Should Christians seek protection in court?

Recently, Orthodox Christians in Ukraine have been compelled to defend their civil rights in the face of secular courts. In this regard, many of our contemporaries take the position that we, Christians, have no right to go to court to seek protection, and generally should not expect any protection. They believe that we, simply by virtue of the teachings of Christ (in a way they understand them, of course) should take any persecution for granted and obey to it, offering your left cheek. However, such an attitude toward this problem, to put it mildly, is not really correct.

So, we are perfectly familiar with the Gospel episode, which features the trial of Christ. In this episode, I remind you, one of the Jews present struck Christ. And now, instead of putting his cheek under another blow, Christ rebuked the offender: "If I am at fault, then tell me what it is?" And if not – why are you beating me?"

In another place in the Scriptures, namely, in the Book of Acts, we can read about how holy apostle Paul used his civil rights and demanded the judgment with Caesar. Many saints, such as Ignatius the God-bearer, for the time being, avoided persecutions and did not seek them. But when their time came, they courageously accepted death and reproaches for Christ.

From these and many other episodes, we can more than clearly see that Christians have the full right to defend their civil rights before the civil society. We live in a state, pay taxes, enforce laws and have the right to rely on certain obligations the state takes on in relation to us as citizens and members of society. At the same time, we clearly separate the protection of our own rights and dignity from the protection of the Church. That is, if they hurt me personally – I can and must forgive them. But if it comes to the Church, and, moreover, to protecting Her honor, then I can and must defend the Church.

Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) once said: "Fight enemies of your state. Scorn enemies of your Church. Forgive your personal enemies."Basically, these words can be used by us, modern Christians, as a guideline to action. However, one must always bear in mind that the final word, in any case, rests and always will with God – He is the Judge of both the living and the dead.

КП in Ukraine