V. War, peace and violence

This article constitutes a doctrinal chapter devoted to questions of war, peace and violence from the perspective of Orthodox theology. Belonging to a systematic study of an ethical and ecclesiological nature, it examines the nature of violence as a negation of the divine order and human dignity, before setting out the position of the Orthodox Church with regard to situations of armed conflict, self-defense and capital punishment. The central idea is that peace constitutes the true reality of creation as willed by God, while all violence remains a morally imperfect response to a fallen world. The theological contribution lies in the distinction between the rejection of any just war theory and the tragic recognition of the limited recourse to force, as well as in the demonstration, supported by the Church Fathers, that the ancient Christian tradition was fundamentally opposed to capital punishment.