War an Peace

Epic historical novel by Leo Tolstoy, originally published as Voyna i mir in 1865-69. This panoramic study of early 19th-century Russian society, noted for its mastery of realistic detail and variety of psychological analysis, is generally regarded as one of the world's greatest novels. War and Peace is primarily concerned with the histories of five aristocratic families--particularly the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Rostovs--the members of which are portrayed against a vivid background of Russian social life during the war against Napoleon (1805-14). The theme of war, however, is subordinate to the story of family existence, which involves Tolstoy's optimistic belief in the life-asserting pattern of human existence. The heroine, Natasha Rostova, for example, reaches her greatest fulfillment through her marriage to Pierre Bezukhov and her motherhood. The novel also sets forth a theory of history, concluding that there is a minimum of free choice; all is ruled by an inexorable historical determinism.

War and Peace is a historical novel that chronicles the tumultuous events in Russia during the Napoleonic war in the early nineteenth century. Focusing on an aristocratic way of life that had already started to fade at the time that Leo Tolstoy wrote the book in the 1860s, it covers a comparatively short span of time—fifteen years—but it renders the lives of disparate characters from all segments of society with vivid, well-realized details. The story captures a generation on the brink of change, with some defending the existing class structure with their lives while others realize that the old way of life is disappearing. Part history lesson, part grand romance, part battlefield revisionism, and part philosophy lecture, War and Peace has captivated generations of readers with its gripping narrative and its clear, intelligible understanding of the human soul.

Book I
War and Peace is a massive, sprawling novel that chronicles events in Russia during the Napoleonic Wars, when the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte conquered much of Europe during the first few years of the nineteenth century. Bonaparte unsuccessfully tried to expand his dominion into Russia, only to be turned back in 1812. The novel opens in July of 1805, with Russia allied with England, Austria, and Sweden to stave off Bonaparte's aggressive expansion.

the church in heaven, enjoying a state of triumph, her warfare with evil being over; - distinguished from church militant.

the Christian church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies, and is thus distinguished from the church triumphant, in heaven

The Church Militant.

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).

The devil hates the good and persecutes those trying to set themselves free of his power. God permits devil to tempt people for their own benefit, as struggle with temptations helps man improve and strengthen spiritually. An ancient thinker was right, saying, "Without the devil and temptations, there would have been no saints."

Although the devil out of malice often sets off physical persecution of the faithful, it needs to be clearly understood and remembered that he can seize and ruin a man only through sin! Mean and experienced psychologist, the devil artfully adjusts his tactics of temptation to individual weaknesses of the man he wants to incline to sin. So he tempts lascivious people primarily with fleshly sins; people attached to material goods - with love of money; vainglorious people - with pride; pusillanimous and cowardly - with fear of persecutions, and so on. When the devil succeeds to incline a man to sin, then the devil wins; when a man repulses the temptation, then the man is the winner. Our entire life is woven out of episodic wins and losses. The summary will be made at the end of a man's life.

The pages of the Holy Scripture, secular and church histories, lives of saints and ordinary life stories contain, in a billion variations, reflections of visible details of the spiritual warfare between the devil and man. In this regard, the most expressive and bright example of writings describing this warfare, is the book of Apocalypse, or Revelation. This book was written by the Holy Evangelist John the Theologian on the island of Patmos during his exile under the Roman emperor Domitian. It is primarily dear for depicting the spiritual struggle between the powers of good and evil in its maximum fullness and comprehensiveness, and due to it a faithful person can see that he or she fights the evil not alone but with the help of God and the entire Heavenly Church. This book is especially valuable for revealing the extreme result of the warfare we are all willy-nilly involved in: utmost defeat of the devil, his punishment and punishment of all armies of evil, and eternal reward to all who fought him and did not surrender. What can be more comforting than knowing that good and life will be victorious after all!

The Church Militant

Last Updated: October 15,1996

What is the Church Militant?

The doctrine of the communion of saints teaches that there are three parts to the Holy Church:

• The Church Suffering, or the poor souls in purgatory who await their release into heaven
• The Church Triumphant, or the Saints in heaven who dwell in bliss with Our Lord in heaven
• The Church Militant, or the Church present in the mortal world.

The Church Militant is comprised of those Catholic Faithful throughout the world. Our Lord desires the Church Militant to be active in their faith, to diligently seek to cooperate with His grace, and to follow His Divine will as He reveals it.

The Duty of the Church Militant

As the Church Militant, we are led by Our Lord in a carefully orchestrated spiritual battle, which victory is assured through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Even though victory is assured, we are called to actively participate in the battle. It may not seem like what we are doing is of great importance, but there are so few these days who fear God and seek to do His will, that all the actions of God-fearing people have a critical impact on the battle. The soldier may not see the whole battle plan, but he has his part to do.

This does not mean that we will always be successful in the battle. In every battle the soldiers sustain wounds and fall. This is why frequent confession and Holy Communion is necessary for the fight. The former heals our wounds while the latter sustains our strength.

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III.  THE CHURCH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE; MILITANT AND TRIUMPHANT

      There is only one Church.  This is clear from Ephesians 4:3-6.  When we speak of the Church Triumphant, the Church Militant, the Church Visible, or the Church Invisible, we are speaking of different ways of thinking about the one Church.  The Church Triumphant and Militant are two parts of the Church Invisible.  The Church Visible may or may not be part of the Church Invisible.

      “While all believers are most intimately joined by faith to Christ, their Savior, they are for this very reason also most intimately joined to one another by the bond of a common faith, a common hope, and a mutual love, and thus they constitute, no matter how far apart locally they may be from each other, a single body, a great communion, which we call the Church.”  (Koehler, p. 238)

      The Church is called the body of Christ, the communion of saints, the people of God, the bride of Christ, the household of God, the chosen people, and other names.  The word “church” is the translation of the word ekkleesia (from which we get the word ecclesiastic) which means called out assembly, gathering, congregation.  Jesus says in Matthew 16:18  “I will build my church.”  The English word “church” probably comes from a word that means belonging to the Lord.

      This is what we call the Holy Catholic Apostolic Christian Church.  It is holy because each person in this Church belongs to God and has been made righteous by the perfect, imputed righteousness of Christ.  It is Catholic or Universal, because it includes all believers from all places and all times.  (“Because Rome usurped this term ‘catholic,’ and wrongly applied it to its particular denomination, which is by no means universal, Luther substituted the word ‘Christian’ in the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed.” [Koehler, p.240]) It is Apostolic because it is founded on the Word of God and the foundation of the Holy Prophets and Apostles and teaches and believes that Word that comes from the Apostles of Christ.  It is Christian, because it consists of people who have put their faith in the finished work of Christ, the Lamb of God.

A.  The Triumphant Church

      The Church is the “whole family of God on heaven and on earth” (Eph 3:15).  We who are alive are connected to those who have gone on to their reward.  Those who are in heaven are referred to as the Church Triumphant.  In the song, “The Church’s One Foundation” we sing,

Yet she on earth hath union with God the Three in One,

And mystic, sweet communion with those whose rest is won.

Oh happy ones and holy, Lord give us grace that we,

Like them the meek and lowly on high may dwell with Thee.

      There is no question regarding the outcome of the battle between Christ and Satan.  Believers are on the winning side in this conflict.  Christ defeated the powers of sin, death, Hell, and the Devil once and for all on the cross and rose triumphantly over the grave, preaching his victory even to the souls in prison, who were disobedient in the time of Noah (I Peter 3:18-20).

      Those who are in heaven are called triumphant because they have entered into the full enjoyment of that victory.  They no longer wrestle against the “rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil.” (Eph. 6:12).  They have entered into rest; they have been faithful unto death and have received the victor’s crown.

      They are part of the same Church we belong to, they have finished the course, they have run the race, they have kept the faith.  They testify to us, “do not fall back, do not give up, run with perseverance the race marked out for you.  Get rid of the encumbrances; throw off the things that entangle.  Fix your eyes on Jesus”  (Hebrews 12:1-2).

B.  The Invisible Church

      “The Christian Church accordingly consists of all those who truly believe the Gospel, that is, God’s gracious message that for the sake of Christ’s vicarious satisfaction they freely (cariti) have forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation; or, more briefly expressed, who believe in Christ, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world, John 1, 29. . . .

      According to the Scripture only faith in the Christ who died for the sins of the world makes a person a member of the Church, not the external connection with a local church, nor the external use of the means of grace, nor the external profession of the Christian faith, nor the administration of offices in visible churches, nor the effort to imitate Christ’s example by outwardly following him, Acts 5,14.”  (P. 541)

      It follows then that this Church is invisible.  Since the faith that saves a person and makes him a member of the Church is not visible, the Church itself is invisible.  No one can say of another; here is one who is a member of the Church.  No one can infallibly know the heart of another and we are warned not to judge, but to wait until the Lord comes in I Corinthians 4:5.  We can judge false teachings, Matthew 7:15-23, but we cannot judge someone’s relationship to God.  We can exercise discipline when we see someone fall into sin, and we must do so.  We must warn those who sin that sin leads to death.  We must follow the instruction of Jesus in Matthew 18:15-20 to treat an unrepentant person as a “pagan or a tax collector.”  We can know our own hearts, whether we are part of the Church.  God knows those who are his, so the Church is not invisible to Him.  But the true Church of Christ is the communion of saints and it is only visible to God.

      “Why do you say ‘I believe in the Holy Christian Church’?

      I say ‘I believe in the Holy Christian Church,’ because I know from God’s Word that this church exists, even though I cannot determine with certainty who its members are; and because I know that His church will always continue.” 

Why do you say ‘The Holy Christian Church’?

     I say, ‘The Holy Christian Church’ because the true Church is one spiritual body, of which Christ is the head.” (Rinden and Olsen, pages 86,87)

 
C.  The Visible Church

      The Bible speaks of the Church as being visible as well.  Jesus said if there is a need for discipline, “tell it to the church” by which he must have meant a visible, local body.  Paul wrote his letters “to the church in Galatia” and “to the church in Thessalonica.”  Jesus sent word to “the angel of the church in Sardis” and to “the angel of the church in Philadelphia.”  When we think of church, this is the more common use of the word and the most normal understanding of the word.  We should probably understand that our goal is to conform the visible church to the invisible and to make the invisible, visible.

      When dealing with church membership, a congregation has no right to include in its visible membership those who are not part of the invisible church.  When we speak of the work of the Church, we have no right to expect that it is going to be done by some invisible group and do nothing ourselves.

“How is this Church visible in the world?

      The Church is visible in this world when Christians unite around the Word and Sacraments and form congregations.  These congregations may be organized into synods, denominations, or associations.”  (Olsen and Rinden p.88)

In John 17: 20-23, Jesus prays for the unity of the church so that the world would know that the Father sent the Son and that the Father loves the world.  This requires a visible church because people cannot see what is invisible.  Furthermore, this visible church becomes the evidence presented by God the Father for two very important issues: that Jesus is sent by God and that God loves the world.

D.  The Militant Church  

      “Onward Christian Soldiers” is a hymn that is a bit out of vogue in the modern church.  It expresses a sentiment that some think reminds the world of the Crusades of the Middle Ages.  The truth expressed in this hymn reminds us that the Church in this world has a posture that is adversarial rather than mainstream.  The hymn uses warfare imagery to describe the Christian life.  This is true about the church in this world.  We are to be militant in our battle against “authorities and powers of this dark world” (Ephesians 6:12).

      In the history of the Church, the Eastern Church has often emphasized the resurrection of Christ as the chief event of redemption.  The Western Church has usually focused on the cross as the chief event of redemption.  Neither are exclusive, but rather a matter of emphasis.  We recognize that this life is a life of bearing the cross in a world that is characterized by darkness.  We are to shine as light in this darkness and that is to be “countercultural” to borrow a phrase from John R. W. Stott.[1][5] 

      We know that Christ has won the victory of sin and death and that resurrection is the assured future of the believer.  The present is lived in the middle of a dying world as a testimony to life.  That is countercultural.

      We know that there will be a resurrection and eternal life, but we live in a world that focuses on the present age and our witness to eternity is countercultural.

      We know that the devil the world and our own sinful flesh war against our souls and we must always be vigilant as we await the coming of our Lord.  So we speak of the Church as being militant in this life, and that is a good reminder to us.  We will become part of the Church triumphant when Jesus returns or when we die in faith (II Timothy 4:7-8).

This is the day when our vision of the church sweeps the horizons of history and of heaven, ALL at the same time. We embrace with gratitude uncountable yesterdays. They have been the arenas of faithfulness for God and for his people. In these days God has worked our salvation faithfully and with mercy. In these days generation upon generation of the SAINTS have lived and faithfully served, preserving until our day the saving grace of God's Word and sacraments. At the same time, we see the horizon of heaven, the first light of a new day, the dawn of the fulfillment of God's will in ALL of creation, a day when ALL creation joins in the hymn: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen."

This is the day when we cALL to mind the size and solidarity of the holy church, a community of God's people extending beyond ALL the usual boundaries of time and of race, culture, language, nationality, partisan politics, human sexuality and even socioeconomic status. It is a day when we remember the whole company of the SAINTS in heaven and on earth, ALL of God's people who await the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

This is the day when the church, with a strong affirmation, lays claim to the living hope we have through the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We give thanks for the life and witness of ALL the faithful departed. We have affirmed it before and we affirm it again in the words of Paul: "If for this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of ALL men most to be pitied."

This is the day when we reach beyond time as we know it, leaping over the open pits of our own graves and the graves of those we love to a new understanding of Easter's resurrection. ALL SAINTS' Day is but a further "commentary on Easter," carrying us beyond the good news of our personal survival to the exciting affirmation of God's ultimate justice, history's righteous fulfillment. Can we believe it? There is better news than resurrection! It tells us to what and for what we shALL be raised. We shALL be raised in the mercy of God to share in the fulfillment of God's righteousness. There is no lost good after ALL, and things will finALLy be set right. This is a day that sets into perspective the words of John

A Final Word For The Living SAINTS

It is not, after ALL, a matter of earning our salvation, nor of believing that only superhuman piety can prevail. In our baptism, we have God's promise. He has given us his word. We need only cling to it. But then, that's just how Jesus began the Beatitudes in the first place.

O the bliss of the man who has realized his own utter helplessness, and who has put his whole trust in God ...2
This is a day of thanksgiving for ALL the SAINTS ... and especiALLy for those who now rest from their labors. The prayer of the church is said again: "May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."

We remember them with thanksgiving.

But finALLy, today's good news, as it is every day, is God! God's grace makes this day one of hope and not of superstition, of joy and not of mourning, of vision and not of dreaming, of truth and not of resignation - a celebration of life that sets aside the dirge of death.

Today is the day we sweep the horizons of history and of heaven, ALL at the same time. ALL that happens this day is caught up in this one fact: God remembers. He remembers us and he remembers his promises.

He recALLs his promises and leads his people forth in joy with shouts of thanksgiving. ALLeluia. ALLeluia.3

Blessed are those who trust wholly in God, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Indeed so!

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