{"id":22692,"date":"2015-11-27T06:00:21","date_gmt":"2015-11-27T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=22692"},"modified":"2015-11-26T20:33:58","modified_gmt":"2015-11-27T01:33:58","slug":"russian-orthodox-declare-holy-war-against-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/11\/russian-orthodox-declare-holy-war-against-terrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Orthodox declare “holy war” against terrorism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Orthodox church has once against assumed its traditional role in Russia, giving moral support to the reigning regime.\u00a0 Now in support of the Russian military intervention in Syria, the church has declared a \u201choly war\u201d against terrorism.<\/p>\n

Could any of you Orthodox readers explain the relationship between the various branches of your church?\u00a0 I know that there is supposed to be a doctrinal unity between them all, and they all uphold the authority of the bishops.\u00a0 Do the actions of these Russian bishops carry weight with you?\u00a0 (I know, for example, that the murdered Czar and his family members have been or are being canonized by the Russian church.\u00a0 So, if you are Antiochan Orthodox, are you obliged also to recognize them as saints?)<\/p>\n

But can there really be a Christian jihad?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From Fred Weir, Is Russia\u2019s intervention in Syria a \u2018holy war\u2019? Russian Orthodox Church: \u2018yes\u2019 \u2013 CSMonitor.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

For many in the West, the idea that a church would take an overtly hawkish stance in the conflict in Syria is an utterly foreign concept.<\/p>\n

But then, the Russian Orthodox Church is not of the West, says Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the church\u2019s most recognizable spokesperson, in his spartan downtown Moscow office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that church and state should be alienated from each other is not a characteristic of Orthodox civilization,\u201d insists the wispy-bearded senior cleric, whose eyes almost seem to burn. \u201cIt\u2019s a characteristic of the West.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not well known or understood in the West, the Russian Orthodox Church has been Russia\u2019s chief source of spiritual identity for most of its 1,000-year existence. Though it was nearly destroyed by the communists, it has since rebounded sharply to become once again the Kremlin\u2019s ideological bulwark.<\/p>\n

As that relationship has solidified, the church has also integrated with the military. Russian media frequently run photos of priests blessing weaponry, including war planes, while Orthodox chaplains are embedded in most military units. And now, it is underscoring its enthusiastic backing for Russia\u2019s military intervention in Syria \u2013 a fight Father Chaplin dramatically describes as \u201ca holy war against terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]\u00a0<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Orthodox church has once against assumed its traditional role in Russia, giving moral support to the reigning regime.\u00a0 Now in support of the Russian military intervention in Syria, the church has declared a \u201choly war\u201d against terrorism. Could any of you Orthodox readers explain the relationship between the various branches of your church?\u00a0 I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47,49],"tags":[4162,1648,3852,4357],"class_list":["post-22692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-theology","category-war-2","tag-holy-war","tag-orthodox-church","tag-russian-orthodox-church","tag-terrorism"],"yoast_head":"\nRussian Orthodox declare "holy war" against terrorism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Orthodox church has once against assumed its traditional role in Russia, giving moral support to the reigning regime.\u00a0 Now in support of the Russian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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