Question I

GRATIAN. That military service appears alien to evangelical discipline seems capable of being proved from this: every military establishment was instituted either to repel injury or to inflict vengeance, but injury is repelled either from one’s own person or from an associate, and both are prohibited by the evangelical law. For when it is said, “If anyone strikes you on one cheek, offer him the other also,” and again, “Whoever compels you to go one thousand paces, go with him two thousand”; likewise, when the Apostle says to the Romans, “Do not defend yourselves, dearly beloved, but give place to wrath,” what else are we prohibited from doing but repelling an injury to our own person? § 1. Likewise, when Christ said to Peter as he defended his master with a sword, “Turn your sword into its sheath; or do you think that I cannot ask my Father, and he will furnish me more than twelve thousand legions of angels?”; finally, as is read concerning blessed Andrew, when there was a gathering of the peoples to snatch him from the hands of the unjust judge and defend him from the injury of death, and he, on the contrary, teaching patience both by example and word, asked them not to impede his martyrdom—what else are we admonished to do but patiently endure injuries to our associates as well as our own, and not run to arms, but by their example prepare the mind to endure similar things? § 2. Likewise, when it is said in Proverbs, “Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord”; likewise, when it is said in the Gospel, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged”; likewise, when the father of the household says to the servants wishing to gather the weeds, “Permit both to grow until the harvest, and then I shall say to the reapers: gather the weeds and bind them in bundles to be burned”; § 3. likewise, when that king who made a wedding for his son is said, after sending his armies—that is, the angels—to be about to destroy the murderers of the prophets and apostles, who, when called to the wedding, disdained to come by believing; likewise, when Paul the Apostle says in the Epistle to the Romans, “Do not judge one another”; likewise, “Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord both of the living and of the dead”—in all these things what else is commanded but that vengeance upon offenders be reserved for divine judgment? Therefore, since, as was said above, military service appears to have been instituted either to repel injury or to inflict vengeance, but both are prohibited by the evangelical law, it appears that military service is a sin. Hence Gregory also says:

Unless these carnal wars bore the figure of spiritual wars, never, I think, would the books of Jewish histories have been handed down by the Apostles to be read in the churches by disciples of Christ, who came to teach peace. For how would that description of wars benefit those to whom Jesus says, “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you,” and who through the Apostle are commanded and told, “Do not avenge yourselves, but rather receive injury and rather suffer fraud”? Hence the Apostle, knowing finally that wars were no longer to be carried on by us carnally, but that contests of the soul against spiritual adversaries were to be labored through, gives a command to the soldiers of Christ as a master of military service, saying, “Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the snares of the devil.” GRATIAN. To these things the answer is thus: the precepts of patience are to be retained not so much in the display of the body as in the preparation of the heart. Hence Augustine says in the sermon concerning the centurion’s servant:

A just and pious man ought to be prepared patiently to sustain the malice of those whom he seeks to become good, so that the number of the good may rather increase, not so that anyone by equal malice may add himself to the number of the evil. Finally, these precepts pertain more to the preparation of the heart than to the work done openly, so that patience with benevolence may be retained in the secrecy of the mind, but outwardly that may be done which appears to benefit those toward whom we ought to will good. § 1. From this it is clearly shown that the Lord Jesus himself, the singular example of patience, when he was struck in the face, answered, “If I have spoken badly, testify concerning the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?” Accordingly, if we look to the words, he by no means fulfilled his own precept. For he did not offer the other side to the one striking him, but rather prohibited him from doing so and increasing the injury. And yet he had come prepared not only to be struck in the face, but even to be killed, crucified for those by whom he suffered these things, for whom, hanging upon the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they do.” § 2. Nor does Paul the Apostle appear to have fulfilled the precept of the Lord and his master when, after being struck in the face, he said to the chief priest, “God will strike you, whitewashed wall. You sit to judge me according to the law, and contrary to the law command me to be struck?” And when those standing by said, “Do you injure the chief priest?” mocking them, he wished to remind them of what he had said, so that those who were wise might understand that at Christ’s advent the whitewashed wall—that is, the hypocrisy of the Jewish priesthood—was now to be destroyed. For he said, “I did not know, brothers, that he is the chief. For it is written: You shall not curse the chief of your people,” although without doubt one who had grown up among the same people and had been instructed in the law could not have failed to know that chief priest, nor could he in any way have deceived those to whom he had been so well known by saying that he did not know. Therefore, these precepts of patience are always to be retained in the preparation of the heart, and benevolence itself, lest evil be returned for evil, is always to be fulfilled in the will. § 3. Yet many things are to be done even to the unwilling, who are to be punished with a certain benevolent severity, and whose benefit rather than their will is to be consulted. For in correcting a son, however severely, paternal love is certainly never lost. Nevertheless, let what he does not will be done, and let him suffer pain who appears capable of being healed by pain even against his will. § 4. And through this, if this earthly commonwealth observes Christian precepts, even its wars will not be conducted without benevolence, but so that the vanquished may more easily be provided for in the fellowship of piety and justice. For one whose license for iniquity is taken away is vanquished to greater benefit, since nothing is more unhappy than the happiness of sinners, by which penal impunity is nourished and an evil will, as an inner enemy, is strengthened. And a little later: § 5. For if Christian discipline condemned all wars, this counsel of salvation would rather be given in the Gospel to those seeking it, that they should cast away their arms and withdraw themselves altogether from military service. But it was said to them: “Extort nothing from anyone; be content with your pay.” When he commanded that their own pay ought to suffice them, he certainly did not prohibit military service.

Likewise the same to Boniface, [letter 207]. Do not suppose that no one who serves with the arms of war can please God. Among such men was holy David, to whom the Lord furnished so great a testimony. Among such men also were very many just men of that time. Among such men was that centurion who said to the Lord, “I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” § 1. Therefore, when you are armed for battle, consider this first: that even your bodily strength itself is a gift of God. For thus you will consider that you must not use the gift of God against the Lord. For when fidelity is promised, it is to be preserved even toward the enemy against whom war is waged; how much more toward the friend for whom one fights? Peace ought to be a matter of will, but war a matter of necessity, so that God may deliver from necessity and preserve in peace. For peace is not sought so that war may be practiced, but war is waged so that peace may be acquired. Therefore, be peaceable in waging war, so that by conquering those whom you attack you may lead them to the benefit of peace. “For blessed are the peacemakers,” says the Lord, “because they will be called sons of God.” But if human peace is so sweet for the temporal safety of mortals, how much sweeter is divine peace for the eternal safety of the angels? Accordingly, let necessity crush the fighting enemy, not the will. Just as violence is returned to one fighting and resisting, so mercy is already owed to one defeated or captured, especially when no disturbance of the peace is feared in him. Likewise the same against the Manichaeans, [that is, Book XXII Against Faustus, cc. 74 and 75]:

What is blamed in war? Is it that those who will die at some time die so that those who will live may be subdued in peace? To have blamed this belongs to the timid, not to the religious. The desire to harm, the cruelty of taking vengeance, an unappeased and implacable spirit, the savagery of rebelling, the lust for domination, and anything similar—these are the things that are rightly blamed in wars. In order that these may also be punished by right, wars themselves are very often undertaken by the good against the violence of those resisting, whether at God’s command or that of some legitimate authority, when they are found in that order of human affairs in which the order itself justly constrains them either to command something of this kind or to obey in such matters. Hence neither does John command soldiers to depart from arms, and Christ admonishes that tribute be rendered to Caesar, because pay necessarily must be furnished to the soldier on account of wars. Moreover, that natural order accommodated to the peace of mortals demands that the authority and counsel for undertaking war rest with princes. § 1. But if war is waged from human cupidity, it does not harm the saints, over whom no one has power except that given from above. For there is no power except from God, whether he commands or permits it. Therefore, if a just man should serve as a soldier even under a king who is a sacrilegious man, he can rightly fight at that king’s command if, preserving the order that serves peace, it is certain that what is commanded of him is not contrary to God’s command, or it is not certain whether it is; so that perhaps the iniquity of commanding makes the king guilty, while the order of serving shows the soldier innocent.

Likewise the same in the book On the Words of the Lord, tractate [or sermon] 19. Military service is not an offense, but to serve as a soldier for the sake of plunder is a sin; nor is it criminal to administer the commonwealth, but to administer the commonwealth for this reason, that you may increase riches, appears condemnable. For this reason pay was established for soldiers by a certain providence, lest, while expenses are sought, a robber should range about. Likewise: § 1. The Lord himself said, “Render to God the things that are God’s, and to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” Therefore, what Caesar commands is to be borne, and what he orders is to be endured; but it becomes intolerable when exactors accumulate plunder. Likewise: § 2. “Soldiers questioned John, saying: And what shall we do? He said to them: extort nothing from anyone, nor make false accusation, but be content with your pay.” Thus every man who serves ought to recognize himself. For Scripture speaks not only of those soldiers who are occupied in armed service, but whoever employs the belt of his service is enrolled as a soldier of his dignity; and therefore this sentence can be spoken, for example, to soldiers, protectors, and all rulers. Whoever receives pay publicly decreed for him, if he seeks more, is condemned by John’s sentence as a false accuser and extortioner.

Likewise the same, On Diverse Observances of the Church. Among true worshipers of God, even wars themselves are peaceful when they are waged not from cupidity or cruelty but from zeal for peace, so that the evil may be restrained and the good assisted.

Likewise Gregory to all the soldiers at Naples, [Book XII, letter 24]. Among other good merits, the highest praise of military service is this: to furnish obedience to the interests of the commonwealth and to obey whatever shall have been advantageously commanded to it, just as we have learned that your devotion has now done. It obeyed our letters by which we appointed the magnificent man Constantius the tribune to preside over the guardianship of the city, and it demonstrated the fitting obedience of military devotion. Hence we have taken care to admonish you by the present writing that you ought, as you have done, to furnish every obedience to the aforesaid magnificent man, the tribune, for the interest of the most serene lords or the preservation of the city, so that through the vigilance and solicitude of the present time you may augment whatever is recognized to have been well conducted by you thus far. GRATIAN. From all these things it is gathered that military service is not a sin, and that the precepts of patience are to be observed in the preparation of the heart, not in display of the body.