Russian evangelicals used Sunday sermons to sentence a terrorist attack that killed greater than 130 people at a Moscow concert hall.
As Russia’s Baptist union prayed for “God’s mercy and protection,” its Pentecostal union conveyed its “bitterness and sorrow.” Vitaly Vlasenko, general secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance, called it a “painful shock” that might unleash “unbridled revenge” against terrorism.
But many in Russia are wondering: Who are the terrorists?
The attack on Friday that killed no less than 137 people on the 6,200-seat Crocus City Hall was claimed by the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan’s Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), which seeks an Islamic caliphate in Central Asia. Its statement emphasized it was targeting Christians and got here within the “natural framework” of its war against the enemies of Islam.
Earlier this month, the US embassy in Moscow had issued a warning to avoid large gatherings. American officials stated they shared their intelligence with Russia. On March 7, Russia said it thwarted an attack on a synagogue, and just a few days prior, security services killed six ISIS-K terrorists during a shootout within the nation’s Muslim Caucasus region.
The group was also linked to the 2017 St. Petersburg metro bombing that killed 15.
ISIS-K was formed by extremists in search of a more violent path than the Pakistani Taliban in 2015, the identical yr Russia formally intervened in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad. A Sunni group, ISIS and its affiliates oppose Assad’s Alawite faith as heretical and considers Shiite Muslims as apostate.
In January, ISIS-K killed 95 Iranians in Tehran at a memorial service for Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was assassinated by the US in 2020. And as American forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, an ISIS-K attack on the Kabul airport killed 13 US soldiers and 170 civilians.
Analysts stated, nonetheless, that ISIS-K was increasingly targeting Russia.
Russia has arrested 11 suspects, with 4 alleged gunmen from Tajikistan now on trial.
But President Vladimir Putin, reelected March 17 with 88 percent of a vote Western observers declared was neither free nor fair, didn’t mention Islamic terrorism when he declared a national day of mourning. Official statements of blame have been vague, while the deputy head of Russia’s security council openly speculated that if Ukraine was involved, its leaders “should be tracked down and killed without mercy.”
“Are you sure it’s ISIS?” asked Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, suggesting the group was getting used as a “bogeyman.” The Russian ambassador to the US denied receiving any advance information from the US. And a nationalist media outlet urged the Kremlin to present Ukrainians 48 hours to evacuate major cities.
Just just a few hours prior to the concert hall massacre, in a large barrage against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, Russia had targeted its largest hydroelectric dam, leaving a couple of million people without electricity.
Ukraine has denied any involvement within the terrorist attack.
Its military intelligence spokesperson, nonetheless, suggested as an alternative that it was a “deliberate act of provocation” by Putin, while President Volodymyr Zelensky stated it was typical of such “thugs” to divert blame. He also alluded to unproven accusations that terrorist attacks in 1999 were a false flag operation, and that Putin considered his own residents to be “expendables.”
The US stated that ISIS-K alone carried out the attack, with Ukraine uninvolved.
Russian evangelical sources didn’t comment on the mutual accusations. They emphasized the outpouring of prayer, sympathy for victims, and the necessity to trust God and resist any urge for revenge.
“Evil is spreading across the earth,” said Alexey Markevich, vice rector for educational affairs for Moscow Theological Seminary, who has criticized the war in Ukraine. “Lord, give us peace, and stop any of us from being consumed by evil.”
Christians4Peace, an anonymous Russian antiwar group, condemned the near-simultaneous terrorist atrocity and the attack on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
“Teach us to like our enemies,” the group posted on its Telegram account. “Show us what we are able to still do, because we sometimes feel that nothing might be done.”
And a Russian Orthodox leader serving with the Faith2Share network of evangelical agencies, who asked that his full name not be used for security reasons, said the attack was still “too raw” to supply many thoughts. But as he spoke of a way of “hopelessness,” he also recalled memories of terrorism from the early 2000s. He feared the ISIS links might further harm attitudes toward the Central Asian migrant community from which the alleged attackers hail.
Up to 1.5 million Tajiks have worked in Russia, many with Russian citizenship.
Other Muslim extremists have troubled Russia before. In 2002, ethnic Chechen militants from Russia’s Caucasus region took hostages in a Moscow theater. The security operation to free them resulted within the deaths of 41 terrorists and an extra 129 civilians. In 2004, a siege by Chechen militants at a Russian school in Beslan ended with 330 dead, half of which were students.
But following Friday’s attack, one evangelical leader didn’t fear escalation.
“We have smart and cautious leadership in Moscow,” said Sergey Holzwert, bishop of the Lutheran church in European Russia. “The government won’t be rash and make sure the facts before saying anything official.”
Pavel Kolesnikov, general secretary of the Commonwealth of Evangelical Christians and the Lausanne Movement’s regional director for Eurasia, said the attack was further proof of a broken world. But he discouraged speculation in regards to the culprits.
“It just isn’t our responsibility to evaluate blame,” he said, citing Proverbs 25:2 and implying that this task belongs to the king. “Evil can come from anyplace and anyone, and people who need to interpret all the pieces are simply feeding their pride.”
As pastor of Moscow’s Zelenograd Baptist Church, Kolesnikov tackled terrorism in his Sunday sermon.
Sin has reigned since Adam, he said. Too many individuals idealize the longer term of the world, pondering they’ll change it. But though God is on the throne, Jesus commanded Peter to place away his sword. The Sermon on the Mount, he added, sets the Christian deal with a mercy that leads to energetic compassion and forgiveness.
And he noted that David’s prayer was for God to come back to his aid.
“If you might be in fear, when you demand justice, or when you cannot forgive, come to Jesus,” Kolesnikov preached. “He will provide you with all you would like.”
William Yoder, a retired church journalist and joint US-Russian citizen who has covered the region since 1978, said that Russian evangelicals are likely to be more passive than their American counterparts. Living in Russia and Belarus since 2001, he said that none are demanding retribution; as an alternative, terrorism is usually seen within the category of natural disasters.
“It is worthy of condemnation,” Yoder said, “however the local attitude is that God must protect us.”
His prayer is that the response can be measured, but he fears escalation. Semi-persuaded that ISIS-K just isn’t in charge, Yoder said most evangelicals would harbor similar doubts, like most Russian residents. But it could be higher if the jihadist group was guilty, lest the enmity with Ukrainians be even further enflamed.
Whoever is behind the attack, he prays that God will speak to their hearts.
Russia claimed that the suspected Tajik militants fled toward Ukraine, where they awaited reception. Russian opposition media outlet Meduzageolocated the arrest to the Bryansk region, 210 miles southwest of Moscow and 90 miles from the Ukrainian border. Pro-Kremlin media broadcast a detained militant’s confession that he was paid by an “Islamic preacher” to perform the attack.
Analysts have expressed doubt that anyone could infiltrate through the highly militararized border. But two terrorists have pled guilty, though footage also shows them badly bruised.
“There is not any religious motivation for this attack,” said Roman Lunkin, head of the Center for Religious Studies on the Russian Academy of Science, conveying the widespread doubt about ISIS-K. “On the contrary, the response has united all religious believers.”
Alongside Christians, Russia’s Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist organizations have all expressed their condolences to the victims. And as Easter approaches within the West (the Russian Orthodox have a good time on May 5), Kolesnikov reminded believers that Jesus’ blood is our ultimate hope.
Over 5,000 Russians have donated their very own to assist the wounded, he said, standing in line for nine hours.
“Our job is to be locally, teaching goodness,” said Kolesnikov. “Christ defeated evil, but though it continues to present itself in unexpected ways through individuals, we won’t attribute it to any nationality.”
