The Church's Role in the Georgia-Russia Conflict (by Jim Forest)
The recent Georgia-Russia mini-war in and around South Ossetia was definitely not a religious war, but it serves as a reminder that religious identity doesn't even come in third place when issues of national identity are at issue. While the battle raged, the majority of participants -- and casualties -- were Christians on both sides.
In both countries, the Orthodox Church -- in practice, though not officially -- functions as the national church. Russia has an icon of St. George at the center of its national coat of arms; the average Russian atheist regards himself as an Orthodox atheist. Georgia prides itself on having adopted Christianity in the 4th century, six centuries before the baptism of Russia.
No matter how borderless Christianity is in theory ("neither east nor west, neither Greek nor Jew"), in practice national borders are as substantial as cathedral walls.
The Orthodox churches in Russia and Georgia, led by Patriarch Alexei in Moscow and Patriarch Ilya in Tbilisi, are no exception. It's rare for either church to stand in opposition to its government. The Russian Orthodox Church has been especially notable for being quick to bless Russia's military -- and has been all but silent in voicing criticism about Russian actions, no matter how brutal. Patriarch Ilya also has been equally silent about post-Soviet Georgia's deepening association with the United States and the U.S.-sponsored military buildup that has resulted.
Thus it has been a surprise to note the efforts made by the leaders of both churches, first to prevent the recent war and then, their efforts having failed, to speed its end.
Ilya seems to have been the one who took the first step. In April he sent a letter to Alexei in which he noted the potential "role and authority of our churches to prevent the escalation of tensions and help restore good bilateral relations."
While Alexei's response has not been made public, it is likely that he intervened with Russia's president and prime minister (he is on close terms with both Medvedev and Putin) in hopes of encouraging renewed diplomatic efforts to prevent conflict.
But when Georgia's military bombarded Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, on the night of Aug. 8, hopes to prevent war were shattered. (What lay behind Georgia's action is baffling. It was something like Connecticut opening fire on New York. The Russians had already made clear what would happen in such a case. Georgia's small army hadn't a chance against Russian forces. Was President Saakashvili imagining that America, his military sponsor, would join the battle? Had he even been encouraged to open fire? I'd love to know.)
What is remarkable in the context of the days that followed was Patriarch Alexei making a public appeal to the Russian state to declare a cease fire.
"Today blood is being shed and people being killed in South Ossetia," he said, "and my heart deeply laments over it. Orthodox Christians are among those who have raised their hands against each other. Orthodox people, called by the Lord to live in fraternity and love, confront each other."
In a sermon given in Tbilisi two days later, Patriarch Ilya said that "one thing concerns us very deeply -- that Orthodox Russians are bombing Orthodox Georgians."
Note that when Alexei made his appeal, he was definitely not acting as the Russian government's amen chorus. At the time, Russia's leaders were strongly resisting international pressure for a cease fire. It seems likely that Russia was hoping, war having begun after years of tension, to seize the moment to bring South Ossetia, bitterly at odds with Georgia for many years, into actual rather than ex officio inclusion in Russia -- a goal Russia is still pursuing, but at present without warfare with Georgia.
Will the two churches make more vigorous efforts to prevent renewed conflict? And if so, how? How willing are the two churches to prevent the cross from being used as a flag pole?
Jim Forest is the international secretary of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship (www.incommunion.org), editor of its journal In Communion, and author of Praying With Icons and The Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life.
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Comments
Mr. Forest,
It is not unprecedented for both sides in a conflict to claim that they are on "God's side." During our own American Civil War, both the United States and the Confederacy invoked God's blessings.
I'm sure that there are times when war is unavoidable but I also believe that it should be considered a last resort when all other means of avoiding conflict have failed. The Catholic Church has posited what they call a "Just War Theory" and considering the awful cost that such conflicts bring, I believe that all churches and church leaders should be very reluctant to endorse their country's entry into wars.
I am no admirer of Saadam Hussein but his government did tolerate the presence of a small Christian minority in Iraq. I don't think that tolerance will continue under the majority Shiite government. I think that eventually the young radical cleric al Sadr will take over the government and that Iraq will very closely resemble Iran in its makeup and tolerance for minority religions.
In the meantime, we have a major presidential candidate who has stated that we might be in Iraq for 100 years and whose propensity for another major conflict is obvious when he sings "Bomb, Bomb, Iran" under his breath.
Posted by: Sister Marie | September 11, 2008 11:57 AM
Sister,
You mixed some thoughtful comments with partisan distortion. McCain's hundred years comment was not about the duration of the Iraq War, but an anology to six decades of basing troops in now-peaceful countries like Japan and Germany.
___
Jim Forest,
Thank you for an encouraging column!
Blessings,
Posted by: | September 11, 2008 12:32 PM
Jim -- I lived in Georgia for a year and have met Patriarch Ilya. I've also visited Russia, and I think there is a big difference in religious life and its popular influence in the two countries. In Russia, it seemed to me that among many, there was a mistrust of the Church left over from Soviet times, when priests had to make deals with the authorities to keep churches' doors open. In Georgia, where independence coincided with the re-establishment of full autocephaly for the Georgian Orthodox Church, the church became a lightning rod for nationalism, and going back to church, with its liturgy once again in the Georgian language, was a way for people to assert nationality and religion all at once. Georgian churches are often packed with young people. So it seems to me the Georgian patriarch is a more significant figure in his country than Alexei in Russia.
By the way, while the Ossetians are historically Christian, it's worth noting that the Abkhazians are historically Muslim, something I heard Georgians mention when discussing the civil war of the early '90s.
Posted by: Clayton Parr | September 11, 2008 1:31 PM
"Looking back is good for accessing how you decisions effected the outcome. But if all you do is look back - you have little influence on the future. Posted by: big guy | September 11, 2008 1:28 PM"
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana
George Bush and Dick Cheney apparently did not learn this very important lesson.
Posted by: | September 11, 2008 1:57 PM
"Looking back is good for accessing how you decisions effected the outcome. But if all you do is look back - you have little influence on the future. Posted by: big guy | September 11, 2008 1:28 PM"
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." George Santayana
George Bush and Dick Cheney apparently did not learn this very important lesson.
Posted by: Sister Marie | September 11, 2008 1:58 PM
Totally ridiculous article. Big Guy-right on as usual.
Sister Marie- I think Big Guy's point to you was this:
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...Who knows the great enthusiams, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."
- Teddy Roosevelt
Posted by: Peter S. | September 11, 2008 2:29 PM
Peter S.
Totally concur. The problem is that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were never in the arena. When their turn came, they became what some call chicken-hawks.
Posted by: Sister Marie | September 11, 2008 2:45 PM
Thanks, Jim Forest, for an informative article. It's good to know that both Orthodox patriarchs made at least some efforts toward peace. Clayton Parr's comments are informative, also. I'd hope all Xns could agree with Mikhail Gorbachev's position that a legally binding agreement not to deal with the problems of Ossetia and Georgia by force should be demanded by the international community.
Posted by: marilyn | September 11, 2008 7:15 PM
"Big Guy-right on as usual." Peter S
Apparently, ModerateLad-Big Guy-Big Hog Guy was right off as usual.
Posted by: canucklehead | September 11, 2008 10:52 PM
Peter S: "Totally ridiculous article."
Peter, what have you read on the situation that you would recommend would help us understand the situation and why Jim Forest's take on it is "ridiculous"? Did you grow up in Georgia?
Thanks in advance.
Posted by: carl copas | September 12, 2008 2:24 PM
Like Carl Copas, I too would like to know what exactly makes Jim Forest's article "ridiculous."
Posted by: Don | September 12, 2008 5:32 PM
well, all i know is that over here in alabama our churches are helping secure the boarder w/ georgia so the russians don't make it over here. the churches in south carolina and florida should follow suit. by "orthodox" you mean "southern baptist," right?
Posted by: nad2 | September 13, 2008 1:40 AM
have a good weekend everyone.
Posted by: nad2 | September 13, 2008 1:46 AM
Nad2, good to see you brother. We need your sense of humor.
Posted by: carl copas | September 13, 2008 2:53 PM
señor c-squared: so glad to re-join the revelry. i've had a busy few weeks, mostly doing community organizing (on top of country lawyering). here i was looking to pad my resume w/ a few whimsical extra curriculars like raising money for a drug dog for our community, helping revive a truancy program for our high school & re-organizing our community recreation department. i'm thinking, "this'll be like beta club in high school, maybe even easier." boy did i get duped by that sarah palin speech! fell for that one hook, line & sinker. i've been so busy i've hardly had time to keep up with the waiver wire in my fantasy football league, much less knock around w/ ya'll. now i'm not even sure i can believe her anymore when she says she can see russia from alaska. i'm disillusioned.
this is worse than when i grew my hair out & bought a gazelle fitness machine in a failed attempt to lose enough weight to fit into that size medium under-armor shirt i got (they were all out of the larges in red & it was the only color they had in my pallet) thinking tony little wouldn't steer me wrong, not a man sporting a cat-toy haircut down to his hammies. (there is hope, however: i've watched the "fitness made simple" videos through twice now; turns out fitness celebrity john basedow is telling the truth - there are indeed no high impact gyrations and no tricky dance moves). or that time i spent 5 grand on the "no money down" millionaire real estate VHS tapes (turns out no one will lend you money to buy a house "no money down." apparently it has something to do w/ a bubble bursting on a house that caused a crisis, or something.)
both the gazelle and the tapes can be yours at a discounted combo price. serious inquiries only.
Posted by: nad2 | September 14, 2008 6:02 PM
nad2: "both the gazelle and the tapes can be yours at a discounted combo price. serious inquiries only."
ROFL. Like I said, we need your humor.
And have you tried selling that stuff on Ebay?
Posted by: carl copas | September 14, 2008 9:14 PM
i've tried, carl, i've tried. it was going swimmingly until the part about delivery. apparently, "come get it off my front porch" is not an acceptable delivery option on the ebays.
"Did you grow up in Georgia?" i think i see where this is going. statistically speaking, odds that the "S." stands for "Stalin" are minuscule, carl.
Posted by: | September 15, 2008 10:55 AM
that last one was mine. who says the progressives don't come to the righties defense once in awhile, with hard statistical proof no less!!!
Posted by: nad2 | September 15, 2008 10:57 AM
"Sister,
You mixed some thoughtful comments with partisan distortion. McCain's hundred years comment was not about the duration of the Iraq War, but an anology to six decades of basing troops in now-peaceful countries like Japan and Germany.
Posted by: | September 11, 2008 12:32 PM"
In each of the other countries cited by McCain (he also included South Korea), our troops remained in those countries not because of an internal threat, but because of an external threat. When his comments on our projected stay in Iraq are combined with his bellicose statements on Iran, one can easily conjecture that he has designs on that entire region.
In his farewell address, George Washington warned us about "entangling alliances." We are already over-extended in terms of our military prescence throughout the world and we certainly do no need another open-ended committment in a region where the inhabitants hate our guts. In Iraq, the Sunnis hate us because we overthrew their leader and the Shiites hate us also. I do not want to place my grandchildren and great-grandchildren in an environment where thousands of the citizens there have a hard-on for us because they lost a relative to our friendly fire.
Posted by: Sister Marie | September 15, 2008 1:05 PM
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