Posted on 10/11/2017 5:42:33 PM PDT by marshmallow
Two Russian mercenaries who were slaughtered by ISIS after they refused to to be filmed rejecting their Christian faith and converting to Islam have been remembered as martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Roman Zabolotny, 39, and Grigory Tsurkanu, 38, were thought to be fighting for a private Russian mercenary force in Syria when they were captured by ISIS last week, the Mail Online reports.
The two men appeared in a video released by ISIS' news outlet, Amak, in which they are shown in a jihadist vehicle, their legs bound by rope and hands tied behind their backs. The pair were executed the same day the video was made in a town square, according to Senior Russian MP Viktor Vodolatsky.
"It is very sad but 99 per cent Roman Zabolotny is not alive, nor is the second prisoner," he said.
"Before filming that video they were given a statement which they had to read," he continued. "In this text they would reject their Orthodox religion, reject their motherland, become Muslim and join ISIS. They stayed loyal to the Orthodox faith and their Motherland until the very end, and this is what they were killed by those gangsters for."
Zabolotny was reported to have been a devout Orthodox believer who went to Syria in order to protect Christians from terrorists. Both men were believed to be fighting for a group called Wagner private army.
Ruslan Leviev, founder of Conflict Intelligence independent investigation group, said the pair were mercenaries despite the reluctance of the Russian government to acknowledge the presence of mercenary soldiers in the area.
(Excerpt) Read more at gospelherald.com ...
Wow.
How many of us are strong enough to die for our religion? I don’t care who you are, that’s a tough thing to do.
LORD be with the families and loved ones of these two martyrs.
And if You see fit please change the hearts of those who did this evil act just as quickly as You changed Saul’s heart and renamed him Paul and set Him to work for You and Your purpose.
That is dying for Christ. Prayers for comfort and peace for their families.
Brave Christians fighting for Christianity in Syria. Martyrs
I’m normally ambivalent about mercenaries, but wow.
God Bless them.
Same story. Different day.
rwood
I volunteer to be a torturer of ISIS warriors.
It is not “cruel and unusual” punishment when they choose it for others.
Americans have no idea what is happening in Russia. It is a tribulation.
These two died for Christ and have more rewards than we can possibly imagine!
May their deeds be an example for all of us and God Bless their families.
This is what libs would do to us eventually if they had the power. Doubt it at your peril.
We will all as Christians avenge your deaths. Count on it, we’ll kill them by the bucket loads...
Amen...
Just for clarification the Russian Orthodox Church has not formally declared these two martyrs (yet). The linked video is the work of a layman and represents his opinion. That said there is a lot of discussion in online forums for Orthodox Christians and they are certainly being referred to as holy martyrs. In the Orthodox Church there is still the custom of canonization by acclamation as recently seen with the Great Martyr Yevgeny Rodionov.
Great and Holy New Martyrs pray for us!
True “Jesus Freaks”. Title of book series on Martyrs.
Americans are so obsessed with themselves and their fat, dumb, and happy lives, that all they want to hear is prosperity gospel nonsense.
So what? If they died for their faith in Jesus and their testimony for Him, they are martyrs, whether some church body officially recognizes it or not.
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