As Lyubov Rodionova flicks through her pictures, all showing the same young man in uniform, it becomes obvious these are not just family snaps. In one picture, his rifle is over his shoulder, in another it is in his hand, in a third he looks straight ahead with just a glimpse of a soldier's blue and white T-shirt -- but all have the same golden halo around his head. This is her son Yevgeny. The 19-year-old was murdered in Chechnya in 1996, but his legend lives on, and many Russians are pressing the Russian Orthodox Church to canonize him as a saint, martyred in a holy war against Islam. "Not only did Yevgeny not betray his faith, he also refused to betray his army. He refused to sell out his friends," said Rodionova, who lives alone in this town outside Moscow.
He was kidnapped and held in a cellar for months. Rodionova said his captors had told her they gave 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. Yevgeny is one of thousands of soldiers killed in Chechnya, but his bravery and religious faith under pressure has inspired many Russians tired of the war. At least 26 churches from Siberia to the Ukrainian border now have an icon of the handsome, dark-haired young man, who was a conscript in the border guards before his death. Several marchers held his icon aloft in a rally against terror near Red Square on Sept. 7, shortly after the Beslan school tragedy. "Yevgeny is famous. He is a bright example. Maybe it is because of his youth, and he reminds people of David and Goliath," said Orthodox priest Father Dmitry, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate's department for the armed forces.
I've got to say that the Russians suprise me every day I learn more about them. |