Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 19 – It was “an
unwritten rule” that the Soviet military sent openly Russian Orthodox
Christians to serve in the predominantly Muslim republics of Central Asia,
according to the editor of the “Religion and the Media” portal, just as the
Soviet commanders often sent practicing Muslims to serve in Slavic regions.
The dispatch of Muslims to serve
outside their home republics has long been the object of study because many of
those who served in the Soviet military were subjected to dedovshchina and
became more committed to the defense of their religious faith and national
identities as a result.
But the sending of openly practicing
Christians to Muslim republics has attracted less attention and makes the
recollections of Aleksandr Shchipkov which are entitlted “Dzhokhar and
Aleksandr. The Clash of Civilizations,” as posted on the FOMA.ru website,
especially interesting (www.foma.ru/dzhoxar-i-aleksandr.-stolknovenie-czivilizaczij.html).
Shchipkov
recalls his service in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in 1979 and his friendship
with Dzhokhar K., a Chechen Muslim. The
religious news site editor notes in passing that “the openly Orthodox [of whom
he was one] were sent for their military service to Central Asia” because “it
was an unwritten rule that Christians would serve amidst Islamic culture.”
As
he was being processed in, the religious affairs expert says, he was handed “a
cross on a chain” by “strong Turkmen hands.
That cross, which had come from abroad, was the first of Shchipkov’s
many experiences with Muslims who nonetheless were prepared to help Christians
who were active rather than merely “nominal” believers.
Of
course, he writes, while being shifted from one base or construction site to
another, he “encountered inter-religious conflict with open eyes.” Subsequently, “a friend sent [him] another
cross in a letter,” and it was that cross that Shchipkov wore underneath his
Soviet soldier’s uniform.
Looking
back, Shchipkov says, “the army [was] not a prison,” soldiers have more options
to talk with others and the sense of freedom is “much larger.” One of the
friends he made was a Chechen Muslim named Dzokhar, who, he continued,
respected the young Orthodox believer because of his directness about his faith
and his conflict with commanders about the cross.
The
young Chechen, the religious affairs expert continued, even helped him “hide
the Gospels” when political officers tried to find it and take it away.
Shchipkov said that he respected Dzhokhar because of his own faith and because
the latter “did not fear death,” something that allowed him to survive.
“The
Georgians [in the unit] hated him,” Shchipkov says. They tried to kill him, but
in vicious fights, he survived coming out the victor. He survived because every
time he was ready to die and this triumph over death” allowed him to win
against those who feared that outcome most of all.
His
Chechen Muslim friend was “an orphan,” the editor adds. “He was brought up by
his grandmother, and faith was the norm for him. The natural definer of daily
life. At times it seemed that as far as
questions of faith were concerned, we had nothing to argue about. As often
happens with young people, initially you find only that which you have in
common.”
Obviously,
Shchipkov’s words reflect the experience of only one man, but they do suggest
two more important conclusions: On the one hand, it seems clear that at least in
Soviet times, the atheist policy of the state meant that religious believers
regardless of denomination found themselves to have more in common than many
might assume.
And
on the other, even though Russian Orthodox Christians were also victims of “the
unwritten rule” about assigning believers to military units outside the areas
where their church was predominant, they may have come away from that
experience with more positive feelings about the Muslim nationalities than many
of the Muslim nationalities did about the Russians.
No comments:
Post a Comment