The Ethical and Canonical Dilemma of a Armed Priest
The fact that a bishop (metropolitan) was present as a komitadji (guerrilla leader) during the capture of Gjakova illustrates how deeply intertwined the Orthodox religion and aggressive Serbian nationalism were during the Balkan Wars. This Nikifor Perić was a militant Serbian Orthodox church leader who had been forced to leave his post in Kosovo shortly before the war due to conflicts with the Ottoman authorities, and he now returned with a weapon in hand.
The Strict Prohibition of Canon Law
From a purely theological and legal standpoint within the Orthodox Church, it was completely inappropriate and a severe violation of canon law for a priest or bishop to carry weapons, kill, or participate in active combat.
According to ancient Church canons (such as the Apostolic Canons and the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils), a clergyman is strictly forbidden from shedding human blood. If a priest kills anyone—even in self-defense or during a justified war—canon law dictates that he must be permanently defrocked (stripped of his priesthood). The role of the priest is exclusively sacramental, spiritual, and peaceful, modeled after Christ’s message of non-violence.
The Tradition of the Pop-Komita
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a distinct phenomenon emerged: the armed priest or pop-komita. For these men, the fight for national liberation blurred the lines between “holy duty” and “guerrilla warfare”. They justified and rationalized their actions by framing the conflict as a “defensive, holy war against centuries of oppression”.
To the wider Christian world and contemporary European observers (like Consul Mary), seeing a former Prince of the Church actively participating in fierce guerrilla fighting remained a shocking, deeply controversial, and highly unorthodox sight.
Sources
No.4646 . Tel. from Consul Mary to von Heimroth from Üsküb, 26.a) Nov. 1912No. 104 (by post from Belgrade received on 29.Nov.11U.a.m.).b) Entzijf.
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ALEKSANDRA NOVAKOV Matica srpska, Novi Sad. aleksandranovakovpz@gmail.com NEDELJKO V. RADOSAVLJEVIĆ Institute of History, Belgrade nedjo.radosavljevic@gmail.com NIĆIFOR PERIĆ METROPOLITAN OF RAŠKA-PRIZREN AND SKENDERIJA (1901–1911). ISTRAŽIVANJA JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL RESEARCHES 30 (2019) ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER Received: 28 June 2019 Accepted: 1 September 2019.
