Russian Orthodoxy and the Russo-Japanese War by Betsy Perabo (review)

The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) helped to herald the twentieth century. Japan's decisive victory was the first modern military victory by an Asian power over a European power, and marked its advent as a global power. It demonstrated the success of the comprehensive societal reforms Japan instituted under the Emperor Meiji. Russia's comprehensive defeat exposed the rot in the Tsarist empire that helped precipitate the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. President Theodore Roosevelt's mediation which ended the war with the Treaty of Portsmouth, won him the Nobel Peace Prize, and marked the emergence of the United States as a global power. Technologically, it was the first modern war, as the Battle of Tsushima was the first sea battle fought with steel battleships.

Russia's and Japan's competing imperial designs toward Manchuria and Korea triggered this war. Despite its secular cause, Betsy Perabo argues that the war generated a political theology. The first four chapters provide the foundation where people in government, religion, and the military in both Russia and Japan used or avoided the use of religion to justify the war. Important here is teaching in Russian Orthodoxy that Russian soldiers of all ranks demonstrate love for Christ through proper Christian conduct in wartime. While not a systematic theory of just war as found in Latin Christianity, there was significant overlap, especially in the ad bellum and in bello stages. Orthodox thought articulated how the virtuous life of the solider exemplified self-sacrificial love for Tsar and country, which served as a means to unite with God. The following six chapters show how religious attitudes in Russia toward the war shifted dramatically from being a civilizing Christian crusade against Asian infidels to a punishment from God for Russia's internal corruption and decadence. In Japan, understandings of the war rarely took on a religious tone. Instead their government used the war as an opportunity to present themselves as a civilized society to the world.

St. Nicholas of Japan is the hero in this book. He founded and led the Orthodox Church of Japan first as a missionary priest and later its archbishop. A Russian Orthodox cleric, Nicholas arrived in Japan in 1861. Except for occasional visits home, he never left. Nicholas mastered the Japanese language and culture, which enabled him to translate Russian Orthodox liturgical and theological texts. He evangelized the Japanese people in a manner which, unlike many of his fellow Russians, did not treat them as godless heathens. Instead, Nicholas saw the Japanese as possessing a strong religious and moral sense which he believed Orthodoxy could best fulfill. Crucially, during the Russo-Japanese War Nicholas stayed in Japan despite his personal loyalty to the Tsar and Russia. He taught the Japanese Orthodox that their faith did not require that same loyalty. Instead, their faith complemented their allegiance to their own country and emperor. Nicholas uncoupled the Orthodox Church from its traditional role as a tool to serve Russian imperialism. Therefore, despite its Russian roots, the Orthodox Church of Japan survived the war, and later thrived. Nicholas' character and work won respect and honor across Japanese society, including from the Meiji Emperor.

Perabo addresses this work to scholars working in Christian ethics, political theology, Russian history, and Orthodox studies. Both they and their graduate students would find this work a fascinating intersection of ideas drawn from each of these fields. Moreover, any reader interested in history, and wanting to move beyond the exotic stereotyping Westerners apply to both Russia and Japan would benefit by reading this book.