According to the ethics of war, a military invasion can be considered just if it is a war of defense or one to save the population from an imminent genocide. This is one of the basic principles of the ethics of war. Russia’s large-scale military attack against Ukraine violates all the principles formulated so far, university lecturer Alexandru Lupușor stated in a public debate titled “War, Religion and Church”. According to him, the Kremlin uses the church to promote the idea of the “Russian world” and to justify its aggressive actions in front of its own people.
The university lecturer explained that both the causes and the means used by Russia in Ukraine are unjust and contrary to the war ethics principles.
“It is considered that there are only two causes that provide justification for war: it is a war of defense and intervention only to save a community, a group, a population, from an imminent genocide. That is, it is a humanitarian cause. This means that neither history nor divinity can serve as causes that justify military intervention in a certain territory. From this point of view, the war waged by Russia in Ukraine cannot be justified. The war in Ukraine is an unjust one in terms of all the principles of ethics of war,” stated Alexandru Lupușor, lecturer at the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the Moldova State University.
He noted that the Russian Orthodox Church is actively involved in promoting the war, becoming an ally of the Kremlin in its aggressive actions in Ukraine.
“The Church can be considered a social actor involved in particular practices of society, including those of war. We cannot ignore the Church as an ally of a warlike ideology, such as the one promoted by the Kremlin today. The concept of the “Russian world” is an ideological tool and is an expression that acquires religious connotations, being used including by representatives of the Russian Church to provide a geopolitical alibi of the intervention,” explained the university lecturer.
Alexandru Lupușor expressed his regret at the fact that the positions taken by the Metropolitan Church of Moldova regarding the war in Ukraine were not clear-cut. According to him, the trips made by Moldovan priests to Moscow can be considered an instrument of the hybrid war waged by Russia against the Republic of Moldova.
“In the Republic of Moldova, the positions adopted by the two Metropolitan Churches differ. The condemnation of the war was also made by the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, but it is an ambiguous and evasive statement as it is not clearly said what type of war it is, who the aggressor is. It is too little to condemn an abstract category such as the war when events are so close to us and concern us directly. To put it biblically it is a “washing of hands”. It does not mean that there are no representatives of the clergy who adopted a certain position, expressly condemning Russia’s attack against the Ukrainians, who are also Orthodox Christian,” stated the lecturer.
The public debate entitled “War, Religion and Church” was the 315th installment of the project “Developing political culture through public debates”. IPN Agency implements the project with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
