Orthodox view of conflicts, violence and tolerance in the global perspective

Abstract

In the analysis of conflicts, war and violence, religion starts to be analyzed as a possible factor that significantly affects this phenomenon. From this point of view, it is important to examine how all the main religions consider these phenomenons. This paper will analyze the views of orthodox forms of Christianity on war, conflicts, violence and tolerance. Orthodoxy is an important form of Christianity, because it is dominant religious system in a large part of the planet. If we bear in mind that Russia itself, as a dominantly Orthodox country at the same time is the surface- largest country in the world, which is under the great influence of Orthodoxy, it is clear that is very important to analyze this phenomenon. How important it is to understand the influence of religion in order to maintain the world peace, it can be seen from the fact that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev constantly emphasize their connections to the Orthodoxy. Orthodox views of conflicts, war and tolerance are based on primary sources of Christianity, but also has its own specific features that are related to the nature of its teaching and to the conditions in which the Orthodox churches act. This paper will analyze all of the above mentioned factors in order to show that without Orthodoxy it is not impossible to maintain the world peace and to develop tolerance between different religions on the planet.

U analizi konflikata, rata i nasilja religija sve više počinje da se analizira kao jedan od mogućih činilaca koji bitno utiče na ove pojave. Sa te tačke gledišta važno je ispitati kako sve velike religije gledaju na ove fenomene. U ovom radu će se analizirati pogled pravoslavne forme hrišćanstva na rat, sukobe, nasilje i toleranciju. Pravoslavlje je važna forma hrišćanstva jer je dominantan religijski sistem na velikom delu planete. Ako se ima u vidu da je sama Rusija, kao dominantno pravoslavna, površinski najveća zemlja na svetu pod velikim uticajem pravoslavlja, onda je jasno koliko ovaj fenomen treba analizirati. Koliko je on važan za razumevanje uticaja religije na održanje mira vidi se iz činjenice de premijer Rusije Vladimir Putin i predsednik Dimitrij Medvdev stalno ističu svoju vezanost za pravoslavlje. Pravoslavno shvatanje sukoba, rata i tolerancije se zasniva na osnovnim izvorima hrišćanstva, ali ima i svoje specifičnosti koje su vezane za samu prirodu toga učenja i uslove u kojima pravoslavne crkve deluju. U ovom radu će se analizirati svi pomenuti faktori sa namerom da se pokaže da je bez pravoslavlja nemoguće održati svetski mir i razvijati toleranciju među pripadnicima različitih vera na planeti.