Russian children trade Bibles for bayonet practice at Sunday school

In the Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors, children are taught how to handle weapons Photo: Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors

A Church in southern Russia began teaching children Sunday schools for hand-to-hand combat and bayonet fighting.

The Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors in the Saratov region reported that the first classes of the program called «Victorious» took place on Sunday, and that «everyone was invited.»

< p>His website said: “Children were drilled and worked on bayonet fighting. In the summer, classes will be held every Sunday after the Divine Liturgy.

Photographs from a rural Russian Orthodox church show a man in camouflage uniforms lining up small children and demonstrating stabbing techniques in front of a priest. In another, children are taught to fight.

Children were also given lessons in hand-to-hand combat. Photo: Church of the New Martyrs and Confessors

The Kremlin put the Russian economy on a military footing, and also used the Russian Orthodox Church and schools to militarize society.

The Russian Orthodox Church said this month that pacifism is «incompatible» with its teachings, in an apparent attempt to stamp out any anti-war sentiment and instead fuel war.

Last year, anti-war Russian Orthodox priests were stripped of prominent positions.

The Kremlin also targeted schools, a method used in the Soviet Union and Imperial Russia to turn children into loyal infantrymen.

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Russian schoolchildren are now being taught how to assemble Kalashnikov assault rifles, and in youth camps they are taught to wear military uniforms, learn to march, tie tourniquets, and shoot machine guns.

< p>Alex Kokcharov, Russian analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence said it was part of a phenomenon known as «victory frenzy» or «militarism mania» that the Kremlin fanned to promote its war in Ukraine.

He said: “Russian children are taught that their main motivation should be to become defenders of the Motherland. They are told that they are not afraid to die.”