The following comes from a Jan. 13 posting on DefenseNews.com.
Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the legendary AK-47 assault rifle, turned to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the months before his death to express remorse for those killed by his invention.
Kalashnikov, who died in December at the age of 94, in April wrote a lengthy emotional letter to Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, Izvestia, a pro-Kremlin daily, reported on Monday.
The Soviet-era legend and Russian national hero had visited an intensive care unit with heart problems only months earlier, and he was spending more and more time in hospital at the time he sent his letter to the church.
“My spiritual pain is unbearable. I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle took away people’s lives, then can it be that I … am guilty for people’s deaths, even if they were enemies?” Kalashnikov asked.
The typed letter on Kalashnikov’s personal writing paper, reproduced by Izvestia, is signed with a wavering hand by the man who describes himself as “a slave of God, the designer Mikhail Kalashnikov.”
Kalashnikov, whose funeral was attended by President Vladimir Putin, came up with the durable and simple rifle design after experiencing the Red Army’s dire lack of weapons during World War II.
Now the AK-47 is widely manufactured unlicensed around the world and has become a visual hallmark of armed insurgent movements, including those using child soldiers.
Kalashnikov wrote that he first went into a church at the age of 91 and was later baptized.
“The Lord showed me the way in the afternoon of my life,” wrote the rifle inventor. “When at the age of 91 I cross the threshold of a church, my soul felt as if it had been there before.”
The Patriarch’s press secretary, Alexander Volkov, told Izvestia that the Russian Church leader received the letter and wrote a personal reply.
“The Church has a very definite position: when weapons serve to protect the Fatherland, the Church supports both its creators and the soldiers who use it,” Volkov said.
“He designed this rifle to defend his country, not so terrorists could use it in Saudi Arabia.”
The Russian Orthodox Church has sought to consolidate its new-found strength after the Soviet era by building up close ties with state agencies and powerful officials.
When Kalashnikov was feted by the Soviet authorities, it would have been unthinkable for him to have declared himself anything else than an atheist.
His daughter, Yelena, told Izvestia: “Of course you can’t say he went to services or lived strictly according to the commandments. You have to understand his generation.”
Kalashnikov designed his famous rifles at the Izmash factory in the central city of Izhevsk and lived in the struggling region until his last days despite offers to come to Moscow.
The 206-year-old plant remains one of the main producers of Russian weapons and is treasured as a national icon.
To read the original story, click here.
While one is alive, it is never too late to repent. God gave Mikhail Kalashnikov the actual grace to make amends before he died, and that is very praiseworthy. Our Lord said there is no sin so great that it cannot be forgiven, except sins against the Holy Ghost (despair and presumption). Kalashnikov must have had many people praying for him in order that he have the remorse to be contrite. May God have mercy on his soul, and let this be a lesson to us: keep on praying for sinners that they too may find Christ’s loving mercy before they die, and confess their sins and be reconciled to God and to His Church.
That’s more that what Ted Kennedy did….which was nothing, but he still managed to get a public funeral with an archbishop
And you were at his bedside to confirm that he did not repent?
That arrogant baby killer was non-servium
Now if only the chemists who invented chemical contraceptives would repent. At least the defense of one’s country is honorable.
I’m not sure that Kalashnikov did anything wrong when he designed his rifle. He was trying to meet what he saw as a need during a war when the Germans invaded Russia.
Could he control how his invention would be used? He built something that met what he saw as a moral and ethical need. Perhaps he later accepted honor s and prestige for his gun getting put to uses that he abhorred. It’s hard to really know.
The AK_47 was designed in 1947, well after WWII.
Steve, the AK 47, though, was designed with the problems of WWII in mind.
Do you really think it odd that a weapons designer would try to solve the problems made clear by the last war, so that they would be prepared for the next? After a horrendous invasion like Hitler’s attack, I don’t see it strange at all that a moral individual would have no problem designing a gun to stop something like that.
Speaking for myself, these are difficult matters to judge.
Firearms and weapons are tools. God gives man the ability to decide how and when (or if) to use them. Kalashnikov was a firearms designer for many years. For example, his early assault rifles were used against the Nazi’s in WW2. Does that fact weight more favorably?
What about John Browning? John Garand who developed arguably the best infantry weapon of ww2 — the M1 Garand rifle used by countless allied soldiers in ww2 to kill Germans and Japanese? What of Robert Oppenheimer who was key to the development of the atomic bomb? He had much remorse over the use of the atomic bomb against the japanese. but, perhaps the use saved many more lives that would have been lost in an invasion of the home islands?
I am very very gratified that he repented before his death. He will have received his particular judgement now. Trust God’s justice AND His mercy.
God bless this fellow Christian for struggling with his conscience over such a complex issue.
It reminds me of Church history, in which the Holy See tried to outlaw the crossbow because it would make killing “from a distance” so easy — as opposed to having to look your ‘enemy’ in the eye, face to face.
It also reminds me of the many times Jesus spoke against violence, an admonition I personally have not been able to follow — in my words and thoughts, at least.
We know of no public repentance of ted Kennedy, but we pray that he did. because the opposite is frightening, and the mercy of God knows no boundaries.
While the story is (almost) much ado about nothing, imminent death sure does focus the mind and soul. Why, it seems like just yesterday (see original story) that Kalashnikov was posing proudly with his invention at an anniversary ceremony. They say there are no atheists in foxholes. Apparently there are none in geriatric wards either (nor on Death Row if we really had them again).
Sorry, I don’t get the difficulty here. All kinds of things can be used for good or evil—weapons for war, defense–national or personal, policing (good); for terrorism, tyranny, crime (bad). A few years ago, a woman in Florida stabbed her boyfriend with a Fondue fork–do I really have to finish that thought (or must the Swiss now add to the recent spate of Historical Apologies?).
The real irony here is the man to whom Kalashnikov confessed. Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, was a secret member of the KGB. Of course that depends on what your definition of “was” was. Since Russia is now run by “former” KGB men (FSB), Kirill is still in the game (Ion Pacepa correctly calls Russia the “first intelligence dictatorship in history.”).
But since this is the silly hour, let me join in and say, rest easy Comrade Kalashnikov, along with Mr. Colt and Mr. Remington, but not Mr. Full Metal Jacket, for guns don’t kill people, bullets do.