Pray For South Ossetia

Hi everyone – for those who have been watching world news over the past few days, you’ve undoubtedly seen the stories about the bloodshed in South Ossetia/Georgia. This short email will hopefully inform you a little more as to what’s going on there, and also show how it relates to the people of Beslan - seriously impacting their future as well.

Beslan is a small town located in southern Russia; basically, locate Moscow on a map, and head as far south as you can within Russian territory. You’ll see the Republic of North Ossetia; Vladikavkaz is the Republic’s capital, and Beslan is one of the small towns nearby.

North Ossetia (as you can probably guess) is very close to South Ossetia/Georgia. When the Soviet Union was in power, both North and South Ossetia were all part of the USSR – as was Georgia and many other modern-day countries. When the Soviet Union collapsed, many areas broke free from Russian control and declared their independence. North Ossetia remained part of Russia, but South Ossetia became separated by the geographical border of newly-established Georgia.

But though the Ossetians are now separated by a political border, they remain one ethnic group – and in their opinion, South Ossetia is just that: South Ossetia… it’s not Georgia. South Ossetia has declared their independence from Georgia, but Georgia has routinely and brutally attacked South Ossetia in order to drive them into North Ossetia (Russia) and thus claim the land as their own.

The present circumstances are simply another attempt by the Georgians to kill or drive out (whichever is easier) the Ossetians from “their” land. I understand that this is a major and complex topic, but so far as I understand it, it is the Georgians who have created and continue to perpetuate the violence. I lived in North Ossetia/Beslan for about a year & a half of combined time, and though I would never try to say that Ossetians are perfect, I don’t believe that they are the ones who are the guilty party in the current conflict.

Why? Well, because many of the people who live in Beslan are originally from South Ossetia, but had to flee to North Ossetia when there was fighting between the Georgians and the Ossetians in the early 90s. You may recall Grandma Nahzee, the grandmother I stayed with while living in Beslan. Nahzee is one of the many people I know in Beslan who are from South Ossetia. She told me numerous stories of atrocities committed by the Georgians, and Nahzee is not one to just sit around and make up stories about other ethnic groups just for the fun of it. She bears a very personal wound from the violence in the 90s: the Georgians were often robbing Ossetian homes, and so they had to appoint young Ossetian men to stand guard outside their homes to prevent the Georgians from plundering them. Nahzee’s youngest son was on guard for such a task, and was tragically shot and killed. He was only 21 or so. Grandma Nahzee and thousands of other South Ossetians fled to the North Ossetia for safety.

I will never be one to stand up for the Russian’s method of doing things… but I will say that as best as I can understand what’s going on now, Russia was/is not the guilty party who brought all of this up. The Georgians once again attacked South Ossetia first, and many people were killed. And thus Russia – who relatively speaking supports and helps the Ossetian people - stepped up and basically set out to quench the Georgians’ mayhem. I’m not trying to assert that Russia’s motives are necessarily 100% pure in this… for the outcome of this crisis holds great promise for the winning side. If Georgia wins, South Ossetia will be conquered, and the Georgians will finally control the land. If Russia wins, South Ossetia may very likely become included in Russian territory. But regardless, I don’t believe for a minute that the Ossetians started this crisis – it was the Georgians, and Russia has simply stepped in to back the Ossetians in their defense. Russia isn’t known for being the most tactical in their handling of crises (let’s not forget the Moscow Theater fiasco or their “handling” of the Beslan tragedy), but Georgia began this current violence.

The reality is that war and hatred do terrible things… civilian children are shot and killed, buildings are blown up, and refugees are forced to flee and start their lives over again from scratch. All this is taking place very close to where The Lord blessed me to have served, and I can say quite frankly that the current situation could very easily spill into North Ossetia and ignite the already volatile area of southern Russia.

The timing of all of this couldn’t have been worse – in just three short weeks, the town of Beslan will again be thrown back into sorrow and pain as they commemorate the 4th year anniversary of the Beslan terrorist attack. This is the first anniversary that I won’t be able to be there with them physically, and I am obviously very sad that I’m won’t be there during these coming days of sorrow (September 1-3). The last thing people like Grandma Nahzee need is the threat of an all-out war as she mourns her granddaughter Sofia who was killed in the Beslan school massacre in 2004.

Please pray for the people of South Ossetia, Georgia, North Ossetia, and Russia.

Please pray that The Lord works this out so that more will come to faith in Jesus Christ His Son.

And please pray for the people of Beslan, many of whom are originally from South Ossetia… their past wounds have been reopened, and all they have ahead of them is the commemoration of their dead children and other loved ones who were massacred in the Beslan terrorist attack.

The people of Beslan need true healing, and true hope…   and His Name Is Jesus.