On "God’s support" for killer snipers

Russian sniper in the war in Ukraine. Photo: ROC's Military Department

According to the Russian Church, the killing of enemy soldiers by snipers "embodies the words of Holy Scripture: 'Be strong and courageous.'" The ROC insists that a sniper, spending hours alone stalking his target, "can excel in inner prayer like no one else."

Clergy offered "prayerful wishes" to all snipers for "firmness of hand, God's help, and the protection of their Guardian Angel."

We cannot comprehend how anyone could miss the sheer absurdity of such words. What kind of "inner prayer" can be spoken of when a person coldly and deliberately takes another human life? What kind of "God’s help" and "guardian angel’s protection" are we talking about?

Are we really to believe that if a sniper kills, it means he prayed well and "God helped," and if he misses, he simply needs to pray better? What does wishing for "firmness of hand" mean, if not: kill without missing?

The ROC regularly congratulates all branches of the Russian military – on National Guard Day, Navy Day, Special Operations Forces Day, Strategic Missile Forces Day, and so on. In every congratulation, one hears strained phrases about "God’s help," "the prayerfulness of soldiers," and similar pious platitudes.

Yet these are people who kill. They kill even their fellow believers. Some, like snipers, witness the death of their victims up close; others, like missile operators, just push a button. But the result is the same – the suffering and death of those made in the image and likeness of God. A Christian, looking at all this, can only pray: for the souls of the victims and for the souls of the killers. And to ask God to put an end to this horror.

But to glorify and sacralize death – this is not Christianity.

Everyone knows the story of the frog that was boiled alive because the water temperature was raised so gradually that it didn’t realize it was dying.

Today, the frog is every Orthodox Christian who silently agrees with ever bolder claims that shedding another's blood "for a just cause" is righteous and even praiseworthy. That one can combine prayer and killing. That God and His angels supposedly help "good" Christians destroy "bad" ones.

And this isn't just happening in Russia. In Ukraine, the same rhetoric can sometimes be heard. It’s all the same gradual "heating of the water" in which our souls are being boiled.

And if we accept this rising temperature without protest – we will share the fate of that frog.

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