Reformation Period - Persecution

[Neto]

Thanks for sharing Neto.

We know that the Catholics and Protestants fought religious/territorial wars in the 1500's and persecuted anyone who didn't conform to the religion of the land. I'm wondering if the Orthodox church was involved in the same kind of thing.

Yes, I was referring to a much later period.
I am not aware of any anabaptist settlements in an Orthodox controlled area in the 1500's. (So there would not have been any persecution from Orthodox. I suspect that there would have been, had the "necessity" arisen, but it from all I know it didn't.)

[Ernie]

We know that the Catholics and Protestants fought religious/territorial wars in the 1500's and persecuted anyone who didn't conform to the religion of the land. I'm wondering if the Orthodox church was involved in the same kind of thing.

This question refers to whether the Orthdox were fighting religious/territorial wars in the 1500's against either the Catholics or Protestants. (If there were other periods when they did this, you can mention those also.)

[Neto]

I wasn't aware that the conflict between (Orthodox) Czarist Russia & the Ottoman Empire started so early, but found this

Led by Selim I, the Ottomans overwhelmed the Mamluk rulers of Egypt in 1517 and became the predominant power in the Muslim World. In 1520, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rose to the throne and expanded into Europe, taking Belgrade in 1521, thus ruling over all Orthodox Christians living in Southeastern Europe. From that point onwards, the Turkish Empire expanded further North, gaining hegemony over the Crimean Tatars and reaching the walls of Habsburg Vienna.

As Muslims proliferated through the Balkans, a new center of Orthodoxy emerged in Moscow. The princes broke away from Mongol domination in the 1480s. By the time of Ivan IV, Moscow managed to unite all of the Russian principalities under its banner. Ivan’s rule allowed Russia to expand beyond the Ural Mountains into Kazan and Astrakhan and towards the Baltic.

Ivan IV’s expansionism was marked by a particular brutality towards anyone who stood in his way. His cruelty did not spare any: Muslims, Catholics, and even fellow Orthodox Christians were subjugated to massive killings, deportations, and massacres. As Turkic populations of Kazan and Astrakhan fled their homes, taking refuge in the Caucasus and Anatolia, Constantinople took a closer interest in the happenings in the north. The first conflict erupted between 1568 and 1570, ending in an unexpected Russian victory, which halted Ottoman influence over the region between the Don River and the Volga. This was the starting point of a centuries-long rivalry.

SOURCE:
https://www.thecollector.com/russia-vs-ottoman-empire/

[Ernie]

Ivan IV’s expansionism was marked by a particular brutality towards anyone who stood in his way. His cruelty did not spare any: Muslims, Catholics, and even fellow Orthodox Christians were subjugated to massive killings, deportations, and massacres.

Was the Russian Orthodox church in support of this?

[ohio jones]

Ivan IV’s expansionism was marked by a particular brutality towards anyone who stood in his way. His cruelty did not spare any: Muslims, Catholics, and even fellow Orthodox Christians were subjugated to massive killings, deportations, and massacres.

What a terrible ruler.

[Heirbyadoption]

Ivan IV’s expansionism was marked by a particular brutality towards anyone who stood in his way. His cruelty did not spare any: Muslims, Catholics, and even fellow Orthodox Christians were subjugated to massive killings, deportations, and massacres.

What a terrible ruler.

[MaxPC]

Ivan IV’s expansionism was marked by a particular brutality towards anyone who stood in his way. His cruelty did not spare any: Muslims, Catholics, and even fellow Orthodox Christians were subjugated to massive killings, deportations, and massacres.

What a terrible ruler.

Indeed.

An old history professor of mine, RIP, once made the comment that all religions (as far as history has noted) have persecuted other religions at some point in their respective histories. The zeal for converts can often be manipulated by politicians and monarchs to acquire territories.

At what point does the repetition of past interreligious conflicts cease to serve discipleship?

When the secular world persecutes Christians, is it wise for Christians to persecute each other? Rather would it be better for Christians to help others who are persecuted instead?

I like to focus on those shining moments of saintly courage in which Christians risked everything, including death, to help others. We become that which we focus upon.

The examples set by Christians who hid the Jews during the Nazi years shows us a better path in my perspective. Catholics issued baptismal certificates to Jews to assist in them in their escape. Jewish men were hidden in monasteries and seminaries until they could safely travel out of country. Jewish women were also hidden in monasteries; Jewish children were hidden in Catholic schools while their entire families were issued baptism certificates. Christians of other denominations hid Jewish families in their homes. All of them risked imprisonment and death squads. Yet they continued to do what they could.

These are those shining moments of Christianity at its best and we tell our children about these stellar examples in the hopes that they too, will serve God likewise.

[1689dave]

Excerpts from the book, "Mennonites in Europe" by John Horsch

Anabaptism was made a capital crime. Prices were set on the heads of Anabaptists. To give them food and shelter was a made a crime. The duke of Bavaria, in 1527, gave orders that the imprisoned Anabaptists should be burned at the stake — unless they recanted, in which case they should be beheaded. In Catholic countries the Anabaptists, as a rule, were executed by burning at the stake; in Lutheran and Zwinglian states, Anabaptists were generally executed by beheading or drowning.

Thousands sealed their faith with their blood. When all efforts to halt the movement proved vain, the authorities resorted to desperate measures. Armed executioners and mounted soldiers were sent in companies through the land to hunt down the Anabaptists and kill them on the spot without trial or sentence. The old method of pronouncing sentence on each individual dissenter proved inadequate to exterminate this faith.