Rebecca posted something about this the other day on Photosynthetic, but I wanted to pop in a link to an article I found about it today during my searches: From Village Boy to Soldier, Martyr and, Many Say, Saint.

He is Russia’s new unofficial saint, a casualty of the war in Chechnya who has been canonized not by the Russian Orthodox Church but by a groundswell of popular adoration.

The portraits are religious icons, venerated in homes and churches where Private Rodionov has become the focus of a minor cult that seems to fill a nationalist hunger for popular heroes.

In one icon he is painted to look like a medieval Russian knight. In another he is included, in full uniform, in a group portrait of the last czar and his family, under the gaze of Jesus.

Church officials say all of this breaks religious law. Sainthood is not a popularity contest, and icons are not campaign posters. The process of canonization, the officials say, is long and arduous and can only be carried out by the church.

Whatever, people can and do put faith and worship whatever they want. They always have and always will. This reminds me too of that article I found about how people are starting to see Mussolini as a folk saint as well. It’s in my archives somewhere, you’ll just have to dig for it if you’re interested.