Severny, Belgorod Province, Russia, July 29, 2022
Photo: bel.kp.ru Police in the Russian village of Severny, Belgorod Province, awarded a priest and a local retiree for their bravery in saving a woman from a deadly attack by her enraged husband.
According to investigators, the husband was jealous and came at his wife with a knife on the evening of July 18. When their son came between them, the woman fled outside, but her husband caught up with her at a nearby bus stop, this time with an axe in his hand, reports Komsolmolskaya Pravda.
Archpriest Alexander Alexandrov of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Ternovka, 64, who was home with his wife and children, was the first to respond to her cries for help.
Looking out the window, Fr. Alexander “saw something flash in the man’s hands,” he recalls. “I didn’t immediately realize what it was. It was dark. At first it seemed to me that he was strangling a woman,” Father said.
The attacker didn’t respond to Fr. Alexander’s cries, and the woman passed out in the meantime.
The priest ran to the bus stop to find the woman lying in a pool of blood, while her husband started to run off. Fr. Alexander was relieved to see her move her hand and realize she was still alive. At some point, her husband came out into the light and Fr. Alexander saw the axe in his hand.
The priest approached the man, and at that moment, Yuri Rusalev, a retired police officer, also came out to help. While the attacker was focused on the priest, Rusalev leapt at the man and knocked him over. Using his training, he then broke the man’s arm and seized the axe from him.
Paramedics and police later arrived and Fr. Alexander helped lift the victim into the ambulance. A criminal case has been opened against the husband for attempted murder.
“The fact that the woman survived is the merit, first of all, of the priest, Father Alexander,” said Rusalev. “A civilian wasn’t afraid of a man with an axe and helped prevent a tragedy. I acted more on intuition,” the retired police officer said.
“It’s sad that such things happen, and the worst thing is that children always suffer in such a situation. People lack peace of mind. Evil and cruelty don’t generate anything good,” Fr. Alexander reflected.
He and Rusalev were later invited to the local police station for recognition.
“Caring people managed to prevent a tragedy. One of them devoted his life to the service of the law, the other to the service of God, but they also have a common vocation—to help people. And, as we can see, both remained faithful to their duty,” said Roman Fursov of the local police.
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