Russian Orthodox Priest made documentary footage on Chechnya

”Checnya through the eyes of a Russian Orthodox preacher” – this name can be given to the footage produced by Evgeny Bogomyakov, the preacher of St Great Martyr Panteleimon Church in the town of Nizhny Tagil. Preachers of Ekaterinburg Eparchy started making trip to “hot spot” areas in the beginning of the 90s. At that time the units of special forces and police from Ekaterinburg started to be sent on missions to Chechnya and other areas driven by conflicts. Servicemen were followed by preachers on such trips. Seeing how innocent people were suffering in Chechnya, priest Evgeny often took a video camera and captured the documentary history of the events he witnessed. The priest made 3-hour-footage in Grozny, Khankala, Vedenskoe and Argun ravines. He was filming while interviewing local residents and soldiers, conducting sermons in local churches and his camp church, baptizing new-born children and reading the burial service over the dead, ambushes of military units, short moments of rest – the variety of complicated life and service in the war-torn area. Priest Evgeny is eager to demonstrate his video footage to specialist and probably to produce a documentary with their help. The preacher believes that such a documentary would be the best visual aids for fostering patriotic feeling in the young generation. After seeing this documentary young people will realize the horror and useless of the bloody massacre. It will help them to learn compassion and forgiveness, obtaining more human, Christian outlook on the different sides of our life.

Source: http://www.rv.ru/