Mercy center to rise from Beslan ashes

OBERHAUSEN, Germany – “Since my visit to Beslan, I still find myself weeping and crying because of what I experienced. It was both shocking and terrible.”

Igor Nikitin

So said the Rev. Igor “Nikki” Nikitin, president of the Association of Christian Churches in Russia, or ACCR, which includes 300 churches from different denominations throughout Russia, in a recent interview in Oberhausen, Germany, where he was attending the three-day “2004 Korean Christian Cultural Festival,” which took place Oct. 1-3 and was led by Dr. Jae-Rock Lee, senior pastor of the 80,000-member Manmin Joong-Ang Church in Seoul, South Korea.

He had gone with colleagues from ACCR from his home in St. Petersburg, Russia, to Beslan after seeing the terrible scenes of the hostage drama at School Number 1 on Russian television.

Inside the school – flowers and bottles of water. Children were not given any water to drink for three days.

Conflicting versions had circulated about the exact circumstances at the end of the hostage drama in southern Russia, which left a total of 331 people dead (150 of them children) and traumatized the world as it unfolded live on television. In the chaos that followed the explosion, the hostage takers began firing on fleeing hostages in the belief that the Russians were storming the building, prompting the security forces to move in.

The guerrillas were calling for the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and were reported to have been ready to negotiate at the time the school was stormed.

“I was highly involved in the situation in Beslan because there were 35 children from a Christian Sunday school there in the siege, and after the Beslan siege was over, 14 children from that Sunday school were killed,” he continued. “Pastor Sergei Totiev lost two daughters, while Pastor Teimuraz lost four children.

New cemetery in Beslan. Portraits are of victims age 7 to 14.

“I arrived in Beslan and went to the new cemetery, which was just about two kilometers from the airport. There I found Mrs. Irina Gioeva, who lost her son Artur.

“I also saw a lady there who was just weeping before grave for Sergei Totiev’s children. She told me she was a member of his church and that she was in the school when they attacked it, and also that she had lost her own children there.

“Irina then took me to the school, and it looked so terrifying. I am still shaking as I think about it.”

Water torture

Nikitin continued, “She told me that all the kids were being kept in the small sports hall of the school for three days (Sept. 1-3) without being allowed to move. The terrorists told them to not talk or make any moves. They were three days without water in the hot weather, and they couldn’t even ask for water because the terrorists prohibited them to talk.

Irina Gioev and her husband near the grave of their 9-year-old son, Artur. Irina spent three days in the school with her three children, two of whom survived.

“I heard that they took off some of the clothes from the kids and put explosives on them and then on the third day, because of the heat and the fear that the kids experienced, the thousand kids started weeping. All these days, the kids could hear the sound of running water because the terrorists had opened a water tap – but they couldn’t go to the water, so that was a real torture for these little ones.

Pastor’s son a ‘living shield’

“Then Irina shared with me that Pastor Totiev’s son, Azam, was used as a living shield by the terrorists and he lost his eye. I spoke with him and he didn’t seem to know that he had lost his eye, as it was covered. You just see this boy and you just start crying because he is such a lovely young boy.

“This time for all of us in Russia was a shocking experience. When I met with the two pastors who are big strong Ossetian men, for a couple of minutes, they could hardly talk. Later, the amazing thing was for me was when I saw their faith and how they talked to the people. They held back their tears as they comforted the people. They were going through the village and saying that God is giving the grace and forgiveness, and this built up my faith tremendous. I wondered how these men who had lost six of their children could minister at that moment.

“But then I learned that only God can give us the strength and power in this terrible tragedy to overcome hatred, fear and pain. I am very thankful for people around the world who were praying for Beslan, because that is what we really can do at this moment. These people there are all in such shock and such hatred of the Ingush and Chechen people that the love of God is needed to share with them so it can take away the hatred and fear that they have.”

Pastor Nikitin then went on: “I attended one of the funerals for a young lady, and six of her brothers had such hatred in their eyes. I came to them and said, ‘God can give us the forgiveness and also the time for us to value the life of your sister. You need to forgive those who killed her.’ Something different came in they eyes, and one of them asked, ‘Can God forgive those who killed her?’ I replied, ‘We have to first to forgive.’

“This young girl was a Christian, and I told her brothers, who were Muslims, that Jesus Christ gave his life for her and for all the people in this world and it was very new for them to hear, but it definitely did help them.”

Nikitin then announced that he is planning to build a Center of Mercy and Reconciliation in Beslan.

“I have a list of the people who were in this terrorist siege in the school, and I looked through this list and saw what had happened to many of them that survived. I saw that this child had lost an eye, another had brain shrapnel, and yet another has a bullet in his head,” he said. “These are children who are 7 and 8 years old. Of course we need to help them psychologically, but first of all we need to help them spiritually.

“We have already found a place close to the school where we can build this center and we going to also help medically, psychologically, spiritually. We will also help with food and clothing for these children.”

He then said that that the pastor who had lost four of his children told him, “If we will be able to help the children and people of Beslan through the center, then the death of my children will have been worth it.”

“If people would like to know more about what’s happened in Beslan, we can send them pictures of the pastors, of the school, a list of those that went through this terrifying situation in the school, and also their addresses, so that people can send a letter of encouragement and maybe for the kids, a little gift,” said Nikitin. “If people would like to help us build the center in Beslan that would be a great help for these people.”

Information about the project can be obtained by e-mailing [email protected].

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Dan Wooding is the founder of ASSIST Ministries.