Yevgeny Rodionov is a Russian soldier and martyr, a holy youth who laid down his life for the Russian people and for his country. Today, his grave, which is located near Podolsk, does not remain abandoned. Brides with suitors, warriors crippled in battles, and desperate people come to her. Here they are strengthened in spirit, consoled, and also healed of ailments and longing.
Once Yevgeny Rodionov was an ordinary Russian guy. And now artists are painting his icons, poets are writing poems about him. His images are myrrh-streaming.
Childhood
Rodionov Evgeny Alexandrovich was born on 1977-23-05. The village of Chibirley, which is located in the Kuznetsk district of the Penza region, became the place of his birth.
Evgeny's father, Alexander Konstantinovich, was a carpenter, joiner, furniture maker. He died shortly after his son was buried. For several days, my father literally did not leave Yevgeny's grave. After these trials, his heart gave out.
Mother - LoveVasilievna, was a furniture technologist by profession.
Yevgeny Rodionov's biography is short and nothing special. Zhenya's family moved from their native village of Chibirley to the Moscow region. There, in the village of Kurilovo, the guy went to school, finishing nine classes.
The Rodionovs, like most people in the perestroika 90s, lived quite modestly. Lyubov Vasilievna even had to be torn between three jobs. That is why, after nine classes, the guy left school and began working at a furniture factory. The young man quickly mastered his speci alty and began to bring home good money. In parallel with work, Eugene studied to be a driver.
Omen
In the family, Eugene was a welcome child. By his birth, he became a great joy in the house. Only the mother's heart sank for some time from a disturbing sense of danger and fear. After all, immediately after the birth of Zhenya, and it happened at half past one in the night, she accidentally looked out the window. There, in the dark sky, large and bright stars shone. And suddenly one of them suddenly began to fall, leaving behind a bright trail. Nurses and doctors began to convince Lyubov Vasilievna that this was a good sign, that it portends joy and a wonderful future for the child. However, the tense expectation did not leave the woman for a long time. Only with time everything was gradually forgotten and remembered only after 19 years.
Baptism
Zhenya grew up as a calm and affectionate child. He rarely got sick, ate well and almost did not bother his parents with his screaming at night. However, they were concerned thatthe baby did not walk for a very long time. And then the parents, on the advice of the boy's grandfather and grandmothers, christened him in a nearby temple. Soon after, the boy, who was one year and two months old, began to walk.
Cross
In the difficult 90s, when Yevgeny Rodionov's mother was at work for a long time, Zhenya showed independence beyond his years. He learned to cook his own food. He did his homework without the help of adults. One visited the temple. Most often, he visited the Trinity Cathedral, located in Podolsk. And already at the age of 14, the boy not only comprehended, but also accepted the very essence of the Trinity, bringing his understanding to the heart of his mother, who in those years was still far from faith. In the summer of 1989, Eugene came to church with his grandmothers. They, according to the ancient Orthodox custom, brought their grandson here to take communion and confess before the school year. And only then it turned out that the boy does not wear a pectoral cross. In the temple, Eugene was given it on a chain. Only after some time the guy hung the cross on a thick rope.
What Father said to Zhenya at his first confession, no one knows. It is quite possible that he told the boy a parable that a cross for Christians is like a bell that is hung around the necks of sheep to notify the Shepherd of trouble. Maybe the conversation was about something else. But since then, the boy has not removed the cross from his neck. Lyubov Vasilievna was embarrassed. She was afraid that her son would be laughed at at school. However, Zhenya did not change his mind. No one laughed at him, and soon his friends even began to pourcrucifixion using special molds.
Serving in the army
Yevgeny Rodionov did not want to leave his mother. Service in the army did not attract him. However, the guy had no legitimate reasons for delays, and he went to do his duty. Rodionov Evgeny Alexandrovich was drafted into the army on 1995-25-06
Initially, he was sent to the training unit of military unit No. 2631 in the city of Ozersk, Kaliningrad Region. To date, this training unit of the border troops of the Russian Federation has been disbanded. Perhaps that is why very little is known about how the future hero Yevgeny Rodionov served here. However, a legend remained about this young man. She says that where the guy served, there was no hazing. Many believe that this is the first miracle of the warrior Eugene.
Zhenya took the military oath on 1995-10-07. His service took place in the Kaliningrad region, where he was a grenade launcher as part of the 3rd frontier outpost. 1996-13-01, the guy, along with other young fighters, was sent on a business trip. It was then that he ended up on the border of Chechnya and Ingushetia in the Nazran border detachment.
Meeting Mother
Before Yevgeny Rodionov was sent to the North Caucasus, he managed to meet Lyubov Vasilievna once again. According to the story of the mother, who came to visit her son, the colonel of the unit met at first unfriendly. He decided that she would demand that Yevgeny not be sent to a hot spot. However, he soon changed his attitude. After all, Lyubov Vasilievna told him that everything would be as her son decided. Finally, the boss even gave Zhenya eight daysvacation.
The guy was very proud of the fact that he became a border guard and would do the right thing for the Motherland. It was at this last meeting that the son told his mother that he had written a report about the transfer to a hot spot. He, as best he could, reassured Lyubov Vasilievna, arguing that it was impossible to get away from fate. They also talked about captivity. “This is how lucky…” said the son.
Captivity
The guy's words turned out to be prophetic. Private border guard Yevgeny Rodionov was captured a month after he began his business trip to the Chechen-Ingush border.
On this day (13.02.1996) a detachment consisting of four people took up the next duty. In addition to Yevgeny Rodionov, Igor Yakovlev, Andrei Trusov and Alexander Zheleznov were in it. The guys carried out a dangerous service without an officer or ensign, and also without setting a task that would be due to military operations.
Young soldiers were on duty at a checkpoint located on the border between Ingushetia and Chechnya. It was through this PKK that the only road in this mountainous area passed, often used by militants to transport abducted people, as well as to deliver ammunition and weapons. However, such an important and responsible post was more like a bus stop, devoid of even electricity. Our guys were standing almost unprotected in the middle of a road infested with bandits.
Of course, this could not continue for long. But on that very night, when Yevgeny's outfit was on duty here, a minibus was passing by the PKK, onwhich was written "Ambulance". It contained Chechen bandits led by one of their field commanders, Ruslan Khaikhoroev. Weapons were transported in this car. According to the charter, the young border guards made an attempt to inspect the cargo. But here a struggle ensued. Armed bandits jumped out of the minibus. The border guards resisted as best they could. The fact that they did not give up without a fight was evidenced by traces of blood left on the pavement. However, the young guys did not have a chance to defeat the battle-hardened armed terrorists. The border guards were captured.
Notice to mother
Yevgeny's colleagues, who were relatively close, only two hundred meters from the PKK, should have heard the cries of our guys for help. However, at three in the morning, many of them were asleep. But even after that, no alarm was announced. No one started chasing either. The guys were not looking at all! Although this is not entirely true. Active searches were carried out far beyond the borders of Chechnya, in the peaceful suburbs of Moscow. Already on February 16, Evgeny's mother received a telegram informing her that her son had arbitrarily left the unit. And then the police began searching for the deserter, searching not only the apartment, but also the nearest basements.
Lyubov Vasilievna knew the character of her son and was convinced that Zhenya could not do this. She began to write to the military unit, trying to convince the commanders that her son could not become a deserter. However, they did not believe her.
Search for son
Mother's heart felt trouble. She decided to go herself to the Chechen-Ingush border, where she was transferredson. Only there the commander of the unit told her that a mistake had occurred. Her son is not a deserter. He was captured.
Then Lyubov Vasilievna went to see Sergei Kovalev, who was collaborating with the "Committee of Mothers". However, this public organization, which was located in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, for some reason turned out to consist only of Chechen women receiving humanitarian aid from Kovalev. Obviously showing off in front of them, this public figure accused Lyubov Vasilievna of having raised a murderer.
Then the mother decided to look for her son on her own. She went around almost all of Chechnya. Lyubov Rodionova visited Gelaev, Maskhadov and Khattab. In her own words, she prayed to God and by some miracle remained alive. Although by name he can name those mothers whom the Chechens brutally killed.
In search of her son, she, together with the father of one of the contractors, even went to Basayev. In front of the cameras and in public, this "Robin Hood" tried to be a good hero. However, after the parents of the fighters left the village, they were surrounded by a detachment led by Basayev's brother, Shirvani. It was he who knocked Lyubov Vasilievna to the ground and beat her with a rifle butt and kicked her. As a result, she miraculously survived. She barely crawled to the tent where her people were, but for another three days, due to severe pain, she could not roll over on her back, much less walk. A little later, she saw the father of a contract soldier, who was visiting Basayev with her, in Rostov among the corpses.
Execution
After the kidnapping, young border guards were taken to the village of Bamut. There the bandits kept our guys in the basement of the house. On thefor three months, the captives endured bullying and torture, but during all this time the guys did not leave hope that they would be rescued.
More than anyone else, the Chechens beat Yevgeny Rodionov. The reason for this was his cross, which hung around his neck. The militants gave the guy an ultimatum. They offered to make a choice between accepting Islam, which meant joining their ranks, or death. However, Eugene refused to do so categorically. For this he was severely beaten, constantly telling him to take off his cross. However, the young man did not. One can only guess what this young lad, who at that time was not yet nineteen years old, was thinking. But, most likely, the Guardian Angel strengthened Eugene in that terrible darkness of the basement, just as it was with the first Christians who became martyrs.
Mothers of a young border guard militants constantly repeated that her son was still alive, but was in their captivity. After that, they always made a meaningful pause, as if asking the price of what they could take from the unfortunate woman. But, most likely, realizing that they couldn’t get enough, they came to their terrible decision.
On Zhenya's birthday, May 23, 1996, there was a bloody denouement. Together with the rest of the soldiers, the guy was taken to the forest, which was located not far from Bamut. First they killed Yevgeny's friends, who were with him on his last duty at the PKK. After that, for the last time, the guy was offered to remove the cross. However, Eugene did not. After that he was executed just as terribly as in ancient times.sacrificial ritual of the pagans - they cut off the living head. However, even after his death, the bandits did not dare to remove the cross from the guy's body. It was from him that the mother recognized her son. Subsequently, the bandits gave the mother a videotape, on which the execution of Yevgeny was filmed. Then she learned that on that day she was only seven kilometers from the village of Bamut, which our troops had already taken on May 24.
Yevgeny Rodionov was killed by Ruslan Khaykhoroev himself. He admitted this himself in the presence of an OSCE representative, pointing out that the young border guard had a choice and could have survived.
23.08.1999 Khaikhoroev and his bodyguards were killed during an intra-Chechen bandit showdown. It happened exactly 3 years and 3 months after the death of Eugene.
Terrible ransom
Lyubov Vasilievna still managed to find her child. But this happened already nine months later and when her son was dead. However, the bandits demanded a ransom from a lonely and unhappy woman. For 4 million rubles, which at that time amounted to approximately 4 thousand dollars, they agreed to indicate the place where the remains of Yevgeny were located.
To raise the necessary amount, Lyubov Vasilievna had to sell almost everything - an apartment, things and some clothes.
However, Lyubov Vasilievna's journey through the Chechen hell has not yet ended. While she was transporting her son's body to the city of Rostov, she dreamed of him every night and asked for help. And then the woman decided to go back to Chechnya to take Zhenya's head from there. And shefound her, after which she safely returned to Rostov. On November 20, 1996, Lyubov Vasilievna was able to bring her son's body home, after which she buried him. And that same night, Eugene dreamed of his mother shining and joyful.
The occurrence of a miracle
Immediately after the death of Yevgeny Rodionov, the most incredible things began to happen in different parts of Russia. Thus, one of the vagrant girls, who ended up in a newly created rehabilitation Orthodox orphanage in 1997, told about a tall soldier who was wearing a red cape. He called himself Eugene, took the girl by the hand and took her to the church. There are no red capes in life. It was a martyr's cloak.
But the miracles didn't stop there. Many churches began to hear stories about a divine warrior, dressed in a fiery cloak, who helps young soldiers captured by the Chechens. He shows them the way to freedom, bypassing all the stretch marks and min.
Since 1999, the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers began to talk about him, arguing that there is such a martyr - the warrior Eugene. He helps the guys in captivity. Mothers began to pray to the Lord for the warrior Yevgeny in the hope of seeing their sons alive.
But that's not all. The wounded soldiers, being treated in the Burdenko hospital, claimed that they knew the warrior Yevgeny, who helped them at the moment when severe pains approached. Many fighters claim that they saw this soldier on the icon while visiting the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In addition, a warrior, dressed in a red cape,sign and prisoner. They say this soldier helps the weakest and lifts the spirits of the broken.
In 1997 a book about Yevgeny Rodionov was published. It is called "The New Martyr for Christ, Warrior Eugene." The book was commissioned by the church of St. Nicholas, located in Pyzhy. She was blessed by His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II. Soon, a report came from a priest from Dnepropetrovsk, Vadim Shklyarenko, in which it was indicated that the photograph posted on the cover of the book was streaming myrrh. Miro has a light color and a slight scent of pine needles.
There is no official decision of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the canonization of the new martyr yet. Yevgeny Rodionov was canonized by the Serbian Patriarch. In the Serbian Orthodox Church, the young man is revered as a new martyr. In this country, an Orthodox fighter is called Eugene of Russia. However, the Russian Orthodox Church does not forbid considering the young border guard a locally revered saint. But the official decision will have to wait. According to the rules, the canonization of the laity should take place only in the fiftieth year after their death. Exceptions are possible only for those who showed their holiness during their lifetime.
However, the icons of the warrior Eugene have already appeared. Today alone, there are already a little more than one and a half hundred of them throughout Russia, but they are not yet official. The iconography of Eugene the Warrior is large and extensive. More than a dozen different icons depicting the martyr are known.
On the icons, St. Eugene Rodionov is depicted, as it should be, with a halo above his head. And it does not matter at all that the canonization of a warrior has not yet been officially approved. Evgenybecame a popular saint, which is quite possibly much more important.
Grave veneration
The martyr Yevgeny Rodionov was buried in the Moscow region at the village cemetery with. Satino-Russian, which is located in the Podolsk region. Thousands of people come to the grave every year on the day of his birth and at the same time his death on May 23. These are residents not only of Russia, but also of many foreign countries.
On this day, dozens of priests hold memorial services near the grave of Yevgeny Rodionov. Moreover, church services are held on May 23 from early morning until late at night.
People flock to this rural cemetery to honor the feat of Yevgeny Rodionov. This Russian soldier who did not betray either his Motherland or the Faith. As a sign of respect, some of the Chechen veterans even leave their medals here.
People visit this rural cemetery even on ordinary days. Anyone who is in trouble asks the warrior Yevgeny for intercession, leaving notes on the grave between the pebbles.
A cross rises above the burial place of a young guy. The inscription on it reads as follows: "Here lies Yevgeny Rodionov, a Russian soldier who defended the Fatherland and did not renounce Christ, who was executed on May 23, 1996 near Bamut."
Monument
The memory of Yevgeny Rodionov, who died heroically in Chechnya and in his homeland in the Penza region, is immortalized. There, in the city of Kuznetsk, on September 25, 2010, the opening of the monument took place. The monument to the warrior Eugene has the appearance of a bronze candle, the flame of which seems to embrace a soldier holding a cross in his hands. The author of the monument is the sculptor-artist SergeyMardar.
The monument to the warrior Yevgeny is located on the territory of school No. 4, where Rodionov studied, and which is now named after him. At its opening, a solemn rally was held, which brought together residents of the city of different ages. Visited this event and the guests of Kuznetsk.
In the speeches of all the speakers, words of gratitude were expressed to the mother of the hero, who was able to adequately raise her son, and then she herself accomplished a maternal feat.
The monument called "The Candle of Memory" was opened:
- head of the department of the Directorate for educational work under the Border Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation V. T. Borzov;
- Colonel of the Alpha group S. A. Polyakov;
- chairman of the board of the regional veteran organization "Combat Brotherhood" Yu. V. Krasnov;
- Chairman of the Council of Veterans of Local Armed Conflicts and Wars of Kuznetsk P. V. Ildeikin.
