“A War That Killed Christendom”

On June 28th, 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated.

As a result, the world was plunged into one of the most deadly conflicts in history.

A Fight in the Family

On a visit to Sarajevo, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were killed by 19 year old Gavrilo Princip. 

Princip was a self-proclaimed “Yugoslav nationalist” whose motivation for the killing rested in his desire for independence from the Austro-Hungarian empire.

But not only was Princip a Yugoslav nationalist but he was also a Christian, at least his family was.

Princip came from a Serbian Orthodox background, a branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It’s interesting to note that Princip’s victim, the Archduke, was a Christian himself, coming from a Catholic background.

Different branches of the Church, sure, but both men who, in theory, worshiped the same God and proclaimed the same Gospel.

Now Christian killing Christian certainly wasn’t a new concept at the time. Europe had seen plenty of that bloodshed in religious wars of the past.

But what made WWI noteworthy was that, in many ways, it brought an end to Europe’s glorification of “going to war for Christ.”

The End of Christendom

Historian Diarmaid MacCulloch called WWI “a war that killed Christendom.”

What he means by Christendom isn’t the Church (the unified body of Jesus' followers in time and space) but the lands in which Christianity, in theory, reigned supreme.

In other words, the kingdoms that made Christianity their foundation.

By 1914, the relationship between Church and state was quite fragile. This was due in large part to ideas about authority and reason popularized by the Enlightenment two centuries prior. 

Nonetheless, many European major powers remained connected to an institutional church:

• England to the Anglican Church

• Russia to the Orthodox Church

• and Austria-Hungary to the Catholic Church (to name a few)

So what happens when these lands of “Christendom” go to war with one another?

Somebody has to be in the wrong, right?

After all, if they’re all following the same God, there shouldn’t be a war to begin with…

Right?

This week on Theophilus, we’re going to explore the role of the Church, faith, and patriotism in WWI. We’ll explore the sensitive relationship between these things and, ultimately, what relevance they have for today.

After all, Christendom, according to MacCulloch, might be dead, but its legacy certainly lingers on.

That’s all for now. Be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter