The answer
St. Augustine has been called “the author of the ‘theory of just war.’”976 His view may be summarized in the following points:
First: He believes that the use of force or authority is an important aspect of the edifice of the state, for it protects society from evildoers, and allows children to grow up in safety. He says, “Surely, it is not without purpose that we have the institution of the power of kings, the death penalty of the judge, the barbed hooks of the executioner, the weapons of the soldier, the right of punishment of the overlord, even the severity of the good father. All those things have their methods, their causes, their reasons and their practical benefits. While these are feared, the wicked are kept within bounds and the good life more peacefully among the wicked.”977
Second: The Christian seeks what is good in the earthly city just as he seeks it in the heavenly city. In his opinion, the peace of the temporal city cannot be attained without waging war and defeating enemies who would destroy it. Thus, temporal peace is a good thing; but this peace can become misery or increase misery when a person is constantly occupied with temporal matters — however good — and neglects heavenly glory.978
Third: When a leader engages an opposing enemy in battle, his goal should be to ultimately achieve peace. If he is forced to kill, it should be out of necessity and not out of an inner lust for revenge or killing.979
Fourth: Although there are times when war is unavoidable, it is always more glorious to find peaceful resolutions through persuasion or treaties than it is to fight bravely.980
Fifth: St. Augustine distinguishes between just and unjust wars, but he also says that because of sin, there are actions that are unjust towards others and that a wise person may find it necessary to respond by initiating or waging war. Sin is never from one side only, but from both sides; the side provoking war and the side responding in kind. The former sins by being unjust, while the latter enters into war as kind of divine chastisement for his previous sins: “It would be worse that the injurious should rule over those who are more righteous.”981
Sixth: Even where war is demanded by wisdom to repel the evil deeds the other side, one should not boast if one should be victorious, as though he had performed a good deed; for it would have been better if the situation were resolved without the shedding of blood.
Seventh: Wars are unavoidable in every age. While St. Augustine speaks of the blessings of peace and the bitterness of conflicts and of civil and foreign wars, he wonders in one of his letters if there ever was a time when the world did not suffer from wars in one place or another.982 In his book The City of God, his answer is that such universal peace will only be achieved when we see God, the source of peace, face to face in the heavenly Jerusalem.983
Eighth: Military duty does not in itself make a believer evil. He says, “I mean it isn't being a soldier that prevents you doing good, but being evil-minded.”984
Ninth: On the question of divinely-commanded killing or killing in obedience to the [Old Testament] Law: while the divine commandment says, “You shall not kill” (Matt. 19:18; Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17), St. Augustine thinks that there are exceptions to this commandment, such as God’s command to kill as a fulfillment of divine justice, or as a matter of chastisement. When a head of state decides to go to war to defend his country, the commander or soldier who obeys the ruler is not counted as a murderer.985
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
976 Louis J. Swift, The Early Fathers on War and Military Service (Michael Glazier Inc., 1985): p. 110.
977 St. Augustine of Hippo, Letters, Vol. III (131–164) 153 (FOTC 20:293).
978 St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God 15.4 (NPNF I/2:286).
979 St. Augustine of Hippo, Letters 189 (FOTC 30:269–270).
980 St. Augustine of Hippo, Letters, Volume V (204–270) 229 (FOTC 32:152–153).
981 St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God 4.15 (NPNF I/2:72).
982 St. Augustine of Hippo, Letters 199.35 (FOTC 30:384).
983 St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God 17.13 (NPNF I/2:352).
984 St. Augustine of Hippo, The Works of St Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century: Part III— Sermons; Volume VIII: Sermons 273-305A, trans., Edmund Hill, ed., John E. Rotell (New City Press, 1993) 302.15: p. 307.
985 St. Augustine of Hippo, Letters 47 (FOTC 12:230).