What is the Church’s attitude towards civil, judicial, and military authorities?

While Christianity calls for obedience to authorities and submission to the state it also focuses on inner peace and forgiveness for sinners, and declines using the sword against adversaries. The believer should apply these commandments, desiring to offer love even to enemies, through the work of the Holy Spirit within him. The apostle Paul says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same” (Rom. 13:1–3), and “therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior” (1 Tim. 2:1– 3). The application of these commandments differs according to the conditions in which the faithful live, and according to their spiritual level.

The Church, in the East and the West, has always had a living eschatological⁸⁸⁶ mindset, wherein everyone looked for the Second Coming of the Lord Christ with joy and gladness of heart; and on the basis of which, many believers happily relinquished much for the sake of the anticipated eternal glory. Their love and decency drew the attention of the pagans to the lived life of faith, whatever the cost.

Christians were known for their love for all humanity, even for those who resist and persecute them. However, many Christian leaders and laity refused, or at least were not comfortable with the idea of, joining the Roman military; not out of hatred of the military or out of disobedience to the authorities, but because of the nature of the military of the time:

• a. There were many periods when the Roman military was occupied not so much with defending the Roman Empire as with focusing its energy on destroying the Christian faith and exterminating the Christians or compelling them to pagan worship. The scholar Origen describes paganism and robbery as two of prevalent sins among the military.⁸⁸⁷

885 For more detail, see Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty and Maged Sous, Faith and Permissiveness ( Al'-iman Wal'iibaha , Arabic) (1998): Chapter 2.

886 Translators’ Note: Eschatological , from the Greek ἔσχατος ( eschatos ) meaning the farthest, or the end, refers to the Christian concept of the End Times when Christ will return, and the eternal life will begin.

887 Everett Ferguson (ed.), Christian Life: Ethics, Morality, and Discipline in the Early Church (Studies in Early Christianity: Vol. 16) (Garland Publishing Inc., 1993): pp. 200–201.

An important fact is that from the time of Emperor Nero (54–68 A. D.) to the time of Emperor Constantine (306–337 A. D.), practicing a Christian life was often considered a crime punishable by death.⁸⁸⁸ As Christians, it was easier for civilians to escape this penalty than it was for soldiers, who were not permitted to refuse to practice pagan worship. For this reason, the proportion of martyrs who were soldiers was relatively higher than civilians, even though the number of Christian soldiers was few.

• b. The Roman army was known for its violence, rapaciousness, and recklessness. Soldiers were not permitted to practice their married life nor to get married. Therefore, they were left with only two options: compulsory celibacy or adultery.⁸⁸⁹

• c. The early Church refused to enter politics.⁸⁹⁰ In his response to Celsus, the scholar Origen says, “The Roman Senate, and the princes of the time, and the soldiery, and the people, and the relatives of those who had become converts to the faith, made war upon their doctrine.”⁸⁹¹ Origen’s teacher, St. Clement of Alexandria , also wrote about the Roman Empire’s persecution of Christians, not for any crimes they committed but because of their faith.⁸⁹² The Epistle to Diognetus tells us that martyrdom did not weaken Christianity, but rather the number of Christians has increased.⁸⁹³ And the scholar Tertullian says that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of Christianity.⁸⁹⁴