaze upon human life, performing the duty of a priesthood to Almighty God for the whole race, not with sacrifices of bulls and blood, nor with libations and unguents, nor with smoke and consuming fire and destruction of bodily things, but with right principles of true holiness, and of a soul purified in disposition, and above all with virtuous deeds and words; with such they propitiate the Divinity, and celebrate their priestly rites for themselves and their race. Such then is the perfect form of the Christian life. And the other more humble, more human, permits men to join in pure nuptials and to produce children, to undertake government, to give orders to soldiers fighting for right; it allows them to have minds for farming, for trade, and the other more secular interests as well as for religion: and it is for them that times of retreat and instruction, and days for hearing sacred things are set apart. And a kind of secondary grade of piety is attributed to them, giving just such help as such lives require, so that all men, whether Greeks or barbarians, have their part in the coming of salvation, and profit by the teaching of the Gospel. – Eusebius, Proof of the Gospel, book 1, chapter 8

Our predecessors did not consider killing in war as murder but, as I understand it, made allowances for those who fought on the side of moderation and piety. Nonetheless, it is good to admonish those whose hands are unclean to abstain just from communion for 3 years. – Basil, Letter 188, chapter IV

After the state or city comes the world, the third circle of human society — the first being the house, and the second the city. And the world, as it is larger, so it is fuller of dangers, as the greater sea is the more dangerous. And here, in the first place, man is separated from man by the difference of languages. For if two men, each ignorant of the other’s language, meet, and are not compelled to pass, but, on the contrary, to remain in company, dumb animals, though of different species, would more easily hold intercourse than they, human beings though they be. For their common nature is no help to friendliness when they are prevented by diversity of language from conveying their sentiments to one another; so that a man would more readily hold intercourse with his dog than with a foreigner. But the imperial city has endeavored to impose on subject nations not only her yoke, but her language, as a bond of peace, so that interpreters, far from being scarce, are numberless. This is true; but how many great wars, how much slaughter and bloodshed, have provided this unity! And though these are past, the end of these miseries has not yet come. For though there have never been wanting, nor are yet wanting, hostile nations beyond the empire, against whom wars have been and are waged, yet, supposing there were no such nations, the very extent of the empire itself has produced wars of a more obnoxious description — social and civil wars— and with these the whole race has been agitated, either by the actual conflict or the fear of a renewed outbreak. If I attempted to give an adequate description of these manifold disasters, these stern and lasting necessities, though I am quite unequal to the task, what limit could I set? But, say they, the wise man will wage just wars. As if he would not all the rather lament the necessity of just wars, if he remembers that he is a man; for if they were not just he would not wage them, and would therefore be delivered from all wars. For it is the wrongdoing of the opposing party which compels the wise man to wage just wars; and this wrong-doing, even though it gave rise to no war, would still be matter of grief to man because it is man’s wrong-doing. Let every one, then, who thinks with pain on all these great evils, so horrible, so ruthless, acknowledge that this is misery. And if any one either endures or thinks of them without mental pain, this is a more miserable plight still, for he thinks himself happy because he has lost human feeling. – Augustine, City of God, book 19, chapter 7

1. [To Boniface, a Roman general]: I had already written a reply to your Charity, but while I was waiting for an opportunity of forwarding the letter, my beloved son Faustus arrived here on his way to your Excellency. After he had received the letter which I had intended to be carried by him to your Benevolence, he stated to me that you were very desirous that I should write you something which might build you up unto the eternal salvation of which you have hope in Christ Jesus our Lord. And, although I was busily occupied at the time, he insisted, with an earnestness corresponding to the love which, as you know, he bears to you, that I should do this without delay. To meet his convenience, therefore, as he was in haste to depart, I thought it better to write, though necessarily without much time for reflection, rather than put off the gratification of your pious desire, my noble lord and justly distinguished and honourable son.

4. Do not think that it is impossible for any one to please God while engaged in active military service. Among such persons was the holy David, to whom God gave so great a testimony; among them also were many righteous men of that time; among them was also that centurion who said to the Lord: I am not worthy that You should come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed: for I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it; and concerning whom the Lord said: Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Matthew 8:8-10 Among them was that Cornelius to whom an angel said: Cornelius, your alms are accepted, and your prayers are heard, Acts 10:4 when he directed him to send to the blessed Apostle Peter, and to hear from him what he ought to do, to which apostle he sent a devout soldier, requesting him to come to him. Among them were also the soldiers who, when they had come to be baptized by John, — the sacred forerunner of the Lord, and the friend of the Bridegroom, of whom the Lord says: Among them that are born of women there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist, Matthew 11:11 — and had inquired of him what they should do, received the answer, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. Luke 3:14 Certainly he did not prohibit them to serve as soldiers when he commanded them to be content with their pay for the service.

5. They occupy indeed a higher place before God who, abandoning all these secular employments, serve Him with the strictest chastity; but every one, as the apostle says, has his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. 1 Corinthians 7:7 Some, then, in praying for you, fight against your invisible enemies; you, in fighting for them, contend against the barbarians, their visible enemies. Would that one faith existed in all, for then there would be less weary struggling, and the devil with his angels would be more easily conquered; but since it is necessary in this life that the citizens of the kingdom of heaven should be subjected to temptations among erring and impious men, that they may be exercised, and tried as gold in the furnace, Wisdom 3:6 we ought not before the appointed time to desire to live with those alone who are holy and righteous, so that, by patience, we may deserve to receive this blessedness in its proper time.

6. Think, then, of this first of all, when you are arming for the battle, that even your bodily strength is a gift of God; for, considering this, you will not employ the gift of God against God. For, when faith is pledged, it is to be kept even with the enemy against whom the war is waged, how much more with the friend for whom the battle is fought! Peace should be the object of your desire; war should be waged only as a necessity, and waged only that God may by it deliver men from the necessity and preserve them in peace. For peace is not sought in order to the kindling of war, but war is waged in order that peace may be obtained. Therefore, even in waging war, cherish the spirit of a peacemaker, that, by conquering those whom you attack, you may lead them back to the advantages of peace; for our Lord says: Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9 If, however, peace among men be so sweet as procuring temporal safety, how much sweeter is that peace with God which procures for men the eternal felicity of the angels! Let necessity, therefore, and not your will, slay the enemy who fights against you. As violence is used towards him who rebels and resists, so mercy is due to the vanquished or the captive, especially in the case in which future troubling of the peace is not to be feared. – Augustine, Letter 189

69. So Moses, too, who was so faithful a servant of God in all his house; the minister of the holy, just, and good law; of whose character the apostle speaks in the words here quoted; Hebrews 3:5 the minister also of the symbols which, though not conferring salvation, promised the Saviour, as the Saviour Himself shows, when He says, “If you believed Moses, you would also believe me, for he wrote of me,”— from which passage we have already sufficiently answered the presumptuous cavils of the Manichæans — this Moses, the servant of the living, the true, the most high God, that made heaven and earth, not of a foreign substance, but of nothing — not from the pressure of necessity, but from plenitude of goodness — not by the suffering of His members, but by the power of His word — this Moses, who humbly put from him this high ministry, but obediently accepted it, and faithfully kept it, and diligently fulfilled it; who ruled the people with vigilance, reproved them with vehemence, loved them with fervor, and bore with them in patience, standing for his subjects before God to receive His counsel, and to appease His wrath — this great and good man is not to be judged of from Faustus’ malicious representations, but from what is said by God, whose word is a true expression of His true opinion of this man, whom He knew because He made him. For the sins of men are also known to God, though He is not their author; but He takes notice of them as a judge in those who refuse to own them, and pardons them as a father in those who make confession. His servant Moses, as thus described, we love and admire and to the best of our power imitate, coming indeed far short of his merits, though we have killed no Egyptian, nor plundered any one, nor carried on any war; which actions of Moses were in one case prompted by the zeal of the future champion of his people, and in the other cases commanded by God.

70. It might be shown that, though Moses slew the Egyptian, without being commanded by God, the action was divinely permitted, as, from the prophetic character of Moses, it prefigured something in the future. Now however, I do not use this argument, but view the action as having no symbolic meaning. In the light, then, of the eternal law, it was wrong for one who had no legal authority to kill the man, even though he was a bad character, besides being the aggressor. But in minds where great virtue is to come, there is often an early crop of vices, in which we may still discern a disposition for some particular virtue, which will come when the mind is duly cultivated. For as farmers, when they see land bringing forth huge crops, though of weeds, pronounce it good for grain; or when they see wild creepers, which have to be rooted out, still consider the land good for useful vines; and when they see a hill covered with wild olives, conclude that with culture it will produce good fruit: so the disposition of mind which led Moses to take the law into his own hands, to prevent the wrong done to his brother, living among strangers, by a wicked citizen of the country from being unrequited, was not unfit for the production of virtue, but from want of culture gave signs of its productiveness in an unjustifiable manner. He who afterwards, by His angel, called Moses on Mount Sinai, with the divine commission to liberate the people of Israel from Egypt, and who trained him to obedience by the miraculous appearance in the bush burning but not consumed, and by instructing him in his ministry, was the same who, by the call addressed from heaven to Saul when persecuting the Church, humbled him, raised him up, and animated him; or in figurative words, by this stroke He cut off the branch, grafted it, and made it fruitful. For the fierce energy of Paul, when in his zeal for hereditary traditions he persecuted the Church, thinking that he was doing God service, was like a crop of weeds showing great signs of productiveness. It was the same in Peter, when he took his sword out of its sheath to defend the Lord, and cut off the right ear of an assailant, when the Lord rebuked him with something like a threat, saying, “Put up your sword into its sheath; for he that takes the sword shall perish by the sword.” Matthew 26:51-52 To take the sword is to use weapons against a man’s life, without the sanction of the constituted authority. The Lord, indeed, had told His disciples to carry a sword; but He did not tell them to use it. But that after this sin Peter should become a pastor of the Church was no more improper than that Moses, after smiting the Egyptian, should become the leader of the congregation. In both cases the trespass originated not in inveterate cruelty, but in a hasty zeal which admitted of correction. In both cases there was resentment against injury, accompanied in one case by love for a brother, and in the other by love, though still carnal, of the Lord. Here was evil to be subdued or rooted out; but the heart with such capacities needed only, like good soil, to be cultivated to make it fruitful in virtue.

71. Then, as for Faustus’ objection to the spoiling of the Egyptians, he knows not what he says. In this Moses not only did not sin, but it would have been sin not to do it. It was by the command of God, who, from His knowledge both of the actions and of the hearts of men, can decide on what every one should be made to suffer, and through whose agency. The people at that time were still carnal, and engrossed with earthly affections; while the Egyptians were in open rebellion against God, for they used the gold, God’s creature, in the service of idols, to the dishonor of the Creator, and they had grievously oppressed strangers by making them work without pay. Thus the Egyptians deserved the punishment, and the Israelites were suitably employed in inflicting it. Perhaps, indeed, it was not so much a command as a permission to the Hebrews to act in the matter according to their own inclinations; and God, in sending the message by Moses, only wished that they should thus be informed of His permission. There may also have been mysterious reasons for what God said to the people on this matter. At any rate, God’s commands are to be submissively received, not to be argued against. The apostle says, “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counsellor?” Romans 11:34 Whether, then, the reason was what I have said, or whether in the secret appointment of God, there was some unknown reason for His telling the people by Moses to borrow things from the Egyptians, and to take them away with them, this remains certain, that this was said for some good reason, and that Moses could not lawfully have done otherwise than God told him, leaving to God the reason of the command, while the servant’s duty is to obey.

72. But, says Faustus, it cannot be admitted that the true God, who is also good, ever gave such a command. I answer, such a command can be rightly given by no other than the true and good God, who alone knows the suitable command in every case, and who alone is incapable of inflicting unmerited suffering on any one. This ignorant and spurious goodness of the human heart may as well deny what Christ says, and object to the wicked being made to suffer by the good God, when He shall say to the angels, “Gather first the tares into bundles to burn them.” The servants, however, were stopped when they wished to do this prematurely: “Lest by chance, when you would gather the tares, you root up the wheat also with them.” Matthew 13:29-30 Thus the true and good God alone knows when, to whom, and by whom to order anything, or to permit anything. In the same way, this human goodness, or folly rather, might object to the Lord’s permitting the devils to enter the swine, which they asked to be allowed to do with a mischievous intent, Matthew 8:31-32 especially as the Manichæans believe that not only pigs, but the vilest insects, have human souls. But setting aside these absurd notions, this is undeniable, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the only son of God, and therefore the true and good God, permitted the destruction of swine belonging to strangers, implying loss of life and of a great amount of property, at the request of devils. No one can be so insane as to suppose that Christ could not have driven the devils out of the men without gratifying their malice by the destruction of the swine. If, then, the Creator and Governor of all natures, in His superintendence, which, though mysterious, is ever just, indulged the violent and unjust inclination of those lost spirits already doomed to eternal fire, why should not the Egyptians, who were unrighteous oppressors, be spoiled by the Hebrews, a free people, who would claim payment for their enforced and painful toil, especially as the earthly possessions which they thus lost were used by the Egyptians in their impious rites, to the dishonor of the Creator? Still, if Moses had originated this order, or if the people had done it spontaneously, undoubtedly it would have been sinful; and perhaps the people did sin, not in doing what God commanded or permitted, but in some desire of their own for what they took. The permission given to this action by divine authority was in accordance with the just and good counsel of Him who uses punishments both to restrain the wicked and to educate His own people; who knows also how to give more advanced precepts to those able to bear them, while He begins on a lower scale in the treatment of the feeble. As for Moses, he can be blamed neither for coveting the property, nor for disputing, in any instance, the divine authority.

73. According to the eternal law, which requires the preservation of natural order, and forbids the transgression of it, some actions have an indifferent character, so that men are blamed for presumption if they do them without being called upon, while they are deservedly praised for doing them when required. The act, the agent, and the authority for the action are all of great importance in the order of nature. For Abraham to sacrifice his son of his own accord is shocking madness. His doing so at the command of God proves him faithful and submissive. This is so loudly proclaimed by the very voice of truth, that Faustus, eagerly rummaging for some fault, and reduced at last to slanderous charges, has not the boldness to attack this action. It is scarcely possible that he can have forgotten a deed so famous, that it recurs to the mind of itself without any study or reflection, and is in fact repeated by so many tongues, and portrayed in so many places, that no one can pretend to shut his eyes or his ears to it. If, therefore, while Abraham’s killing his son of his own accord would have been unnatural, his doing it at the command of God shows not only guiltless but praiseworthy compliance, why does Faustus blame Moses for spoiling the Egyptians? Your feeling of disapproval for the mere human action should be restrained by a regard for the divine sanction. Will you venture to blame God Himself for desiring such actions? Then “Get behind me, Satan, for you understand not the things which be of God, but those which be of men.” Would that this rebuke might accomplish in you what it did in Peter, and that you might hereafter preach the truth concerning God, which you now, judging by feeble sense, find fault with! As Peter became a zealous messenger to announce to the Gentiles what he objected to at first, when the Lord spoke of it as His intention.

74. Now, if this explanation suffices to satisfy human obstinacy and perverse misinterpretation of right actions of the vast difference between the indulgence of passion and presumption on the part of men, and obedience to the command of God, who knows what to permit or to order, and also the time and the persons, and the due action or suffering in each case, the account of the wars of Moses will not excite surprise or abhorrence, for in wars carried on by divine command, he showed not ferocity but obedience; and God in giving the command, acted not in cruelty, but in righteous retribution, giving to all what they deserved, and warning those who needed warning. What is the evil in war? Is it the death of some who will soon die in any case, that others may live in peaceful subjection? This is mere cowardly dislike, not any religious feeling. The real evils in war are love of violence, revengeful cruelty, fierce and implacable enmity, wild resistance, and the lust of power, and such like; and it is generally to punish these things, when force is required to inflict the punishment, that, in obedience to God or some lawful authority, good men undertake wars, when they find themselves in such a position as regards the conduct of human affairs, that right conduct requires them to act, or to make others act in this way. Otherwise John, when the soldiers who came to be baptized asked, What shall we do? Would have replied, Throw away your arms; give up the service; never strike, or wound, or disable any one. But knowing that such actions in battle were not murderous but authorized by law, and that the soldiers did not thus avenge themselves, but defend the public safety, he replied, “Do violence to no man, accuse no man falsely, and be content with your wages.” Luke 3:14 But as the Manichæans are in the habit of speaking evil of John, let them hear the Lord Jesus Christ Himself ordering this money to be given to Cæsar, which John tells the soldiers to be content with. “Give,” He says, “to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s.” Matthew 22:21 For tribute-money is given on purpose to pay the soldiers for war. Again, in the case of the centurion who said, “I am a man under authority, and have soldiers under me: and I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it,” Christ gave due praise to his faith; Matthew 8:9-10 He did not tell him to leave the service. But there is no need here to enter on the long discussion of just and unjust ways.

75. A great deal depends on the causes for which men undertake wars, and on the authority they have for doing so; for the natural order which seeks the peace of mankind, ordains that the monarch should have the power of undertaking war if he thinks it advisable, and that the soldiers should perform their military duties in behalf of the peace and safety of the community. When war is undertaken in obedience to God, who would rebuke, or humble, or crush the pride of man, it must be allowed to be a righteous war; for even the wars which arise from human passion cannot harm the eternal well-being of God, nor even hurt His saints; for in the trial of their patience, and the chastening of their spirit, and in bearing fatherly correction, they are rather benefited than injured. No one can have any power against them but what is given him from above. For there is no power but of God, Romans 13:1 who either orders or permits. Since, therefore, a righteous man, serving it may be under an ungodly king, may do the duty belonging to his position in the State in fighting by the order of his sovereign — for in some cases it is plainly the will of God that he should fight, and in others, where this is not so plain, it may be an unrighteous command on the part of the king, while the soldier is innocent, because his position makes obedience a duty, — how much more must the man be blameless who carries on war on the authority of God, of whom every one who serves Him knows that He can never require what is wrong?

76. If it is supposed that God could not enjoin warfare, because in after times it was said by the Lord Jesus Christ, “I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but if any one strike you on the right cheek, turn to him the left also,” Matthew 5:39 the answer is, that what is here required is not a bodily action, but an inward disposition. The sacred seat of virtue is the heart, and such were the hearts of our fathers, the righteous men of old. But order required such a regulation of events, and such a distinction of times, as to show first of all that even earthly blessings (for so temporal kingdoms and victory over enemies are considered to be, and these are the things which the community of the ungodly all over the world are continually begging from idols and devils) are entirely under the control and at the disposal of the one true God. Thus, under the Old Testament, the secret of the kingdom of heaven, which was to be disclosed in due time, was veiled, and so far obscured, in the disguise of earthly promises. But when the fullness of time came for the revelation of the New Testament, which was hidden under the types of the Old, clear testimony was to be borne to the truth, that there is another life for which this life ought to be disregarded, and another kingdom for which the opposition of all earthly kingdoms should be patiently borne. Thus the name martyrs, which means witnesses, was given to those who, by the will of God, bore this testimony, by their confessions, their sufferings, and their death. The number of such witnesses is so great, that if it pleased Christ — who called Saul by a voice from heaven, and having changed him from a wolf to a sheep, sent him into the midst of wolves — to unite them all in one army, and to give them success in battle, as He gave to the Hebrews, what nation could withstand them? What kingdom would remain unsubdued? But as the doctrine of the New Testament is, that we must serve God not for temporal happiness in this life, but for eternal felicity hereafter, this truth was most strikingly confirmed by the patient endurance of what is commonly called adversity for the sake of that felicity. So in fullness of time the Son of God, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, made of the seed of David according to the flesh sends His disciples as sheep into the midst of wolves, and bids them not fear those that can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, and promises that even the body will be entirely restored, so that not a hair shall be lost. Peter’s sword He orders back into its sheath, restoring as it was before the ear of His enemy that had been cut off. He says that He could obtain legions of angels to destroy His enemies, but that He must drink the cup which His Father’s will had given Him. He sets the example of drinking this cup, then hands it to His followers, manifesting thus, both in word and deed, the grace of patience. Therefore God raised Him from the dead, and has given Him a name which is above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and of things in earth, and of things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 The patriarchs and prophets, then, have a kingdom in this world, to show that these kingdoms, too, are given and taken away by God: the apostles and martyrs had no kingdom here, to show the superior desirableness of the kingdom of heaven. The prophets, however, could even in those times die for the truth, as the Lord Himself says, “From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharia; Matthew 23:35 and in these days, since the commencement of the fulfillment of what is prophesied in the psalm of Christ, under the figure of Solomon, which means the peacemaker, as Christ is our peace, Ephesians 2:14 “All kings of the earth shall bow to Him, all nations shall serve Him,” we have seen Christian emperors, who have put all their confidence in Christ, gaining splendid victories over ungodly enemies, whose hope was in the rites of idolatry and devil-worship. There are public and undeniable proofs of the fact, that on one side the prognostications of devils were found to be fallacious, and on the other, the predictions of saints were a means of support; and we have now writings in which those facts are recorded.

77. If our foolish opponents are surprised at the difference between the precepts given by God to the ministers of the Old Testament, at a time when the grace of the New was still undisclosed, and those given to the preachers of the New Testament, now that the obscurity of the Old is removed, they will find Christ Himself saying one thing at one time, and another at another. “When I sent you,” He says, “without scrip, or purse, or shoes, did ye lack anything? And they said, Nothing. Then says He to them, But now, he that has a scrip, let him take it, and also a purse; and he that has not a sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” If the Manichæans found passages in the Old and New Testaments differing in this way, they would proclaim it as a proof that the Testaments are opposed to each other. But here the difference is in the utterances of one and the same person. At one time He says, “I sent you without scrip, or purse, or shoes, and you lacked nothing;” at another, “Now let him that has a scrip take it, and also a purse; and he that has a tunic, let him sell it and buy a sword.” Does not this show how, without any inconsistency, precepts and counsels and permissions may be changed, as different times require different arrangements? If it is said that there was a symbolic meaning in the command to take a scrip and purse, and to buy a sword, why may there not be a symbolic meaning in the fact, that one and the same God commanded the prophets in old times to make war, and forbade the apostles? And we find in the passage that we have quoted from the Gospel, that the words spoken by the Lord were carried into effect by His disciples. For, besides going at first without scrip or purse, and yet lacking nothing, as from the Lord’s question and their answer it is plain they did, now that He speaks of buying a sword, they say, “Lo, here are two swords;” and He replied, “It is enough.” Hence we find Peter with a weapon when he cut off the assailant’s ear, on which occasion his spontaneous boldness was checked, because, although he had been told to take a sword, he had not been told to use it. Doubtless, it was mysterious that the Lord should require them to carry weapons, and forbid the use of them. But it was His part to give the suitable precepts, and it was their part to obey without reserve.

78. It is therefore mere groundless calumny to charge Moses with making war, for there would have been less harm in making war of his own accord, than in not doing it when God commanded him. And to dare to find fault with God Himself for giving such a command, or not to believe it possible that a just and good God did so, shows, to say the least, an inability to consider that in the view of divine providence, which pervades all things from the highest to the lowest, time can neither add anything nor take away; but all things go, or come, or remain according to the order of nature or desert in each separate case, while in men a right will is in union with the divine law, and ungoverned passion is restrained by the order of divine law; so that a good man wills only what is commanded, and a bad man can do only what he is permitted, at the same time that he is punished for what he wills to do unjustly. Thus, in all the things which appear shocking and terrible to human feebleness, the real evil is the injustice; the rest is only the result of natural properties or of moral demerit. This injustice is seen in every case where a man loves for their own sake things which are desirable only as means to an end, and seeks for the sake of something else things which ought to be loved for themselves. For thus, as far as he can, he disturbs in himself the natural order which the eternal law requires us to observe. Again, a man is just when he seeks to use things only for the end for which God appointed them, and to enjoy God as the end of all, while he enjoys himself and his friend in God and for God. For to love in a friend the love of God is to love the friend for God. Now both justice and injustice, to be acts at all, must be voluntary; otherwise, there can be no just rewards or punishments; which no man in his senses will assert. The ignorance and infirmity which prevent a man from knowing his duty, or from doing all he wishes to do, belong to God’s secret penal arrangement, and to His unfathomable judgments, for with Him there is no iniquity. Thus we are informed by the sure word of God of Adam’s sin; and Scripture truly declares that in him all die, and that by him sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And our experience gives abundant evidence, that in punishment for this sin our body is corrupted, and weighs down the soul, and the clay tabernacle clogs the mind in its manifold activity; Wisdom 9:15 and we know that we can be freed from this punishment only by gracious interposition. So the apostle cries out in distress, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 7:24-25 So much we know; but the reasons for the distribution of divine judgment and mercy, why one is in this condition, and another in that, though just, are unknown. Still, we are sure that all these things are due either to the mercy or the judgment of God, while the measures and numbers and weights by which the Creator of all natural productions arranges all things are concealed from our view. For God is not the author, but He is the controller of sin; so that sinful actions, which are sinful because they are against nature, are judged and controlled, and assigned to their proper place and condition, in order that they may not bring discord and disgrace on universal nature. This being the case, and as the judgments of God and the movements of man’s will contain the hidden reason why the same prosperous circumstances which some make a right use of are the ruin of others, and the same afflictions under which some give way are profitable to others, and since the whole mortal life of man upon earth is a trial, Job 7:4 who can tell whether it may be good or bad in any particular case — in time of peace, to reign or to serve, or to be at ease or to die — or in time of war, to command or to fight, or to conquer or to be killed? At the same time, it remains true, that whatever is good is so by the divine blessing, and whatever is bad is so by the divine judgment.

79. Let no one, then, be so daring as to make rash charges against men, not to say against God. If the service of the ministers of the Old Testament, who were also heralds of the New, consisted in putting sinners to death, and that of the ministers of the New Testament, who are also interpreters of the Old, in being put to death by sinners, the service in both cases is rendered to one God, who, varying the lesson to suit the times, teaches both that temporal blessings are to be sought from Him, and that they are to be forsaken for Him, and that temporal distress is both sent by Him and should be endured for Him. There was, therefore, no cruelty in the command, or in the action of Moses, when, in his holy jealousy for his people, whom he wished to be subject to the one true God, on learning that they had fallen away to the worship of an idol made by their own hands, he impressed their minds at the time with a wholesome fear, and gave them a warning for the future, by using the sword in the punishment of a few, whose just punishment God, against whom they had sinned, appointed in the depth of His secret judgment to be immediately inflicted. That Moses acted as he did, not in cruelty, but in great love, may be seen from the words in which he prayed for the sins of the people: “If You will forgive their sin, forgive it; and if not, blot me out of Your book.” Exodus 32:32 The pious inquirer who compares the slaughter with the prayer will find in this the clearest evidence of the awful nature of the injury done to the soul by prostitution to the images of devils, since such love is roused to such anger. We see the same in the apostle, who, not in cruelty, but in love, delivered a man up to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 1 Corinthians 5:5 Others, too, he delivered up, that they might learn not to blaspheme. 1 Timothy 1:20 In the apocryphal books of the Manichæans there is a collection of fables, published by some unknown authors under the name of the apostles. The books would no doubt have been sanctioned by the Church at the time of their publication, if holy and learned men then in life, and competent to determine the matter, had thought the contents to be true. One of the stories is, that the Apostle Thomas was once at a marriage feast in a country where he was unknown, when one of the servants struck him, and that he immediately by his curse brought a terrible punishment on this man. For when he went out to the fountain to provide water for the guests, a lion fell on him and killed him, and the hand with which he had given a slight blow to the apostle was torn off, in fulfillment of the imprecation, and brought by a dog to the table at which the apostle was reclining. What could be more cruel than this? And yet, if I mistake not, the story goes on to say, that the apostle made up for the cruelty by obtaining for the man the blessing of pardon in the next world; so that, while the people of this strange country learned to fear the apostle as being so dear to God, the man’s eternal welfare was secured in exchange for the loss of this mortal life. It matters not whether the story is true or false. At any rate, the Manichæans, who regard as genuine and authentic books which the canon of the Church rejects, must allow, as shown in the story, that the virtue of patience, which the Lord enjoins when He says, “If any one smite you on the right cheek, turn to him your left also,” may be in the inward disposition, though it is not exhibited in bodily action or in words. For when the apostle was struck, instead of turning his other side to the man, or telling him to repeat the blow, he prayed to God to pardon his assailant in the next world, but not to leave the injury unpunished at the time. Inwardly he preserved a kindly feeling, while outwardly he wished the man to be punished as an example. As the Manichæans believe this, rightly or wrongly, they may also believe that such was the intention of Moses, the servant of God, when he cut down with the sword the makers and worshippers of the idol; for his own words show that he so entreated for pardon for their sin of idolatry as to ask to be blotted out of God’s book if his prayer was not heard. There is no comparison between a stranger being struck with the hand, and the dishonor done to God by forsaking Him for an idol, when He had brought the people out of the bondage of Egypt, had led them through the sea, and had covered with the waters the enemy pursuing them. Nor, as regards the punishment, is there any comparison between being killed with the sword and being torn in pieces by wild beasts. For judges in administering the law condemn to exposure to wild beasts worse criminals than are condemned to be put to death by the sword. – Augustine, Against Faustus, book 22

If God is with you, how can you lose a war?

“And the foreigners heard that David had been anointed king over Israel. And all the foreigners went up to seek David. And David heard and went down to the stronghold. And the foreigners gathered and met in the Valley of the Rephaim. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Should I go up to the foreigners, and will You give them into my hand?’ And the Lord said to David, ‘Go up, because when I hand over, I will hand the foreigners over into your hand.’ And David came from the upper divide and slaughtered the foreigners there. And David said, ‘The Lord cut through the enemies, the foreigners before me, as one cuts through water.’ Because of this, the name of that place was called ‘Upper Divide.’ And there they abandoned their gods, and David and the men with him took them. And the foreigners still continued to go up and meet in the Valley of the Rephaim. So David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said, ‘You must not go up to meet them. Instead you should turn back from them, and you will come to them beside the Place of Weeping.’ And it will be when you hear the sound of the confinement from the grove of the Place of Weeping, then you will go down to them, because then the Lord will go out before you to slaughter in the battle with the foreigners. And David did just as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the foreigners from Gibeon to the land of Gezer.” – 2 Samuel 5:17–25 (LXX)

If Jesus is speaking literally, are you REQUIRED to kill?

Many Orthodox priests claim that we have “no choice” but to kill people in certain situations and be excommunicated. That’s right, we just lose free will. And the reason why? Well, because our earthly lives must be preserved. We don’t want that eternal life, after all!

Fr. Spyridon – Should Christians go to War?

Fr. Sebastian – The Truth About Violence in Orthodox Christianity

Orthodox Deacon Seraphim (Richard) Rohlin, PART ONE |THE SITDOWN

Luke and Nolan VS Deacon Ephraim

Luke 22:35-38 – And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.” So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”

You bring up the passage where Jesus says, “everyone must buy a sword.” So are you required to use weapons? Is Jesus commanding you to fight and kill? If Jesus said it, then we have to, right? But wait, who do we have to kill? Did He ever specify who we should be killing? That part is a little vague! We can’t just go around killing random people, so in order for this command to be followed, we need instructions about who the enemy is! When do we fight? Is it only in defense of others? But Peter was defending Jesus, and Jesus forbade Him. Should we sometimes allow our persecutors to arrest us and kill us? When? These are essential points! Can we find this doctrine in the first three centuries?

But some people will insist that Jesus MUST be speaking literally, since he told His disciples not to bring along LITERAL sandals or LITERAL money bags! But wait… are you sure? Did Jesus ever speak of spiritual shoes or spiritual money bags that we should acquire?

Luke 12:33 – Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.

He talks about these spiritual money bags in the same gospel of Luke!

1 Timothy 6:17-19 – Command those who are rich in this present age… to do good, to be rich in good works… storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come.

What about spiritual shoes? Do we have those?

Ephesians 6:15 – … Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Romans 10:14-15: How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Luke 15:22 – The father says, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.”

Do we resist evil governments or submit to them?

Every heresy is self-contradicting in various respects, and the key to refuting a heresy is always found in that contradiction. One of the contradictions in their teaching about war is this: These warmongers say that it’s perfectly fine for Christians to fight in the government’s military because Paul says the earthly king is “a minister of God” who serves the purpose of punishing evildoers. Therefore, if the king is appointed by God for this purpose, we are justified in fighting in his army! But then these same people will turn around and say we have a right to rise up against earthly rulers and overthrow their governments, if they happen to be corrupt! Where is the consistency in this? What government isn’t corrupt? Do these people not realize who was emperor of Rome when Paul commanded Christians to obey the emperor? It was Nero, the most murderous emperor in history, persecuting Christians severely and killing countless of his own citizens! Nero wasn’t elected by the citizens of Rome. His mother schemed to get him adopted by the emperor, then she poisoned the emperor to make Nero the de facto ruler. Do you believe God allows you to fight against such an evil government? Not according to Paul! What an absurd position you’ve taken, that God has sanctioned that we fight in just wars, using Paul’s command about submitting to Nero’s laws as proof, when practically no Christian would justify fighting in Nero’s army today! You say, “Nero was appointed by God to punish the wicked, but we must rise up and overthrow Nero, the God-appointed emperor!”