Chechen separatists in which more than 330 people died, about half of them children.
Requiem services for the victims of the 2004 Beslan tragedy were reportedly held in Russian Orthodox churches across the country. In Beslan itself, Bishop Feofan of Vladikavkaz and Stavropol told Interfax news agency he had been praying for the victims.
"Today we have prayed here in Beslan and will pray at the cemetery where the victims of the tragedy are buried. Tomorrow we will conduct the liturgy here," he said in a statement released by Interfax. "Today, on the day of grief and sorrow, not only Russia but the whole world is with the Ossetian people," he said.
The bishop shared hope of some evangelical Christians counseling people in the area. "Life continues. Today we can say that. I could not imagine before that the mothers who have lost their children here would ever smile. Now we see smiles, though rarely. This is a return to life," the bishop was quoted as saying.
RUSSIAN MINISTRIES
Staff workers of US-based mission group Russian Ministries, which set up a counseling center for former hostages and relatives of those who died, have said that many people still come to pray there. At least some reportedly became ‘born-again’ Christians, believing they will see one day again the children who died there.
Russian Ministries also provided school materials, Bibles, and other religious literature as well as organizing joyful church meetings, including in the gym of the destroyed school. That had apparently an impact on the local community.
"I do not know the people who could experience such a tragedy without lapsing into vandalism. The Ossetian people have showed utter restraint, generosity, and I would say, courage and civic responsibility," Bishop Feofan noted.
MUSLIMS ANGRY
However Murat Tavkazakhov, head of the North Ossetian Muslim Board, criticized the participation of Christian leaders such as the Russian Orthodox Church bishop in the ceremonies.
"Half of the victims of the terrorist act were Muslims and they were buried according to our customs," he told Russian media. "This fact should be taken into account," Interfax quoted him as telling the Moskovskiye Novosti weekly on Friday, September 1.
The Muslim leader of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania was reportedly not invited for the memorial events. While millions of children started going back to school all across Russia Friday, September 1, hearing the symbolic ringing of the first bell of the school year, a different bell rang in the town of Beslan.
BELL RANG
The bell rang at 9:15 a.m. local time, the moment when two years ago heavily armed militants seized control of an outdoor ceremony at Beslan School Number One and took more than 1,000 people hostage.
Reporters saw how hundreds of parents and children walked slowly through the ruins of the school, placing flowers and candles in front of photographs of the 332 people who died. Relatives have accused Russian authorities of covering up the sequence of events that ended the siege and killings.
They claim many children were directly or indirectly killed by Russian troops who chaotically stormed the school to free the hostages. This version was backed recently by a parliament deputy who is part of a commission investigating the tragedy for a report that has been delayed several times.
PUTIN DISAGREES
President Vladimir Putin and his administration blame only the militants, who were demanding Russia’s withdrawal from the southern republic of Chechnya.
Of the more than 30 militants involved in the takeover of the school, only one survived and he was sentenced to life in prison in May. The Chechen warlord who claimed responsibility for the attack, Shamil Basayev, was killed by Russian forces in July. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Russia).
