Thanks for this, Elizabeth. I wonder, has jus ad bellum been theorized only in western political and theological thought? I’m thinking of how it may or may not overlap with the Eastern Church’s stance re defensive and offensive wars and how, following on “just war” arguments, a pope or a king could have argued for the justice of a Crusade (just cause and right intention, from their perspective) although the doctrine of “proportionality” would cancel its “justice.”

Lesia, thank you for putting it all together so succinctly. I am especially grateful for the “timely practical” description of a philosophy I didn’t realize I was elaborating. 🙂 But that sounds exactly right.

Thank you, Penney, for your point about Ukrainians “fighting righteously,” as this is true no matter where, along the moral and conscientious spectrum, one locates one’s own beliefs. What I fear is that Zelensky himself will come to the decision to negotiate simply to stop the bleeding of his people.

Yes, Diana, who would have thought that our generation would not after all escape living through the daily news of catastrophic violence on Ukraine and Ukrainians. And Russian Orthodoxy is playing its part, increasingly isolated as an institution however. But one dreads the fate of the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine in those territories and parishes that now fall under Russian occupation; as with the political institutions, the Russian church hates and fears the religious freedom of Ukrainians.

I appreciated your overview of the dominant religions in Ukraine and how they’re historically tied to Constantinople, Moscow, Kyiv, and Rome. Whatever, Ukrainians are now united and fighting for their freedom. I wish the Russian Orthodox Church would play its hand at promoting peace, but I’m afraid the “devil” is whispering too loudly in Krill’s ear.

Well, merci a lot, Monique. The fact is that my “erudition” is what you see on the screen of hours of online (mostly) and library research. As a nonfiction writer all my life, it’s that preparatory stage that is so engaging: I love finding appropriate images, adding hotlinks to a certain person or place reference – and then figuring out how to assemble it all as a spot of story-telling. All the while trying not to step on pious toes. As for the resemblance between the Giotto and Byzantine representation of the same scene: the fact is that, chronologically, the Byzantine (Eastern Christian)”version” preceded the Western Church’s”version” by a few eras. So Giotto, and other medieval painters in the West, began their account of the Noli Me Tangere moment by referencing the Byzantine, and then moved on into the Renaissance. Something like that. I’m happy to be set straight if need be.

Thanks, dear Helen. Yes, that was what has made MM so vital to me too – her humanity, lived to the nth degree of her, and our, spiritual potential.