The answer
Canon 3 of the Council of Aries states, “Concerning those who lay down their weapons in peacetime, be it resolved that they be excluded from fellowship.” Perhaps “in time of peace” refers to a time without persecution, when Christians were required not to leave military service. Everett Ferguson says that this canon has been quite difficult for commentators to understand.970 Most scholars think that “in the time of peace” here refers to times of peace for the Church, during which Christians should not leave the army, while in times of persecution of the Church, they should leave the army that is the intstrument of their persecution. Others interpret “in the time of peace” to refer to a time of peace for the state, when a Christian ought to serve in the army, carrying out duties such as civil policing and keeping the peace. But, if war breaks out, he should abandon military service to avoid killing others.
From Council of Nicaea in 325 A. D., we have a canon that contradicts that of the Council of Arles. It states that, “As many as were called by grace, and displayed the first zeal, having cast aside their military girdles, but afterwards returned, like dogs, to their own vomit, (so that some spent money and by means of gifts regained their military stations); let these, after they have passed the space of three years as hearers, be for ten years prostrators.”971
According to the canons attributed to St. Hippolytus of Rome (336–340), a Christian may not voluntarily join the army, but he can acquiesce to being conscripted. If he must bear a sword, he must not be ordered to kill.
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
970 Everett Ferguson (ed.), Christian Life: Ethics, Morality, and Discipline in the Early Church (Studies in Early Christianity: Vol. 16) (Garland Publishing Inc., 1993): p. 204.
971 Canons of the Council of Nicaea Canon 12 (NPNF II/14:27).