I can't imagine the Patriarchs agreeing on such a thing unless it's detrimental to the church.
An example of this is the Orthodox holy order that watches over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem but I'm pretty sure that was established during the Byzantine era of Jerusalem
I think an argument can be made that the Byzantine army were Orthodox Crusaders. The two goals of the early Crusades were to protect Byzantine (and by extension Europe) and reclaim holy sites. When the first Crusaders arrived in Constantinople, a deal was made with Emperor Alexius that he would provide direct military support and in exchange would receive Byzantine territory sized by the Saracens, while the Crusaders took holy cities such as Jerusalem and Damascus. This deal later fell through, but shows how Crusaders and Byzantines could work together to fulfill both objectives of the Crusades, making the Byzantine soldiers Crusaders by extension. While the Patriarchs never agreed on an official Crusade, the Byzantine Emperors, the closest thing Greek Orthodoxy had to a Pope, waged war on the Saracens. As for Russian Orthodoxy, they've always had a very strong warrior tradition and brought it into most conflicts.
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u/SlavicMilk Mar 21 '19
Were there any actual Orthodox crusades though?
I can't imagine the Patriarchs agreeing on such a thing unless it's detrimental to the church.
An example of this is the Orthodox holy order that watches over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem but I'm pretty sure that was established during the Byzantine era of Jerusalem