What are the views of St. Clement of Alexandria on participating in military service?

Like his predecessor Athenagoras, St. Clement believed that wars are inspired by demons⁹³⁶ (pagan deities). On several occasions, he refers to Christians as a “people of peace.”⁹³⁷ In his defense of the idea that men and women must abide by the same morals in their behavior, he responds the objection that women, unlike men, were not trained for war. Applying the principle of equality, he argues that men too should not be trained for war.⁹³⁸ He also says, “For it is not in war, but in peace, that we are trained. War needs great preparation, and luxury craves profusion; but peace and love, simple and quiet sisters, require no arms nor excessive preparation,”⁹³⁹ and “in their wars, therefore, the Etruscans use the trumpet, the Arcadians the pipe, the Sicilians the pectides [small lyre], the Cretans the lyre, the Lacedæmonians the flute, the Thracians the horn, the Egyptians the drum, and the Arabians the cymbal. The one instrument of peace, the Word alone by which we honor God, is what we employ.”⁹⁴⁰

He draws an analogy between the army of Christ, which does not shed blood, and temporal armies: “The loud trumpet, when sounded, collects the soldiers, and proclaims war. And shall not Christ, breathing a strain of peace to the ends of the earth, gather together His own soldiers, the soldiers of peace? The trumpet of Christ is His Gospel. He has blown it, and we have heard. ‘Let us array ourselves in the armor of peace, putting on the breastplate of righteousness, and taking the shield of faith, and binding our brows with the helmet of salvation; and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,’ (Eph. 6:14–17) let us sharpen. So the apostle in the spirit of peace commands. These are our invulnerable weapons: armed with these, let us face the evil one.”[941 ]

936 St. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen 3 (ANF 2:183–184).

937 Cf. St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) 2.2, 3.11, 3.12 ( Hymn : III) (ANF 2:246, 284, 296).

938 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, or Miscellanies 4.8 (ANF 2:419–421).

939 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) 1.12 (ANF 2:234).

940 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) 2.4 (ANF 2:248–249).

941 St. Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the Heathen 11 (ANF 2:204) amended.

Throughout his era, there were Christian soldiers in the military, so although these passages urge us to peace, we can still find in them his approval of defending one’s homeland and of obedience in the military. That may also be why St. Clement does not hesitate to praise Moses as a military leader,⁹⁴² and he points out that in the Gospels, “Also to the soldiers, by John, He [Jesus] commands, ‘to be content with their wages only.’”⁹⁴³

When Clement speaks of the calling of all humanity to faith, he does not exclude those in the military. He says, “Practise husbandry, we say, if you are a husbandman; but while you till your fields, know God. Sail the sea, you who are devoted to navigation, yet call the while on the heavenly Pilot. Has knowledge taken hold of you while engaged in military service? Listen to the commander [Christ], who orders righteousness.”⁹⁴⁴ Thus, St. Clement advises that if a soldier comes to the faith while he is in the army, he should continue in his position, but he must submit to the divine Commander.