Armed priests
Throughout history, armed priests or soldier priests have been recorded. Distinguished from military chaplains who served the military or civilians as spiritual guidance (non-combatants), these priests took up arms and fought in conflicts (combatants). The term warrior priests is usually used for armed priests of the antiquity and Middle Ages, and of historical tribes.
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History
In Greek mythology, the Curetes were identified as armed priests.[1] In Ancient Rome, the Salii who were armed priests carried sacred shields through the city during the March festivals.[2] Livy (59 BC–17 AD) mentions armati sacerdotes (armed priests).[3]
Medieval European canon law said that a priest could not be a soldier, and vice versa. Priests were allowed on the battlefield as chaplains, and could only defend themselves with clubs.[4]
The Aztecs had a vanguard of warrior priests who carried deity banners and made sacrifices on the battlefield.[5] A Cherokee priest who killed during battle received the title of Nu no hi ta hi.[6]
The warrior-priest was a common figure in the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13).[7] Several archpriests and priests were commanders in the uprising.[8] Serbian Orthodox monasteries sent monks to join the ranks of the Serbian Army.[7]
Legacy
The "Pyrrhic" dance in Crete is said to have been the ritual dance of armed priests.[9]
Notable groups
- Chivalric military orders, Christian religious societies of knights of the Catholic Church in feudal Europe such as the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Teutonic Knights and many others.
- Shaolin Monk, Chen, Zen Buddhist monks in feudal China
- Righteous armies , Korean guerilla fighters, including monks, who resisted the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98).
- Sant Sipahi is a Sikh ideology, inspired by the lives of Sikh gurus, of a saint soldier who would adhere one's life in strict discipline both in mind and body.
- Naga Sadhus, a militaristic sect of arms-bearing Hindu sannyasi.
Notable people
- Eastern Orthodoxy
- Luka Lazarević (1774–1852), Serbian Orthodox priest, vojvoda (general) of the Serbian Revolution.[11]
- Matija Nenadović (1777–1854), Serbian Orthodox archpriest, commander in the Serbian Revolution.[12]
- Athanasios Diakos (1788–1821), Greek Orthodox priest, commander in the Greek War of Independence.
- Mićo Ljubibratić (1839–1889), Serbian Orthodox priest, fought in the Herzegovina Uprising.[13]
- Bogdan Zimonjić (1813–1909), Serbian Orthodox priest, active during the 1852–62 and 1875–78 uprisings in Herzegovina
- Vukajlo Božović, Serbian Orthodox archpriest, fought in the Balkan Wars.[14]
- Jovan Grković-Gapon (1879–1912), Serbian Orthodox priest, guerrilla in Macedonia.
- Tasa Konević, Serbian Orthodox priest, guerrilla in Macedonia.
- Mihailo Dožić (1848–1914), Serbian Orthodox priest, guerrilla in Potarje (1875–78).
- Stevan Dimitrijević (1866–1953), Serbian Orthodox priest, guerrilla in Macedonia (fl. 1904).
- Momčilo Đujić (1907–1999), Serbian Orthodox priest, World War II Chetnik.
- Vlada Zečević (1903–1970), Serbian Orthodox priest, Yugoslav Partisan.
- Catholicism
- Archbishop Turpin (d. 800), legendary (insofar as military accomplishments) member of Charlemagne's Twelve Peers.
- Rudolf of Zähringen (1135–1191), Catholic bishop, Crusader.
- Joscius (d. 1202), Catholic archbishop, Crusader.
- Reginald of Bar (fl. 1182–1216), Catholic bishop, Crusader.
- Aubrey of Reims (fl. 1207–18), Catholic archbishop, Crusader.
- Arnaud Amalric (d. 1225), Cistercian abbott, Crusader.
- Bernardino de Escalante (1537–after 1605), Catholic priest
- José Félix Aldao (1785–1845), Dominican friar, General in the Argentine War.
- Cresconius, (c. 1036–1066), Bishop of Iria, Spanish bishop who fought Vikings raiders
- José María Morelos (1765–1815), Roman Catholic priest, Mexican independentist commander.
- Camilo Torres Restrepo (1929-1966), Colombian socialist guerrilla and Catholic priest
- Gaspar García Laviana (1941-1978), Catholic priest inspired by Liberation theology to join the Sandanista revolution as a guerrilla soldier
- Odo of Bayeux (d. 1097), Bishop of Bayeux, half-brother of William the Conqueror
- Stanisław Brzóska (1832-1865), Polish Catholic priest, head chaplain and one of the generals in January Uprising
- John Murphy (priest) (1753 – c. 2 July 1798), Irish Catholic priest and one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Captured, tortured and executed by British Crown forces.
- Anglicanism
- Leonidas Polk (1806-1864), Confederate General, United States Military Academy graduate, Episcopal bishop of Louisiana
- Other
- The tlatoani, ruler of Nahuatl pre-Hispanic states, were high priests and military commanders.
- Dutty Boukman (d. 1791), voodoo priest and Haitian Revolution leader.
See also
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References
- Jürgen Trabant (2004). Vico's New Science of Ancient Signs: A Study of Sematology. Psychology Press. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-0-415-30987-5.
- Cyril Bailey (1932). Phases in the Religion of Ancient Rome. University of California Press. pp. 69–. GGKEY:RFYRJLHJJDQ.
- Roger D. Woodard (28 January 2013). Myth, Ritual, and the Warrior in Roman and Indo-European Antiquity. Cambridge University Press. pp. 73–. ISBN 978-1-107-02240-9.
- John Howard Yoder; Theodore J. Koontz; Andy Alexis-Baker (1 April 2009). Christian Attitudes to War, Peace, and Revolution. Brazos Press. pp. 133–. ISBN 978-1-58743-231-6.
- Manuel Aguilar-Moreno (2007). Handbook to Life in the Aztec World. Oxford University Press. pp. 90–. ISBN 978-0-19-533083-0.
- Thomas E. Mails (1992). The Cherokee People: The Story of the Cherokees from Earliest Origins to Contemporary Times. Council Oak Books. pp. 100–. ISBN 978-0-933031-45-6.
- Király & Rothenberg 1982, p. 275.
- Király & Rothenberg 1982, pp. 273–275.
- The Origin of Attic Comedy. CUP Archive. 1934. pp. 65–.
- Hitomi Tonomura (1 January 1992). Community and Commerce in Late Medieval Japan: Corporate Villages of Tokuchin-ho. Stanford University Press. pp. 216–. ISBN 978-0-8047-6614-2.
- Király & Rothenberg 1982, p. 273.
- Király & Rothenberg 1982, p. 274.
- Srejović, Gavrilović & Ćirković 1983.
- Srejović, Gavrilović & Ćirković 1983, p. 321.
Sources
- Srejović, Dragoslav; Gavrilović, Slavko; Ćirković, Sima M. (1983). Istorija srpskog naroda: knj. Od Berlinskog kongresa do Ujedinjenja 1878-1918. Srpska književna zadruga.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Király, Béla K.; Rothenberg, Gunther E. (1982). War and Society in East Central Europe: The first Serbian uprising 1804-1813. Brooklyn College Press. ISBN 978-0-930888-15-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)