On 25 February 2026, an online seminar organised by the Evangelical Academies of Germany took place. The seminar was devoted to discussing the Memorandum of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) “World in turmoil – Just peace in sight. Evangelical peace ethics in the face of new challenges”. At the invitation of the organisers, Sergii Bortnyk, the Head of the Academic Initiative Foundation, spoke at the seminar, presenting his view of this document from the perspective of Orthodox theology.
The memorandum was published in November 2025 and marked a significant shift in the EKD’s position on the subject of war and peace. It replaced the previous 2007 Memorandum, entitled “Living in God’s Peace – Caring for a Just Peace”, which had a significantly greater inclination toward pacifism. The current document was largely shaped by the ongoing war in Ukraine, which raises the question of the need for an adequate response to external military aggression.
Sergii Bortnyk’s report was based on an analysis of relevant chapters of Orthodox Church documents devoted to the theme of “war and peace”. In particular, these include the 2020 document of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, “For the Life of the World. On the Way to the Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church” and the document of the Russian Orthodox Church from 2000 “The Basis of the Social Concept of the ROC”.
Based on a detailed analysis, Sergii Bortnyk came to the following conclusions:
- The documents of the Orthodox Churches do not use the term “just peace” at all. For the document of the ROC, reflections on “just war” are important, while the document of the Ecumenical Patriarchate is quite skeptical about this term.
- Both documents of the Orthodox Churches are characterised by a certain detachment from the world, with reference to a significant number of authorities from the liturgical tradition and texts of the Church Fathers (in the document ‘”For the Life of the World”) and a large number of biblical quotations (“The Basis of the Social Concept of the ROC”). Instead, the EKD document takes the “realities on the ground” seriously and seeks, in addition to providing appropriate “guidance from the heart”, to propose a path to the “limits of what is possible” in a situation of actual war.
- The document “World in turmoil” is based on a traditionally Protestant pessimistic view of human nature in its fallen state. This position has its roots in the experience of two world wars and in Lutheran theology, which emphasises the “power of sin”. From this perspective, not only opponents, but every person is a “sinner in need of God’s mercy”. In this case, achieving peace requires both courage and awareness of one’s own limitations.
- In contrast to this “pessimistic position”, the ROC document is optimistic: it expresses the conviction that “we possess moral truth” and that God is on our side. This gives rise to a desire to impose their position on the rest of the world, not shying away from the use of violence.
- In contrast, the memorandum “World in turmoil” deeply explores the concept of law, which allows for the “deprivatisation of violence”. In this case, both the use of violence and the establishment of peace become largely tied to the legal system. As a result, the position of the Evangelical Church offers an important principle of self-restraint, whereby a person remains “dependent on God’s liberating forgiveness”.
