Sakralinis karo matmuo

LTKaras, klaikus ir pragaištingas istorijos palydovas ir variklis, stingdo bet kokį mąstymą apie jį. Juk karas - visų įmanomų žmogiškų nelaimių ir tragedijų visuma. Jis griauna, žudo, jis įdabartina pragarus - bet kokie neigiami karo apibūdinimai nesugebės perteikti nė dalelės jo žiaurumo ir absurdo. Tačiau šitoks vertybinis kalbėjimas apie karą užsisklendžia vertinimų rate ir nepajėgia paliesti karo esmės. O juk jeigu žmonija per visą savo istoriją nuolat kariavo, vadinasi, viskas ne taip jau paprasta. Kažkas žmogaus prigimtyje pritaria karui - ir nieko nuostabaus, nes žmogus - tai ne teigiamybė. Todėl mėginimas priartėti prie karo esmės visų pirma turėtų atsisakyti etinio ir moralinio karo vertinimo. Karas - tai universalybė, kurią ir turėtume apžvelgti būtent kaip universalybę - be išankstinių nuostatų ir netapatindami jos su tos universalybės aplinka ar dažnai antrinėmis apraiškomis. Man regis, karo analizei tiktų religijotyrinis žvilgsnis, šiuo atveju priderantis kaip kitos, religinės universalybės tyrimo, ar greičiau aprašinėjimo instrumentas. Juolab, kad karas ir religija, karas ir šventybė istoriškai artimi. Karas taipogi yra žmogiškosios patirties erdvė, kurioje, ir nepaprastai intensyviai, apsireiškia Dievybė ar beasmenė šventastis. Karas - tai hierofanijų vieta, o ir pats jis tam tikru aspektu yra hierofanija. Šį jo aspektą ir pamėginsime kiek panagrinėti [p. 12].

ENThe article deals with the aspects of war that are usually passed over in silence or remain unnoticed in the history of culture, namely, the creative and attractive side of war and warring, its manifestations in the northerncentral Europe from the ancient times and the wars between Cross and Crescent to the siege of Vienna in 1683. The idea itself - to treat war not only as a disaster but to notice its festive aspects, its attractiveness and sacredness side - was borrowed from the concept of Roger Caillois, a French historian of culture. War is destructive and dreadful; however, such evaluation does not fully reflect the diversity of this complex phenomenon. After all, state formations arise (at least in Europe) exactly due to war or a sequence of wars; wars become both a force mobilizing society and a prerequisite of society as a self-conscious community. Ancient wars of the "mythological epoch" were permeated with sacredness and were literally divine. The gods fought together with their tribe or nation, they led armies and assisted them from heaven or from underground. The warriors repeated, in their armament, some features of their war gods and in the ecstasy of the battle they approached another, sacred dimension - just as the German berserks. The war was fought on the divine horizon, it was total, but not in the modern meaning: it was total as a process embracing both heaven and earth. The gods fight humans rather than men fight one another - we find this idea as early as in the writings of Homer. Such divine plane of war is particularly distinct in the Crusades in the Baltic countries.The Lithuanians, Samogitians, Prussians and Kurshes, when fighting the knight orders who had intruded upon their lands, treated their gods as real partners in a military coalition - they were asked for help in the campaigns and a third part of the spoils was sacrificed; sometimes after the victory a knight was chosen by lot from among the captives and burnt together with the horse and the armament as a sacrifice of gratitude. The assistance of gods and the signs sent by them were trusted so much that reconnaissance was conducted with the help of lots. Campaigns were started after asking gods whether the time was favourable; if there were unfavourable signs during the campaign, all the army could turn around and return back. The knights perceived their war as a just religious war that was started by the God; they had just joined it. This was the war with the forces of hell and a revenge for the throes of Christ. Signs and visions accompanied also the campaigns organised by the Order of Crusaders; however - and this is the most interesting thing - the crusaders adopted many of the Pagan customs. The reports of the papal legates and spies and the archbishops of Riga testify to the fact that the knights not only told fortunes from the animal bones (just as the Lithuanians and the nations related to them) but also burnt their comrades in arms who had fallen in the battle. Such things were strongly condemned by the Church hierarchs, but the knights' behaviour did not change. The reasons for the adoption of pagan customs are, however, completely unknown and we may satisfy ourselves by observing that similar accusations were also made against the Order of Tamplers??, who, during their crusades in the East, also adopted certain Muslim customs and maybe even their secret traditions.Another war discussed in the article is of different nature: the war fought by Lithuania and Poland in defence of the European civilization. When crushing the Osman army at Vienna, the Poles and Lithuanians fought as Christians blessed by God; they felt they were warriors of God and St. Virgin defending the Divine Church on earth. The religious dimension was also present in the campaign of the Turk Osman army led by Kara Mustapha. The Turks took their most sacred relics - the flag and the cloak of the Prophet - with them; upon approaching Vienna, they demanded that the inhabitants of the city would accept Islam. The religious substantiation and, therefore, the justice of war was demonstrated in this way. While the ancient wars are undoubtedly characterised by secredness, their heroes are honoured almost as saints, and war is accompanied by God's blessing and signs, the modern wars have lost this dimension completely. They have become mass slaughters based on modern technologies, when both the enemy's army and the civilians are swept from the surface of the earth, when the war looses the elements of honour, knighthood, and duel. The bombings of Koln, Dresden and Coventry showed that the "coating" of civilization not only didn't suppress the barbaric origin of man but also allowed to develop it "perfectly" and completely. The last wars, including the bombings of Iraq, ignoring human victims and having no front line, when victorious infantry enters on tanks an open field swept by bombs and artillery, show once again that in our times war has been desacralized just as many other or, practically, all spheres of human life.