Citizen Columns

Citizen Columns >> Answer (February 3rd, 2007)

Question

Does your faith group have any military chaplains? How do you square the circle between the ultimate goal of peace and ministering to the men and women who go to war?

Answer

Here's my answer (with thanks for advice from a number of parishioners with whom I discussed this question):

We live with many tensions, and this one of them. On the one hand, Christians proclaim a kingdom of peace where violence and wars will cease. This is the kingdom "not of this world" that Jesus preached. As a permanent witness to this, monks and nuns in the Orthodox tradition renounce all forms of military service. Other Orthodox Christians can and do follow the monastic pacifist witness. But the Orthodox churches as such do not, because the nasty realities of life in this world sadly require the military. I may be willing to lay down my own life in witness to the Prince of Peace, but should I stand by and do nothing when the lives of others are threatened? Absolute pacifism may be horribly immoral if I refuse to protect the innocent and defenseless. This applies to countries just as it does to individuals. And so, Orthodox churches bless the military and the ministries of military chaplains.

This blessing assumes that the military is a defensive force. But what this means gets a lot muddier in the global village and the "war on terror". We may or may not agree with government policies, but we do support the troops and the chaplains.

A number of years ago I had some exposure to military chaplaincy for a very brief time and met many experienced chaplains. I have enormous respect for their ministry alongside the troops in sometimes horrific circumstances. Soldiers worry about their comrades, their families and themselves. They have prolonged periods away in unfamiliar and hostile territory. Life and death issues are faced daily. The uncertainties and deprivations of war provoke feelings, thoughts and questions for which the only response, sometimes, are the presence, words and worship chaplains can offer. Is there any better witness to God's peace in the midst of a sometimes ugly and violent world?

Father John Jillions