Russia: From Village Boy to Soldier, Martyr and, Many Say, Saint

KURILOVO JOURNAL From Village Boy to Soldier, Martyr and, Many Say, Saint By SETH MYDANS

URILOVO, Russia — Shoulders back, chest out, the young soldier stands as if on parade in his camouflage fatigues — his boots polished, his rifle at his shoulder, a halo around his head.

His face is the blank mask of a man for whom duty is life. It is not easy being a soldier, or a saint.

Portraits of this young man, Yevgeny Rodionov, are spreading around Russia — sometimes in uniform, sometimes in a robe, sometimes armed, sometimes holding a cross, but always with his halo.

He is Russia's new unofficial saint, a casualty of the war in Chechnya who has been canonized not by the Russian Orthodox Church but by a groundswell of popular adoration.

The portraits are religious icons, venerated in homes and churches where Private Rodionov has become the focus of a minor cult that seems to fill a nationalist hunger for popular heroes.

In one icon he is painted to look like a medieval Russian knight. In another he is included, in full uniform, in a group portrait of the last czar and his family, under the gaze of Jesus.

Church officials say all of this breaks religious law. Sainthood is not a popularity contest, and icons are not campaign posters. The process of canonization, the officials say, is long and arduous and can only be carried out by the church.

But it does happen from time to time that a symbolic figure emerges to capture the passions of a moment and becomes a sort of folk saint — sometimes the first step toward official sainthood.

In pamphlets, songs and poems, in sermons and on Web sites, Private Rodionov's story has become a parable of religious devotion and Russian nationalism. The young soldier, it is said, was killed by Muslim rebels seven years ago because he refused to renounce his religion or remove the small silver cross he kept around his neck.

It is the story his mother says she was told by the rebels who killed him and who later led her, for a ransom of $4,000, to the place they had buried him. When she exhumed his body late one night, she said, the cross was there among his bones, glinting in the light of flashlights, stained with small drops of blood.

"Nineteen-year-old Yevgeny Rodionov went through unthinkable suffering," reads an encomium on one nationalist Web site, "but he did not renounce the Orthodox faith but confirmed it with his martyr's death.

"He proved that now, after so many decades of raging atheism, after so many years of unrestrained nihilism, Russia is capable, as in earlier times, of giving birth to a martyr for Christ, which means it is unconquerable."

As his story has spread, pilgrims have begun appearing in this small village just west of Moscow, where his mother, Lyubov, 51, tends his grave on an icy hillside beside an old whitewashed church.

Some military veterans have laid their medals by his graveside in a gesture of homage. People in distress have left handwritten notes asking for his intercession.

In a church near St. Petersburg, his full-length image stands at the altar beside icons of the Virgin Mary, the Archangel Michael, Jesus and Nicholas II, the last of the czars, who was canonized three years ago.

Aleksandr Makeyev, a paratroop officer who heads a foundation to assist soldiers, said he had seen soldiers kneeling in prayer before an image of Private Rodionov. "The kids in Chechnya, they feel they've been abandoned by the state and abandoned by their commanders," he told the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.

"They don't know who to appeal to for help, but they understand that Zhenya is one of them," he said, using Private Rodionov's nickname. "You can say he is the first soldier-saint."

Among the photographs of her son that Mrs. Rodionov spreads on her kitchen table are laminated cards that she says some soldiers carry with them for luck. They bear his image along with a prayer:

"Thy martyr, Yevgeny, O Lord, in his sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from thee, our God, for having thy strength he has brought down his torturers, has defeated the powerless insolence of demons. Through his prayers save our souls."

Although he has not been formally canonized, Private Rodionov's mother and other believers say his icons sometimes emit rivulets of holy perfume, as some extremely sacred Orthodox icons are said to do.

Indeed, Mrs. Rodionov said, her own icon of her son drips perfume. "When that happens and I am planning a trip, I postpone it," she said. "The icon gives me signs."

Mrs. Rodionov said she was able to find her son's body and learn how he died during a lull in the war when rebel soldiers were demanding huge sums of money to return live prisoners or the bodies of men they had killed.

According to the accounts of his captors, she said, he and three other soldiers were seized in 1996 while manning a checkpoint and were held in a cellar for 100 days before they were executed.

Private Rodionov was killed, she said, when he refused the rebels' demand that he remove his cross and forswear his religion.

A poem called "The Cross," composed in his honor, paints a scene of laughing heathens who beheaded the young soldier when he defied them.

"Pure mountains in the distance, slopes covered in blooms of blue," the poem reads. "Refusing to renounce Christ, the soldier of Russia fell. And his head rolled, blood flowed from the saber, and the red grass whispered a quiet prayer in its wake."

Private Rodionov was proud to wear his military uniform and to do his duty for his country, his mother said.

There is a really great writing of this story out there on the net somewhere called something like "They call her the Mother of Border soldiers" but this is a similar version. After her son was killed, Evgeny's mother began working to help the border patrol Russian soldiers by collecting things like gloves for them.

Russian Soldier Goes Through Chechen Captivity Hell

Evgeny Rodionov,19 years old, did not lose his faith despite horrible tortures

The Chechen captivity is the most horrid, the most inhuman and barbaric thing that can ever happen,¦ says Evgeny-s mother. She had to survive hell to find her son, the body of her son, to be more precise. Evgeny-s death coincided with his 19th birthday. Evgeny-s mother, Lubov, was a little late: she was just seven kilometers far from the place of her son-s execution.

Evgeny was born 30 minutes after midnight on May 23, 1977. His delivery was not hard. He was a good and healthy child, his weight was 3900 grams. I was so relieved, when I heard his first cry. As if he was trying to say: ?I came into this world, love me!¦ I incidentally looked at the window. It was dark outside, and I suddenly saw a falling star. I went pale, my heart turned to a cold small piece. Doctors tried to convince me that it was a good sign. They told me that a falling star was a sign of good life for my baby. However, I had to live with a sense of something dangerous coming over us. Time made me forget about it, but I had to remember the sign in 19 years.¦

The Russian patriotic press has already reported about the deed of a 19-year-old Russian soldier, Evgeny Rodionov. This young man found himself in the Chechen captivity in 1996. He did not betray either his fatherland or his faith. He did not take off his cross even at the hardest moment of beastly tortures. The state decorated Evgeny with the Order of Courage. People-s donations made it possible to put a two-meter high Orthodox cross on his grave. People come to visit his grave from most distant parts of Russia. His mother, Lubov Rodionova, says that people-s attitude changed her entire awareness of life. A WWII veteran once came to visit Evgeny-s grave. He took off his military decoration v the Bravery Medal v and put in on the tombstone.

Evgeny Rodionov-s biography was published in a book that came out in 2002. The book was called ?The New Martyr of Christ, Warrior Evgeny.¦ This is not really a book, but a booklet, which was written by priest Alexander Shargunov. However, we know little about Evgeny-s inmost thoughts, feelings, emotions, or what he had to go through during three months of the Chechen hell. A lot of things remain a mystery. Lubov Rodionova shared her thoughts with the priest about her son-s childhood, his interests at school, his attitude to the military service. She also shared her most horrible thoughts v about the news of his alleged desertion from the army, and what followed that news afterwards.

Eighteen-year-old Evgeny Rodionov was taken captive with three other soldiers at night of February 14th, not far from the Chechen settlement of Galashki. The guys arrived from the Kaliningrad region. They patrolled the border between the republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Their control and registration post was located some 200 meters far from the security detachment. The post was just a small cabin, without any light or wire communication. The cabin did not even have a military support, in spite of the fact that it was a single cabin on the mountainous road, which was used for carrying weapons, ammunition, captives, drugs and so on. The border guards stopped an ambulance vehicle to check it. More than ten armed Chechens got out of the vehicle. Needless to mention that it was very easy for them to cope with young inexperienced soldiers. The guys showed as much resistance as they could, but the outcome of the fight was evident before it even started. Lubov Rodionova believes that this incident happened over officers- negligence, basically. ?The captivity has always been considered to be the most horrible thing that can ever happen to a person. It implies no freedom, but only tortures and humiliation. Experience showed that the Chechen captivity is the most horrid, the most inhuman and barbaric thing that can ever happen,¦ Lubov Rodionova believes.

As soon as she learned that her son was a captive of Chechen guerrillas, she started looking for him all over Chechnya for nine months. She had to go through every horror imaginable. ?I think that God was watching over me. I was walking along mined roads, but I did not step on a bomb. He protected me from bombings, he did not let me die, because my duty was to find my son, to bury him on his native land, according to Christian traditions. I have realized that recently. When I was walking along those military roads, I just kept silence, praying to God in my heart.¦

Chechen bandits murdered Evgeny Rodionov on May 23, 1996 in the Chechen settlement of Bamut. Russian troops occupied the village the next day. Lubov Rodionova learned about her son-s death only in September. She had to put a mortgage on her own apartment in order to find Evgeny-s body and to take it away along with the bodies of his murdered friends. A Chechen man agreed to show her the place, where Evgeny was buried. She had to pay him a lot of money for that. ?When I came to Chechnya in the middle of February, a living private cost ten million rubles. This price was 50 million in August. A friend of mine was told to pay 250 million rubles for her son, since he was an officer. It was nighttime, when I and some sappers were digging the pit, in which the bodies of four Russian soldiers were thrown. I was praying all the time, hoping that my Evgeny was not going to be there. I could not and did not want to believe that he was murdered. When we were taking out the remnants, I recognized his boots. However, I still refused to accept the fact of his death, until someone found his cross. Then I fainted.¦

Evgeny Rodionov was murdered by Ruslan Khaikhoroyev. This bandit confessed that himself. ?Your son had a choice to stay alive. He could convert to Islam, but he did not agree to take his cross off. He also tried to escape once,¦ said Khaikhoroyev. The guerrilla was killed together with his bodyguards on August 23, 1999 in a fight between armed Chechen groups. When Lubov Rodionova came back home, Evgeny-s father died five days after the funeral. He could not stand the loss of his son.

Archpriest Dmitry Smirnov, acting chairman of the Moscow Patriarchy department for cooperation with the Armed Forces, says that Evgeny Rodionov will definitely be canonized. The adequate inquiry has already been made, although more information about Evgeny's fate is needed. Father Dmitry said that Evgeny would be canonized as soon as the information was collected.

A sign in memory of the brave Russian border guard was put at the entrance to the school, where he studied. There was also a documentary released about him. The writings on Evgeny-s grave cross run: ?Russian soldier Evgeny Rodionov is buried here. He defended his Fatherland and did not disavow Christ. He was executed on May 23, 1996, on the outskirts of Bamut.¦

We know that he had to go through horrible, long-lasting sufferings that could be compared to the ones of great martyrs in ancient times. They were beheaded, dismembered, but they remained devoted to Jesus Christ anyway,¦ priest Alexander Shargunov said during the requiem in Evgeny Rodionov-s memory.

Disappeared. It means - deserter

"You should find a boevich and become his mistress. He'll help you to find your son. Because there is nobody to help you without any benefit . Why should I?" - said one colonel from commission on search of prisoners of war. "We should investigate how your son was captured. If he was out of conscience it is one pair of shoes if he decided to be captured on his own will it is another one…", - announced an investigator of Procurator's office. At the same time her son was being tortured by terrorists.

Yevgeny Rodionov was captured on Feb 13, 1996 together with his friends - soldiers of frontier guard. Border post where Yevgeny served was situated not far from populated point in Ingushetia.. There was a filter post near a road: four soldiers were due to check all cars. There was neither a barrier nor defensive constructions near that post only a field and it goes without saying a road. Main camp was situated 200 meters from "post". Under peaceful conditions there is nothing special. But under military conditions it is madness. In one car passing by the filter post there was a brigade Chechen general Ruslan Khaikhoroev with his guard. Certainly they were going neither to give papers nor to surrender to the Russian. And when four Russian nineteen years old fellows tried not to allow them infiltrate to Ingushetia they were beaten and taken to Chechnya. Only after several hours Russian officers discovered that soldiers had disappeared. But they decided not to report about it to their commanders understanding that they were to blame. In three days Lubov Rodionova received a telegram: " We do not know where your son is now…" After that another telegram was sent to her: "Your son left military unit on his own authority and took a gun. If you learn something about him inform us." At the same time military procurator's office raised a criminal case against three soldiers. Police officers looked for a "deserter" in a flat of his mother. When they went away soldier's mother was told that in case of her son appearance she should inform police about it.

Lubov Vasilievna took her thing and… went to Chechnya to look for her son. Can you imagine an American woman walking about Bahdad or for example Prishtina looking for her son soldier? I can't. But during the "first Chechen war" hundreds of Russian women tried to find their lost son themselves.

Commanders of federal troops in Mozdok gave her a paper: " a certain woman is looking for her son in Chechnya. Help her." Date and signature. It was all authorities helped. For 10 months Lubov Vladimirovna roved around Chechnya. She got to know many commanders from both sides. For several weeks she worked as a maid in restaurant for generals in base of federal troops. Then she lived in a camp of Hattab. Then in Russian camp again. Then she went to boevichs… Her searches failed. One local citizen gave her an advice to pay someone. "There is nothing to do in Chechnya without big money" - he cleared. Lubov Vasilievna was affected: how she will take needed money? Or to sell her flat… She had to return home.

Look for a grave at night

Leaving Chechnya she did not know that once she had been hear her son - in village of Alexeevskaya. 7 km from it in their camp terrorists tortured our soldiers. Among them there was a private of frontier guard Yevgeny Rodionov.

In intervals between tortures Chechen rebels proposed Russian soldiers should side with them. But our fighters rejected. Though it was easy to give in: they were to agree to become Mussulmans and join defenders of "independent Ichkeria". It is easy only in pictures to chose either treason or death. - Took away your cross and you'll be our brother - he was offered.

He rejected to do it. It resulted to his death.

When Chechen terrorists got convinced they had failed to make our soldier become a traitor bandits decided to cut off his head. Yevgeny was still alive when bandit began to cut his throat. It is ancient wild custom - enemy should be beheaded otherwise he will follow you.

Lubov Vasilievna knew nothing about it. She put in pledge her own flat. But when she came back to Chechnya it was too late. Yevgeny and three his friends soldiers lay dead in a crater from a bomb.

One "kind" man agreed to show her a grave of her son for $4 thousand. Taking into consideration that there were other three soldiers besides Yevgeny he receive $1 thousand for each of them. Under Chechen conditions it is not expensive. That man pointed out a place. " You can look for your son there. But you can take his body only at night" - he warned.

Commission on search of military men gave her a lorry and two soldiers. They went at night as promised. What happened after that Lubov Vasilievna hardly remembers. Night , dirt she was standing at the edge of the crater. Russian soldiers lie dead.

She did not find a head of her son. Lubov Valilievna had to return to Chechnya from Rostov again (there was medical laboratory that is engeged in recognizing of dead soldiers.) and to apply to the mediator: " You got money so give me my son's head back". He went and returned with a skull. Rodionova took her son's head to Rostov in usual carriage.

Father of Yevgeny Rodionov dead four days after funereal of her son. He had a heart struck. How could a woman live after it?

After his death private Rodionov turned from a traitor into a hero. He was rewarded an order of Courage. The mother was told: thank you for your son. After that as usual they were not interested in fate of soldier's mother.

Only Orthodox church cared about her. Priests helped her to collect money and buy back a flat where Lubov Vasilievna lived together with her son before.

- I think my son perished not only for faith but also for Faterland, - says Lubov Vasilievna, - and to tell the truth God forbid my son to behave himself differently. Certainly I would have forgiven him but every time in my soul I thought: my son was a traitor.

It is no time to cry

Then she saw soldiers who in contrast to her son chose life. Beaten and raped they obeyed bandits and shot their friends. "It is happiness that my son perished like a hero", - thought Lubov Vasilievna.

Since then in Chechnya she have had a place sacred for her - suburbs of village of Bamut, land covered by blood of her son. Lubov Rodionova often visits this place. All in all she met a murderer of her son - Ruslan Khaikhoroev. " You are a brave woman. I respect you, " he said. He presented her with … videocassette on which execution of her son was recorded.

When the "second Chechen war" began Lubov Vasilievna spent all time watching TV: places shown were familiar to her. She saw news and thought about something. "They have no gloves. They are cold there"- an idea came to her when she saw artillerists taking shells with naked hands.

Lubov Vasilievna addressed to churches, local authorities and ordinary people: help if you can. In such a way she collected humanitarian help. She brought it to Chechnya. "At first I became angry with anyone. But then I understood that I shouldn't look for people accused. My son perished in Chechnya for all of us defending me my friends relatives. It is no time to cry now it is time to help."

Ordinary people help her to live. Recently she received a letter written by soldiers from frontier guard in Nazran: " All border post recollects you every day. You became our mother - mother of border post". After such letters Lubov Vasilievna revives again. Because any person lives really until he is needed for someone.

Vladislav KULIKOV

Soldiers call her a mother

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