Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 210 h George Tsoutsos The Stance of the Greek Orthodox Church Towards the Crusades and the Ottoman Occupation Abstract: The Greek Orthodox Church’s view on war is different from the theory of Just War in Catholicism. We present some basic characteristics of this differentiation in the case of the Crusades and Ottoman occupation. In contrast with the Roman Church, the Greek Orthodox Church does not accept the idea of the Holy War. However, it accepts the notion of the Just War under certain conditions of fact and value. Keywords: Greek Orthodox Church, Roman Church, Crusades, Holy War, the Pope, Byzantium, Islam, Canon Law, Ottomans, Constantinople, Sirat ‘Antara. The Crusades’ Legitimization The term “Crusades” is used here to define the “Holy War” which is proclaimed by, or is under the auspices of the Holy See and which rallies mostly elite war- riors of Roman Catholic origin. According to the Byzantine Orthodox Church, the notion of the “Holy War” is far from the clear stance articulated by Jesus Christ when he said that His Kingdom is spiritual and not “of this world” and therefore cannot be conquered by the force of arms but by the virtue of persua- sion. However, during the Middle Ages, the Roman Church, interpreted war in a completely different way due to Her financial and political might.