The War in Ukraine: Challenges to Just War Doctrines in Eastern Orthodoxy

Stoyanov, Yuri

Abstract

The sequence and escalation of Russian–Ukrainian political and military conflicts since 2014, culminating in Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, have reopened interest in and debates on just war theory and practice in general and specifically in historic and modern Eastern Orthodox cultures and Orthodox-majority states. These debates have significant repercussions in areas like church–state and church–military relations in these cultures; ecclesial involvement in these conflicts has varied from war-justification rhetoric (in the case of the Russian Orthodox Church) to reiterations of the inherited traditions of ecclesial pacifism/condemnation of all violence (the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, a number of Orthodox Churches, clerical and theological networks, etc.). The Russian ecclesial involvements in the justification of war/military necessity and formulation of just war narratives have triggered divisions and antagonisms in the Eastern Orthodoxy. The development and course of the ecclesial conflicts involving Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox churches and parishes (and other Orthodox ecclesiastic bodies) will show whether Orthodox religious actors may begin to play a more significant role in the articulation and application of newly emerging trends in areas like the theology of just peace, just peace-making and Christian realism, Orthodox social ethics and the dynamic praxis of just peace-making.

Citation

Stoyanov, Y. (2024). The War in Ukraine: Challenges to Just War Doctrines in Eastern Orthodoxy. Studies in Christian Ethics, 37(3), 669-692. https://doi.org/10.1177/09539468241258947

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 12, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Jun 12, 2024
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jun 23, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 21, 2024
• Journal: Studies in Christian Ethics
• Print ISSN: 0953-9468
• Electronic ISSN: 1745-5235
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 669-692
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09539468241258947
• Keywords: Just war theory, Eastern Orthodoxy, pacifism, just peace, church-state relations, Russian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian Orthodoxy, ecumenism and inter-church relations
• Related Public URLs: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/scea/0/0