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           Orthodoxy:

the killer pacifist religion

Question: was Constantine IVth Christian

according to Orthodoxy?

Constantine IV  was Byzantine Emperor from 668 to 685. His reign saw the first serious check to nearly 50 years of uninterrupted Islamic expansion, while his calling of the Sixth Ecumenical Council saw the end of the monothelitism controversy in the Byzantine Empire. This man was involved in one battle after another, as were very many Byzantine Emperors, yet the Orthodox will insist he was Christian, yet Orthodoxy is pacifist. This is a typical oxymoron in Orthodoxy. It is an " Orwellian doublethink religion". 

                                 

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On this page I will present are what were suggested to me are the "Top 10 quotes to prove Orthodoxy says all killing of others is a sin". I believe Other Orthodox believers will be able to give me a "Top Ten quotations proving Orthodoxy says killing in wars is not a sin".

TOP 10 SCRIPTURES PROVING KILLING IN WARS

IS A SIN IN THE ORTHODOX RELIGION:

1) Canon 14 of Hippolytus (4th Century) quote:
“A Christian is not to become a soldier. A Christian must not become a soldier, unless he is compelled by a chief bearing the sword. He is not to burden himself with the sin of blood. But if he has shed blood, he is not to partake of the mysteries, unless he is purified by a punishment, tears, and wailing. He is not to come forward deceitfully but in the fear of God.“

​ 2) St John Chrysostom commenting on the words of Christ Himself:“But what means, Lest ye root up the wheat with them? Either He means this, If you are to take up arms, and to kill the heretics, many of the saints also must needs be overthrown with them; or that of the very tares it is likely that many may change and become wheat. If therefore ye root them up beforehand, you injure that which is to become wheat, slaying some, in whom there is yet room for change and improvement. He does not therefore forbid our checking heretics, and stopping their mouths, and taking away their freedom of speech, and breaking up their assemblies and confederacies, but our killing and slaying them.“ unquote.

3)  - Fr Philip LeMasters. quote:

"The recognition of pacifism as an ultimate norm or goal for all Christians should not be surprising. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ calls His followers to theosis, to growth in holiness and perfection in union with God. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt. 5:48) This teaching is the conclusion of a section focusing on the love of enemies, which is immediately preceded by the Lord's repudiation of resistance against evil. "Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also." (5:39)
These passages indicate that the repudiation of violence in self-defense is a sign of growth in holiness. Our Lord's example of offering Himself on the cross for our salvation is the paradigmatic epiphany of the selfless love in which human beings are to participate as they come to share by grace in the life of the Trinity." unquote
 

4) -Fr. Stanley Harakas. quote:

The Eastern Patristic tradition rarely praised war, and to my knowledge, almost never called it 'just' or a moral good.... The peace ideal continued to remain normative and no theoretical efforts were made to make conduct of war into a positive norm." unquote.

 

5) The life and death of St. Moses the Black is a testament to Christian pacifism.

link: Saint Moses the Black.

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