Orthodox military clergy in World War I

Authors

  • Priest Georgii Bezik Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies, 4/2, ul. Pyatnitskaya, Moscow, 115035, Russian Federation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu28.2021.107

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the role of military priests during World War I. The starting points are the assertions that with the arrival of Christianity on the territory of Russia, the state power received a powerful tool of patriotic education, motivation and stimulation for the processes of defending a civil position during hostilities during various years in opposition to an external enemy, a mechanism for calling not only military intelligentsia, but also ordinary citizens and ordinary soldiers to fight for the Motherland, family, and Russian land. However, today among modern researchers there is no single point of view regarding the role of military clergy in World War I, and the opinions of researchers about the importance of the military clergy in this historical period differ dramatically. On the basis of the analysis, it was found that the participation of the military clergy in the context of World War I had both positive and negative factors of influence on maintaining the fighting spirit, patriotic mood, dedication and desire to protect the Motherland at all costs among members of the army of the Russian Empire. Despite the presence of a complex of negative tendencies in the influence of the clergy during World War I, which was due to a combination of additional external and internal factors of the disintegration of the institution of the clergy at that time, one cannot deny the invaluable contribution of the military clergy to Russia’s achievements in World War I

Keywords:

Russian military clergy, World War I, Russian Orthodox Church, religious and moral education, the role of war priests, servicemen of the Russian army, training of personnel, army and church, military clergy activities

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References


References

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Вопросы теологии, Том 3, № 1

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Published

2021-04-02

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Research

License

Articles of "Issues of Theology" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.