- Title: RUSSIA: RUSSIAN ORTHODOX BELIEVERS HONOUR SAINT-SOLDIER
- Date: 16th November 2004
- Summary: (L!1) KURILOVO, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS -- ACCESS ALL) MCU (Russian) LYUBOV RODIONOVA, MOTHER OF YEVGENY RODIONOV: "Taking off the Orthodox cross was just the first part, then they forced them [Russian prisoners of war] to take up weapons and kill their own comrades who were prisoners or fight on the side of the rebels. And they filmed all of this on camera and we are just learning about this during the course of the second Chechen war. ICON OF YEVGENY RODIONOV WITH VOICE-OVER OF HIS MOTHER, SAYING: "Yevgeny was not only a religious man who refused to betray his faith" MCU (Russian) LYUBOV RODIONOVA, MOTHER OF YEVGENY RODIONOV "I also believe that he refused to betray his oath as a soldier, that he was a decent human being as well as a religious man." PORTRAITS OF YEVGENY RODIONOV AS A YOUNG BOY AND IN MILITARY UNIFORM LYUBOV RODIONOVA PACKING UP FOOD PARCELS FOR RUSSIAN SOLDIERS IN CHECHNYA (2 SHOTS) SOLDIER HELPING RODIONOVA LOAD FOOD PARCELS / FOOD PARCELS (3 SHOTS) TRUCK WITH FOOD PARCELS DRIVING AWAY (3 SHOTS) (L!1) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS -- ACCESS ALL) CHURCH FATHER DMITRY, HEAD OF THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE'S DEPARTMENT FOR THE ARMED FORCES IN OFFICE MODEL OF TANK BY ICON MCU (Russian) FATHER DMITRY, HEAD OF THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE'S DEPARTMENT FOR THE ARMED FORCES "He refused to take off his cross. He declared himself a Christian which brought about his death. Similar cases in the history of the church have led to canonisation." ICONS
- Embargoed: 1st December 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MOSCOW, REPUBLIC OF CHECHNYA, KURILOVO AND ST.PETERSBURG,
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Quirky,Religion,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVABY9GU1OFGT4N8PDQGE7CLRPRS
- Story Text: Russian Orthodox believers honour saint-soldier. For centuries, Russia's Orthodox Christians have prayed to God and saints of the church.
Now, there is a grass-roots movement among the faithful to bring a new saint into the church, a 19-year-old soldier murdered in Chechnya.
Yevgeny Rodionov was a Russian conscript when he was captured by Chechen rebels at the end of the first independence war in 1996.
He was kidnapped and held in a cellar for months. His captors are believed to have given him the choice of adopting Islam and joining them, or death.
He refused to relinquish his Christian faith and was beheaded and buried in an unmarked grave.
For this, he is regarded as a model for Russian believers.
"When a young man, a person who has yet to live his life, is given the choice between life or renouncing his faith, especially given the situation in our country and the immoral atmosphere, well then his actions touched and inspired everyone. And this icon embodies what he did,"
said Valentin Kovalevsky, a St. Petersburg businessman who donated money to build a church that holds Rodionov's icons.
Yevgeny is one of thousands of soldiers killed in Chechnya, but his bravery and religious faith under pressure has inspired many Russians tired of a war that has dragged on for a decade.
Russian troops continue to occupy Chechnya, now aligned with a pro-Kremlin local administration.
And Rodionov's story highlights not only the courage of Russian soldiers, but also the serious problems at the core of the Russian army.
Conscripts are routinely beaten, and border guards like Yevgeny Rodionov receive only 100 roubles ($3) a month.
During the early years of the Chechen war, thousands of conscripts were slaughtered in battles against seasoned rebel forces. Activist groups say officers frequently sold weapons to the rebels, and even rented out their troops as labour.
Yevgeny's mother, Lyubov, said that when Yevgeny was kidnapped, his officers told her he had deserted. After she went to Chechnya to look for him, they refused to help or pay a ransom to secure his release. She was paid 5,000 roubles ($172) compensation for his death.
She hunted for her son for nine months through a Chechnya riven by war, narrowly avoiding death in places where soldiers feared to go, eventually learning how he had died and identifying her decapitated son through a cross he always wore.
She says that what she learned about her son's ordeal made her even more convinced that he was a decent, religious man.
"Taking off the Orthodox cross was just the first part, then they forced them [Russian prisoners of war] to take up weapons and kill their own comrades who were prisoners or fight on the side of the rebels. And they filmed all of this on camera and we are just learning about this during the course of the second Chechen war. Yevgeny was not only a religious man who refused to betray his faith, I also believe that he refused to betray his oath as a soldier, that he was a decent human being as well as a religious man," says Lyubov Rodionova.
Rodionova now devotes much of her life to honouring her son's memory. She gathers food packages and other needed items to send to young conscripts serving in Chechnya. She has made 28 trips into the dangerous war zone in order to bring her own humanitarian aid.
For Rodionova - who often calls herself simply "Yevgeny Rodionov's mum--it is not terribly important whether the church advances Yevgeny's status into that of "saint".
She says canonisation cannot bring back her son.
Nonetheless, there does seem to be a grass-roots admiration for Yevgeny.
Church officials are going through the lengthy process that could end in his canonisation.
Father Dmitry, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate's department for armed forces, says that historical precedents favour canonisation.
"He refused to take off his cross. He declared himself a Christian which brought about his death. Similar cases in the history of the church have led to canonisation,"
says Father Dmitry.
For Father Dmitry, the public love for this soldier also shows Russi ans' remarkable return to the religion of their fathers after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which demolished thousands of churches and encouraged atheism. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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