Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 216 h George Tsoutsos with the aims of defending and preserving the national and religious particu- larity of the former. However, following the Declaration of the Greek Revolution of 1821, the clergy, monks included, offered their spiritual and material resources (churches, monasteries, monastic property) for the success of the Struggle. 20 Under cer- tain war conditions, it is possible for the Greek Orthodox Church to bless a war. The general presupposition is that maintaining by every means peace is not a Christian duty. Peace is legitimate whenever is accompanied by justice and virtue. Every expression of anger and dissonance either at an individual or a collective level is not directed with hatred against human beings but against the wrong ideas or actions. Therefore, the concept of the just war is accepted, and killings done in these circumstances are not considered as going against the general commandment forbidding murder. The opposite view is expressed in various ways. For instance Mary-Anne Plaatjer Van Huffel argues that “…it became clear during the course of time that modern warfare, with its massive destruction, can no longer be con- sidered just. 21 The tradition of just war, requiring a just cause and the use of just means is currently challenged”. In our opinion, the idea of Just War is permanent and does not depend on current contingents. Furthermore, the conception that Christian religion is against state or patriotism was formed during the early three Christian centuries due to strong persecutions against Christians by the Roman State. Mostly after the 3 rd century, Church Fathers and authors praised the fatherland, and the Holy Liturgy of the Greek Ortho- dox Church includes petitions for the nation/state and the military. Undoubt- edly, the Greek Orthodox Church as a spiritual institution is above national distinctions, but as a visible and worldly foundation it is not indifferent to worldly bonds of family and fatherland. This national sentiment is distin- guished from blind chauvinism, that is why the Synod of Constantinople of 1872 did not condemn nationalism but its misuse, that is chauvinism, due to Bulgarian ethnophyletism. The 1821 Greek liberation movement from the Ottoman Empire received the blessing of the Greek Orthodox Church, and it was fought for faith and fa- therland. It has to be noted also that the Church did not only bless the weapons of Greek national liberation fight. It generally promoted and protected the na- tional characteristics of all Orthodox people under Ottoman occupation. It has 20 G. Tsoutsos. What the Monastery has offered to the Greek nation // The Petraki Monastery. Athens: Aegeas Non-Profit Civil Company, 2020. P. 27–28. 21 Mary-Anne Plaatjer Van Huffel. From justifying war to justifying peace: a historical overview of the discourse in ecumenical cirkles (1905–2014) // Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae. Vol. 42. No. 1. 2016. Pretoria.