Did I hear your question correctly, General: “Was the Savior (Christ) for war or against it?”
Sorry, but this question is similar to another: “Is the mother for or against the rod for her child?”
No sensible mother would resort to spanking unless absolutely necessary. But when she has exhausted all other means of discipline, she resorts to the rod to correct her child. Not out of malice, but out of anxious maternal love, lest her child be lost; lest, finally, other children go astray. Have you ever observed how, after such a punishment, the child and mother weep together? The mother weeps out of compassion, wishing to console the child with her tears. Perhaps you have also witnessed another, even more touching picture: when, after the spanking, the child laughs and the mother weeps? Oh, sacred maternal love! Who among us, already in adulthood, does not bless his mother for having disciplined him in childhood? And who does not see in a mother's punishment even greater proof of her caring love?
And war is nothing other than the rod with which God seeks to save His children from final destruction. God's love is incomparably greater than a mother's love, and, of course, the Lord allows punishment only out of caring love for humanity.
The Lord Jesus Christ revealed to people the purpose of their earthly life and clearly indicated the path to achieving it. Before Him, people knew neither the purpose of their lives nor the path leading to it. Many great sages on earth had a more or less clear premonition of man's purpose and path and pointed them out to people. But they could not prove their words, could not reveal to people and show them the realm of spiritual reality. But Christ revealed to us that the purpose of life is life itself, that is, that immortal life is the purpose of this half-life.
The Kingdom of Heaven is the shining city to which we hasten, passing through our world, through this forest of symbols and signals that point to the shining city. In the words of the apostle: "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one to come" ( Heb. 13:14 ). Life in eternal life, in the shining angelic city, in the Kingdom of Heaven—that is the goal. And the path to this goal is the Lord Himself, His example, all His commandments. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matt. 6:33)—that is the fundamental, primary, and only rational aspiration of man. And that is all. The rest is secondary, i.e., food and clothing, health, shelter, peace and security, knowledge and skill, and everything we need at the present moment of our existence on earth— "all these things will be added to us" ( Matt. 6:33 ).
The most important things will be given to us, and everything secondary will be added or added. For the rich man who gave the poor man a mountain of gold, it was a secondary and trivial matter to transport it to the mountain and provide him with food, clothing, and servants. But for God, the Richest of all the rich, who gives people immortal and eternally renewed life near Him, it is a trivial and secondary matter to provide everything they need on their earthly journey. Truly, the Lord gives us everything we need if our eyes are turned to Him, as the eyes of a servant to her mistress. “The life is more than food” ( Luke 12:23 ), said the Savior, and further: “What is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Matt. 16:26).
In regard to war, one could say this: what good is it to a man or a people if they conquer the entire world, only to taint their soul with sin and lose it? Whatever an earthly kingdom, it exists today and vanishes tomorrow; but the Kingdom of the Heavenly King is eternal.
Before Christ, there were those who observed that the purpose of human life is not found on earth, that it cannot be found either on earth or in earth—that is, in death. They knew from experience that no living soul, considering some earthly object to be the purpose of its life, did not become cold and disillusioned upon achieving it. Now, however, it is clear to every true Christian that man cannot find the ultimate purpose of his life either on earth or anywhere else in our material universe. Our purpose lies beyond the entire material world; it lies in the realm of spiritual essence and reality, in the Kingdom of God, and not in this world of symbols and signals from that Kingdom. The Lord not only told us this, but also revealed it. He revealed it to us with His entire Being, through the suffering of His Cross before and after death, and throughout the history of His Church. Will you believe me, General, if I say that even today He reveals this to the initiated?
If a Christian people, that is, a people to whom the purpose of human life is revealed, obscures it from their mind and vision through their own sins, then they become blind and are overcome by madness. Blind and mad, they seek an ultimate goal on earth, worship idols instead of God, covet an earthly kingdom, and mock Christ. In such a state, Christ seems an unnatural "appearance," for in the eyes of such a people, only he is "natural." Christ is unreal to them, while they are real! Such a people war against the truth, against God, and, of course, war against their neighbors.
To renounce Christ means to renounce the purpose of life. To be called a Christian, the highest name in the world, signifies not only knowledge of the purpose of life but also joyful walking along the path that leads to it. True, "the way that leads to eternal life is narrow" ( Matthew 7:14 ), but it has been clearly laid out and, by the nineteenth century, sufficiently trodden by God's saints and righteous men, so that there is no longer any need to turn either right or left. Meekness, humility, mercy, love, hope, faith, a quiet disposition, abstinence, kindness, fasting, prayer , forgiveness, hungering and thirsting for God's truth, patience, and all the other virtues that adorned Christ, along with all His commandments—all this signifies the path that leads to the highest goal. This is the way: “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me” ( John 12:26 ), said the Guide, and, encouragingly, he continued: “He who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” ( John 8:12 ). Seeing that His apostles had difficulty understanding this way, He said to them, and to us too: “I am the Way” ( John 14:6 ). In order for a person to walk the path pleasing to the Lord, he must wage the only war pleasing to Him: the war against himself. By this war, a person is freed from the mire of sin that obscures his vision of the goal and the path. By this voluntary war, he frees himself from the burden of bodily, earthly passions; a burden under whose weight he stumbles and falls, now to the left, now to the right of the path. He who fights against himself can steadfastly follow the right path to his true goal. If a person does not fight against himself, then he fights against God and people.
As you see, the path and goal, as revealed and revealed by the Lord, contain nothing of war between man and man, or nation and nation. Why then does war occur among Christians? Because war originates within Christians themselves; and it originates within them because they have begun to doubt the goal or have neglected the path. Desiring to avoid war, one cannot separate the goal from the path. To know the true goal and then retreat, crab-like, along the opposite path, is to mock God, worship idols, and deny Christ. Medieval Europe provides us with a clear example of how Christian nations, knowing the purpose of life, can follow false paths that lead away from the goal. Therefore, punishment came in the form of internecine wars among Christian nations or wars with unbelievers.
No one except Byzantium so precisely and unconditionally grasped the purpose of human life, as revealed by the Lord. Yet Byzantium perished; it perished because the Byzantines, who confessed God, insulted Him with their impiety and trampled upon the divine law, the knowledge of which they boasted. They acknowledged the goal—Christ—but walked the paths of sin. They suffered what is written in the Gospel: “But that servant who knew his Lord’s will and did not prepare himself and do according to His will will receive many stripes. But he who did not know it, and committed acts worthy of stripes, will receive few stripes” ( Luke 12:47–48 ). These words explain the bitter punishment of holy Byzantium, for it knew the Lord’s will well, and the less severe punishment of the pagan peoples, who knew their Lord’s will poorly. These same words also explain why wars are more common among Christians than among non-Christian nations. Christians are servants who know their Master's will and are often and bitterly punished; whereas non-Christians, who know neither the goal nor the path, do not know their Master's will, and for this reason are punished less severely. Only these words of Christ can explain why, over the past 150 years, Europe has waged more wars than the rest of the world combined. The Lord Jesus Christ, through His Gospel, taught people how to wage war against themselves—to tame themselves, improve themselves, humble themselves, ennoble themselves, and even become like Him. For this war, and for this war alone, Christ outlined a precise "strategy and tactics." He miraculously showed people what they must be like to prevent war between them or attacks against them.
Christ did not claim that there would be no war; He merely taught what must be done to prevent it. By His Spirit, He foresaw that not all people would be willing to listen to Him and that, as a result, there would be many wars. "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars... for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" ( Matthew 24:6-7 ). Those who have sinned will not be punished by war immediately, but after a long, very long period of God's patience and forgiveness. When the Lord has exhausted all other means of correction, only then will His Holy Love resort to the final resort—the chastisement of His children with the scourge of war. Predicting wars, Christ wept ( Luke 19:41 ).
Some evil people predict war with vengeful glee. This is what a wicked stepmother does, rejoicing at the punishment of her stepson. A mother weeps, thinking about the punishment of her child, however wicked. So Christ, filled with boundless love for His children, wept, foreseeing future wars.
Having predicted wars—even to the end times—Christ also mentioned their cause: “For false Christs and false prophets will arise,” and “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will wax cold” ( Matthew 24:12, 24 ). False Christs will point out false goals for life to people; false prophets will falsely predict events; lawlessness and cooled love will lead people down false paths. Some will know neither the goal nor the path of life. Others, knowing the goal of life, will, through weakness of character, follow the false path. Still others will know both the goal and the path of life, but will consciously and maliciously reject both, just as the Jewish elders once consciously and maliciously rejected them when they crucified Christ. All this prompts Holy Love , weeping, to allow the punishment of Its children with the scourge of war. From all that has been said, it is clear that:
1) The Lord Jesus Christ revealed the purpose of life and the way to this purpose;
2) Christ in His Gospel pointed out to man the necessity of waging war against himself, in order to avoid other wars;
3) he who does not wage war against himself, against his passions, vices and sins, inevitably wages war against God and his neighbors;
4) War must befall Christians who trample on the law of Christ, even if they do not desire it, just as a guilty child is punished.
Source: https://azbyka-ru.translate.goog/otechnik/Nikolaj_Serbskij/vojna-i-biblija/?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp#0_24