aeV.Wo'«l'">.«'h"el'h^'^dles a^^ ^^^i^^ any bow iig in
and uiiconipronusiiig ^ ■«"";• [l^'^jh^j Christianity is a holy war
the house ol R'™'."°' •.r"t"*'=„^atechiiinen at baptism t.akes the againstidolatry in whid theca e^hu.^ ^_^^ ) and
biU?y .:j;^e?'^' wh^lh^^g^ =>dmi.ted into the
Christian faith who belongs to '';<; a^y^'^-^rrt I'ir'rnfice: as a menial servant who is ""> "^ ^^^j™, ^,',, „,' |,,valty (...era. or capital punishment. /'"; d'J'"'',,,in, i„ common, there i. ,„.„(.!".) and the human ha e not a inw in „„,„„.nl ol
no alllnity between he "•* '"r-L" t^nj ,hc camp ol darknew ; the devil, between the """P ''«'>' '"^ »,„! (l«,t. " Mo^es one soul cannot serve t«o "lasten. t-ou a ' „,„,.
carried a rod [like the «"7,; " '.'^J^^'john ia. belt«l with a clasp (like the soldiers o" th 'ir shoes) r J , ^^^^
a leat'ber ginlle? Joshua the "O"^' 7„''J ^, ,„ „ille 1 How- people (ol Ood] made «^^J ^J", ™^'e," J„ military duty In can people "»''«/ ,"V,^?",™depr.ved them ol their »wor.l«1
l^s;:^5{«•soh« f di^^^^
armed Peter (Jn IS")-' t i^i,„
In this la-st sentence TertulUan argues that John
aiHl lie aim "v v i e a. nendariio\
XdTwp, OS Mark notes -^1k,» '• ''"•„ ,.,i;'i i,,. that one o the non-con...iiss..mf.l """^^ \", ^^^J'>^yi„. nante, >vho ^ve^e somo.unes ""'P'^^- jts in the tioners(ef. Seneca, <^ ^'-'Jr, eir —leering and
e„.,,loyedonpohce.a«ty, asUte^^av t^^^^^._.
Accent />^« 01" yo" I5„t, according to
""^^^'iBxx ^t^5-s^ -S^S
Hasmomoans (cf. 1 Mac . 1, i" . ^^ violate the
on the Sabbath, to '?"'J'"'At"the request of Hyrcanus. Dola- strict law of the ^='^bath M the reque ' ^^ ^,,i, ^.^^
bella and Mark ,^"\"'%,^^"S'i„^gt^2B.C. CI. ^£ ii- I'i^- ground (Jos. Ant. xiv. •^/^^"''''"d^'ijrj' ,„„,,, being equiva-
-U^^h^rKg. - '--Ss to imply tb. the v^^^s^^l^ilri^h Jr^oL,, Jmy -. -"P!- '- S;;i:uLs'::gS>'be^l!^J;ll^n;r at.east thatChri.ti.ns bhould maiiiUin it.
iL^hae'i- Johanneiii aperte.bl^pheniare coa suerunt,' Aug. - f '-'-;-"• |t -tuman's' con!
^;;S::i§!^ent'ir^SHa(^
r,imand, "Be content -'f' >-f ^i;^>'- ,,*,-J^^.
ri^rxirfrent Hs^^. nattiraUy.toalle«om.- [IJiiS. Mil. I.), ic"'^ <,„^„ri=pd to lind It e aborated i„„ that ^ve are. lot «»n-' ed '0^^° ^^,„^ ,,„^ ^
by Origen [c y^^^-l\.ffj' „„ jogs insert X»7'"s
law , tiie \Kii o>= ,.„rrv out the punishments desire to do so, to carry ""V- fin. -en sees a
S:Au;!\i^"S^a:i^^---^'^'-^"-V':
• The militia caligala really included not only private, but
^^^^^!^^^?^ZV:^<^ ..ve„ by 1 There is a striking P"™' hjl the^ ',o avoid quafrelsome-
^:-'r z "z :a;;?;ie:i'5.h .heir- r^^^^^^^^^ zi
I 2141).
666
WAK
WAR
OT ages, of maintaining their national existence by foi'ce of aims. 'To liavo deprived tlieiii of the right of making war on their enemies and of light- ing for their countrj' and of executing or in some way punishing adulterers, murderers, or persons guilty of similar crimes, would have been to exiiose them to sudden and utter destruction, whenever their enemies attacked them ; for in that case their very law would have crippled them and prevented them from resisting their enemies.' Origen admits that war is vital to nationality, and so he rejoices that nationality no longer exists for the Jews. He cannot of course imagine that it could exist for Christians either.* Tertullian had no positive notion of the state in his Christian ethic. Origen betrays a slight consciousness of this problem, but as yet, while the political conditions had begun to alter the focus assumed in the NT, they had not developed sufficiently to enable any satisfactoiy view to be propounded. Christians do not spread the gospel by force of arms, and they do not form a nation in the ancient sense of the term. This is all that Origen can say. But the further question arises, Have Christians, as citizens of the Roman empire, any duty of loyalty which obliges them to fight in the legions on behalf of their empire? Are they to enlist volun- tarily or to obey the orders of the recruiting- sergeant, when their names are called ? It is clear that some hesitation had been felt on this point. As we have already seen, Celsus had urged Chris- tians to rally to the help of the emperor, for the maintenance of justice and order against the barbarians, and in viii. 73 f. Origen meets this tacit criticism of jjolitical indiflerence among members of the Church.
We Christians, he argues, help the State by being good men, by putting on the panoply of God (Eph 61^), and also by offer- ing prayers for kings and authorities, as the apostle enjoined (L Ti 2i-2).t 'The more pious any one is, the more serviceable he is in support of those who reign, more serviceable than soldiers who sally forth to fight and slay as many of the enemy as they can. Besides, when the opponents of the Faith bid us do battle for the common weal and slay men, our answer is this : " Among yourselves the priests at certain shrines and the attendants of your gods keep their hands free from bloodshed for the sake of the sacrifices, so that they may have unstained and pure bands to offer the appointed sacrifices to those whom you consider gods. Even when war comes, you do not make the priests serve in the ranks. Well, if that is a reasonable and laudable custom, how much more so, that while the rest of men are fighting, these persons [i.e. Christians] should serve as priests and ministers of God, keeping their hands pure and wrestling in prayer to God for those who are fighting in a righteous cause and for a righteous king, that all opposition to righteous agents may be crushed." J Also, as we vanquish by our prayers all the demons who stir up war and the \'iolation of oaths and disturbances of the peace, we thus prove of more help to kings than those who take up arms. Besides, we do take part in public affairs, for from a righteous life we offer up prayers, conjoined with ascetic discipline and meditations which instruct us to scorn delights instead of being carried away by them. We fight for the king better than any one else. We do not take up arms along with him, even though he presses us, but we take arms on his behalf, raising a special regiment of religion {ISlov tTTpaToTTfSov eiKre/Seia?) by means of our supplications to God. If Celsus wants us to tight on behalf of our country as well, let him know that we do so fight. And our fighting is not for the purpose of being noticed by men or of winning vain glory, for our prayers are in secret, in the inner life, ascending as from priests on behalf of our fellow-citizens. Besides, Christians render more help to their countries than other men, for the.v train citizens and teach piety towards the