In October I prepared an interview for the site with a cliric of St. Nicolas church in Khamovniki district deacon Alexander Shumsky. A teacher with 25-year professional experience, the principal of Khamovniki St. Nicolas Gymnasium, father of eight children, a talented columnist, he can teach the readers a lot. On October 21 I gave him the text for approval. Father Alexander scanned it through, said he had no serious remarks and promised to return it in a couple of days with slight corrections. We agreed to get in touch on the phone two days later. But in two days seizure of hostages in Nord-Ost in Moscow happened. Among the hostages there turned out to be Fr.Alexander's son-in-law Anton Kobozev - a flutist of the New Opera theater who earned on the side in the musical. After the storm his relatives had no news about Anton for nearly two days. They searched for him, hoped for the better, but Sunday night Father Alexander identified his body in one of the morgues. Anton was 28. On October 20 his first-born Vladik became one year old. Father Alexander's 19-year old daughter Liza became a widow having a one-year old baby to take care of.

Father Alexander decided that after the tragedy happened the interview lost its topicality, but showed willingness to tell the readers about the events, express his attitude to them.

- Father Alexander, did you knew Anton long before he became your son-in-law?

- Yes, he was the elder son of my friends. They are a remarkable family of believers with many children. When I came to visit them small Anton listened closely to our talks and arguments with his father and common friends. He listened and absorbed. I do not remember a single case that Anton quarreled with somebody, even with me, a person of a hard character. He was very meek and humble. When he courted my elder daughter Elizaveta, I blessed gladly their marriage. They lived together for less than two years, but despite our bitter loss I do not feel sorry for us becoming related. Liza does not feel sorry either.

- How did he get among hostages?

- As a participant of the musical. Anton graduated from Gnesin music college, worked in the New Opera theater with Eugeny Kolobov. He was the first flute there. In the majority of theaters and classic orchestras he was paid not much and Anton had to earn on the side. I am sure, with his musical talent he could easily find extra work in the most popular rock-group. But he was very particular and chose musical "Nord-Ost", where his participation did not contradict his faith. Indeed, there is nothing obscene in this musical staged after "Two captains", a novel by Kaverin. Its producer Tsekalo truly noted that it was the first patriotic musical in Russia. In its genre it is close to operetta. Twice a month (sometimes even more often) Anton participated in the musical. And he was there that tragic night October 23.

- How did you get to know about the capture of the building by the terrorists earlier than many others?

- I got to know about it at once, but at the first moment I thought a group of hooligans rushed into the theater and the militia will bring them to order soon. In an hour it became clear that everything was much graver. About 9 p.m. Anton called from his handy and said in a whisper: "The terrorists drove us into the basement, pray for us". Then he called once more and said they were brought to the hall and seated in the rows. He got into the second row, quite close to the orchestra pit that was later turned into a WC. Anton informed us that the bandits began mining the building. That evening he called several times. Late at night he said goodbye to Liza. "Forgive me and farewell", he said. He seemed to have a presentiment he wouldn't go out of there alive.

At the same night we drove to Dubrovka with my friend Father Pavel Burov. We hoped to get into the theater somehow but everything was cordoned off. We spent all night there. I did not see a single drunken. There were no idlers either. (in contrast to 1993 - then tanks shot the Palace of Councils and many came to watch the tragedy like a show). I was struck to understand that Russian people like in old times were ready "to lay down their lives for their friends". The old and young were ready to start the storm with bare hands; they offered themselves in exchange for hostages.

- Did you stay in Dubrovka till the end?

- No, on Thursday afternoon Father Pavel and I understood that it was impossible to get to the hostages and we drove to my place. Anton called several times more, again he said goodbye to Liza. Like other hostages he did not doubt that first or last the bandits blow up the building.

In the night from Thursday to Friday Anton reached his spiritual father hieromonk Gleb from Small Ascention monastery over the phone and asked him to come to them. Many hostages wanted to confess and receive communion, and he was going to talk with the terrorists to let priests in. Naturally Father Gleb drove to Dubrovka at once. Father Pavel and I came too. The three of us came to the staff and stated Anton's idea to the prefect. Twice he tried to contact the terrorists but they refused to talk. They said they would talk only with doctor Roshal. The prefect asked us if we understood that if we got into the building we would be shot for we were infidels for the bandits. We answered we understood that and still if we were let in we would go. Never in my life did I fear that much. I cannot put it in words. At the same time I could not but go. I think Father Pavel and Father Gleb felt the same.

- Unlike you they could confess the people who got into trouble. And you tried to get inside to support Anton, didn't you?

- First of all I certainly wanted to embrace Anton and to be with him. But as a priest I could also be useful. In an extreme situation like in Nord-Ost one can confess not only to a deacon, but also to a layman, and the Church acknowledges such penitence. We do not know how many people wanted to confess. It could be that Fr.Gleb and Fr.Pavel could not manage all.

Serving in the church we did not have the right not to go there if it was possible to go. A clergyman is obliged to be a follower of Christ, and Christ is a sacrifice. But we were far from being the first among those who tried to get inside. For example, we made friends with Georgy. In a different situation I would hardly pay any attention to him. A rock-musician with seal-rings on his fingers and an ear-ring - to put it mildly not a person of my circle. And he himself came up to us and said: "Fathers, if they let you go inside, take me with you - my wife is there". After that he followed us on our heels.

On Friday Protopriest Vsevolod Chaplin came to Dubrovka. He communicated the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch to hold continuous prayer services for the salvation of the hostages. At first we prayed in the street, then the prefect gave us a special room. With each prayer more and more people gathered there. Georgy stood all prayers with us. I saw how fervently he prayed, how his eyes changed.

- Did his wife survive?

- Praise the Lord. Though she was in a very grave condition, there were almost no chances. Georgy believes the Lord saved her.

- For sure there were also other people who turned to God after those events?

- Certainly. Anton had a friend Feodor Khramtsov, a trumpet player. They worked together in the New Opera Theater and on the same days earned on the side in Nord-Ost. Feodor died too. His son found in his things an ante-mortem letter. Unfortunately I do not have the text with me and I can only retell its content. It began with the followiing: three a.m., they started to shoot people. Its meaning is like this: one should not pursue luck or money, most important is to believe in God. Feodor Khramtsov was not a churched person, perhaps even not a believer. In such a situation some people give way to despair, sometimes to blasphemy, others mobilize their energy and come to God. I think that Feodor's letter is a great document, a striking human revelation. I dare think that for the confession of faith in such a situation servant of God Feodor is justified.

- Has Anton left any letter?

- Wherever he went he always took his prayer-book with him. When we examined his things we did not find it. If he wrote anything, he is sure to have left it in his prayer-book. We trust in God and hope that Anton will be saved. His last words that we received as an answer to our SMS-message "Anton, we are with you" were "God save you". Two girls who sat beside him survived. They told me that a day before the storm he switched off from the outer world, did not talk to anyone and was absorbed in prayer. Maybe, God revealed him he had to do this. Till the very last moment he read his prayer-book and asked for a priest. My son-in-law died with prayer on his lips.

- It seems he was not a fighter from the worldly point of view, but he had firm faith and took up his cross of those days with fortitude?

- Right you are. Never in his life did Anton scuffled, on the contrary, he always pulled apart those who quarreled. That's true, from the worldly point of view he was not a warrior. But I always knew he was a very brave and courageous man.

Beside Anton and Feodor I can tell you about other courageous people. Olga Romanova went home after the first part of the musical because she had guests. She lived nearby and when they, watching TV with her guests saw that terrorists seized hostages she jumped up, put on her jacket and rushed to the door. To her father's question where she was going to she answered: "There are children there" and went running to Nord-Ost. Her father told this story to my friend, a deacon who served a panikhida (memorial service) at her grave. Special forces did not cordon the whole building off at that time. Olga managed to penetrate inside and started to reproach the terrorists, demanded that they should let the children go. At first they beat her with gun-butts and then killed her. People saw her photo on TV. A very beautiful face and quite a symbolic name: Olga Nikolaevna Romanova.

- They said she was drunk.

- About famous Alexander Matrosov it was also told that he covered the embrasure of a fascist pillbox in his cups. In all times people incapable of a heroic feat slandered heroes. Let God judge them.

The tragedy in Nord-Ost has an epic character. There was a drummer in the orchestra Timur Khaziev by name. Anton and he knew each other. He was a Moslem and could go away, since the terrorists let all the Moslems go. Timur refused. His wife is a courageous woman. She thought he had to decide himself what to do. Later under pressure of her mother she called him and reminded they had a child and he could leave the hall. He answered: "If I go away how can I look my friends in the face?" Timur Khaziev accomplished a feat. He died. It is noteworthy that while the majority of hostages died of gas he had a gunshot wound. I assume being a Moslem he tried to persuade the bandits, to bring them to reason, and they shot him for that. He was buried at a Moslem cemetery. It is interesting that Timur's wife is an Orthodox and during the storm she prayed at the orthodox prayer service for the salvation of Timur's soul. At the end of the service she saw Timur who waved his hand and said: "I am OK". In five minutes they called and informed the storm was over. So Timur said goodbye to her. In such moments spiritual vision of people gets sharper.

- After the storm you could not find Anton for two days and hoped for a miracle, didn't you?

- Yes. In the night from Friday to Saturday Protopriest Arkady Shatov came to replace me. The three of us - Fr. Pavel, the closest friend of Anton, a remarkable guitar-player Nikita Sedov, and I - were dog-tired. We decided to go to my place to sleep just a bit. But we did not have time to. As soon as we went to bed Georgy called and said the storm had started. We caught a taxi and drove back. When we arrived the storm was over. (Later I got to know that Fr. Arkady also wanted to go to the hostages, the prefect tried again to contact the terrorists, but without success). Fr. Pavel went to his church to serve the liturgy, and my wife, Nikita and I drove to hospital No.13, for we were told the majority of hostages were taken there. There were a lot of people, but they did not let anyone in. There was a suspicion that some terrorists managed to escape and they tried to "hide" among the hostages. Having noticed my under-cassock a group of journalists came up to me (they seemed to be from the French television). They asked what I was doing there. I explained I hoped my relative could be in this hospital. They asked me if I believed that the storm was necessary. So many people died. I answered: "Praise the Lord that the terrorists did not blow up the building. Almost one thousand people would have died then. The Lord did not allow such a disaster to happen. He saved the majority of the hostages and with God's help our valiant fighters of "Alpha" and "Vympel" groups pulled out the teeth of the Ichkeria wolf." One journalist asked if I could repeat these words if it turned out that my relative had died. I said I would repeat them for sure. We searched for Anton for two more days, we hoped he was somewhere in the resuscitation department, but unfortunately Sunday night we identified him in one of the morgues. I take the opportunity and repeat my words. The storm was necessary.

- It is surprising that it is not obvious to many people.

- I talked to an "Alpha" officer who developed the storm and took part in it. According to his words the bandits were going to bombard the cordon with grenades and break through to the cars that waited for them at the certain place. To do this they were going to leave poor shakhid-women with charges on them in the hall. If the "Alpha" men were several seconds late this selfish plan would be realized. The officers of the riot squad consciously went to face death. According to their estimation there was one chance to nine to survive. By the way, only the hostages and the shakhid-women were poisoned by gas. The terrorists were in a different room at the moment. They were killed "in action". By the officer's words it is impossible to avoid casualties in such a fight. The fact that not a single "Alpha" officer was wounded is a clear manifestation of God's mercy. That "Alpha" officer is a believer. (A pleasant detail of our time. Some 15 years ago it was impossible to imagine a believing officer of the riot squad). He told me that during the whole operation he clearly felt that the Lord helped them. And it is not a mere chance that it happened on the feast of the Mother of God's Iveron icon.

- During the first hours after the storm the journalists quoted foreign experts who evaluated the operation as an excellent one. There appeared the hope that our society split by senseless petty quarrels finally united. Alas, already the next day the majority of mass media began to criticize the actions of the riot squad.

- Specialists from different countries believe this operation will enter the textbooks of all special services as a model one. Unfortunately among journalists there are many people void of patriotic feelings.

The riot squad did his part brilliantly. But what happened next... The rescue team that is the people who were responsible for carrying the injured out of the hall arrived at the place of the tragedy 40 minutes after the operation was over. The rules of "Alpha" group prohibit its members to approach people lying unconscious. But seeing that people are left to the mercy of fate, the riot squad officers broke their rules and started to carry the injured out of the hall - submachine gun in one hand, an injured person in the other. They carried as many as they could.

Then by some strange reason buses were offered instead special vehicles. People were seated in armchairs. Many died during such an "evacuation". Any graduate of a medical college knows that people affected with gas can be transported only in lying position. What was it: bungling or sabotage? There is no proof, but a serious ground to think.

- If I am not mistaken the chief expert in resuscitation of Moscow explained it was impossible to notify the emergency teams about the operation because this information could be eavesdropped by the bandits.

- The thing is the "Alpha" experts suggested the city authorities should set up a mobile hospital equipped with everything necessary for treatment of the people affected with gas. The authorities declared they would manage it themselves. Didn't they do it great! If the "Alpha" suggestion had been accepted there would have been fewer victims. What was necessary was merely to carry the people outside right after the end of operation, to remove emesis from the oral cavity (many suffocated in the vomit masses), to insert simple thin pipes and pump ordinary air. The rest was just the matter of time.

- Father Alexander, before the events you published a number of articles in "Dessiatina" paper about Alexander Prokhanov, demonstrating anti-Christian essence of his works and "Zavtra" paper published by him and read by Orthodox readers, too. You were right noticing a dangerous trend. And as soon as a week after the tragedy the newly made winner of "National Bestseller" prize caused a stir.

- At present an active merging of pseudo-patriots and liberals is underway. Take for example recent meetings of Prokhanov with Berezovsky. Their sole task is to overthrow Putin. He suits neither sham patriots, nor liberals (Just because in spite of all the difficulties he tries to find the right way). Our political analysts should pay attention to this phenomenon.

And now about Prokhanov's attitude to the events in Nord-Ost. Maybe, you mean his article "Morgue Ost" published in "Zavtra" paper. He writes that a great Russian victory was won, for the first time the strength of state was manifested, he praises the "Alpha" group. I cannot but agree with this. But the title?.. Prokhanov plays with words like a child does with matches. He does not understand the meaning of words. What is a morgue? Searching for Anton I was in all Moscow morgues. Everywhere we were shown human corpses for identification. Morgue is a place void of life. And in Nord-Ost there was life indeed. People lived, struggled, showed real examples of courage. When a pregnant woman had a miscarriage an angry husband threw a bottle into one of the terrorists. The scoundrel shot the husband dead and forced the poor woman to clean away the blood. It was the only case when a hostage did not hold back his emotions. During the two days of this nightmare there was no panic, no hysterics. Children behaved bravely. They shared candies and chocolates with each other. Nobody grizzled. (I cannot but mention 14-year old Arseny and Kristina. Friends called them Romeo and Juliet. Wonderful children! Like Anton, they are buried at the Vagankovo cemetery. When we visited Anton's grave on the fortieth day we put flowers also on their grave). How could he call the place where people stood so firmly a morgue? If someone does not understand the meaning of words he may not be a writer. I assume, in this case Prokhanov did not want to shock the reader, but it ended up in a blasphemy.

As a matter of fact he is cunning. In his articles he lauds the "Alpha", but at the same time he publishes article "Secret libretto of Nord-Ost" by Stanislav Belkovsky in his paper. Without any proof the author claims there was a collusion between the authorities and the terrorists, there were no explosive assemblies, they were moulages. Nobody wanted to blow up the building. As if the "Alpha" fighters traitorously put to sleep the Baraev team (he called the gang "a team", and its head - "a youth"), and then shot everyone. All this is evil slander. Only the women and hostages were put to sleep, and the bandits were had in a fight. It was an absolutely pro-Chechen article.

- Father, I happened to hear from some Orthodox people (certainly not priests, but laymen), it was people's own fault to go to musical on a fast day...

- And I heard such things from priests too. Though from a minority of them. This is nothing but Pharisaism. I feel pity for such people. They read the Gospel poorly. Recall what the Lord said about the tower in Siloam: "Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Parents brought their dead son to some church near Moscow. By the way, the son was a parishioner of that church. The priest did not refuse to celebrate a funeral service, but lectured the parents strictly. They faced no love, but merely Old Testament legalism. The people were really hurt and took their son to another church. In this case the father acted not as a Christian, but as a Pharisee legalist. We should understand, there is no Orthodox Law. Certainly, the canons are necessary, they have deep sense, but the Christians should be guided first and foremost by love.

- On those tragic days you could not watch TV. And I suppose you did not hear the following passage: during the hostages were kept inside their relatives were united, and now the grief separated them. That is those who lost their home-folks envy badly the others whose relatives survived. How is it possible to ascribe people such low feelings?

- This is a usual fantasy of journalists. I am sure, people who were there do not think like this. I am very glad that Georgy's wife survived. She came to us for the commemoration repast on the ninth day. I cannot speak for the others, but I believe they feel the same.

- Thank you, Father Alexander. Once again I express my consolations. Grant rest, o Lord, to soul of Thy reposed servant Anthony. May God give strength to you and your family and be quick to help you in troubles.