Suicide in the event of capture

  • Thread starter Thread starter LoyalViews
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
L

LoyalViews

Guest
Recently a Russian soldier was victim of an attempted capture by Jihadists. In the midst, he managed to blow himself up.

Was this a moral decision? In the event, what would have been the more/lesser virtuous of decisions?

Please note, we are not here to judge the soldier’s soul. Let him rest in peace, and pray for his memory.
 
From the CCC "Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide."
 
I think God will have mercy on him considering the horrible torture he would have likely went through if he had been captured. He certainly cannot be compared to a suicide bomber.

But i cannot really say if it was a sin or not. He took out the enemy, so perhaps there was some good in what he did, but then again it would not be something i would encourage a soldier to do for fear of sin.

It reminds me of a another scenario where a soldier takes a cyanide capsule when captured to prevent information from being attained by the enemy. Is that soldier sinning if it is to protect the national security of his country?
 
Hello.

My prayers for this soldier. I hope that the rest of us are spared from this type of decision. More reason to live a good life and strive to be obedient to God’s will.
 
well first of all all, colonel filipov was a pilot, not a “soldier”

his aircraft (Sukhov25) biggest’s problem was mechanical failure

he parachuted and after a brief gun battle w/ the enemy ended up killing himself by either a grenade (which is the going story; and which i doubt) or his own weapon

i know suicide is a grave sin; but …
 
No. Suicide is always wrong, regardless of time, place, or circumstance.
 
i’ll just say that i wouldn’t want to’ve been in colonel filipov’s situation

he could’ve emptied his weapon; and killed perhaps a few more of his pursuers than he already did

but the enemy was determined to capture him alive, make a public spectacle of his torture & prolonged, brutal execution; and perhaps extract some military secrets from him in the meantime

i’m sure God has had mercy on his soul based on the “on-the-spot” battlefield decision he made
 
Last edited:
When commenting on this (and things like it), we should keep in mind that our comments can affect the actions of currently-alive suicidal people. If we over-emphasize the gravity of suicide, it won’t harm anyone who committed it without full culpability. However, it we under-emphasize its gravity and speak too much of mitigation, it can allow people to rationalize killing themselves (e.g. "God will forgive me, I’m not fully culpable).
 
Last edited:
ok,
i understand what you are saying
 
Last edited:
As I understand it Catholic teaching is that a soldier in that position may continue to fight and may detonate a grenade at the point of capture (just as the Viet Cong did routinely, and bravely) because the intent is to fight against the enemy, not kill oneself. But a soldier may not kill themselves in order to achieve a good end (such as protecting secrets they hold). A soldier may also throw themselves on an enemy grenade seeking not their own death but the safety of their comrades. But they may not do so in order to dies themselves. I don’t agree with this but it is a coherent and rational approach to the issue of suicide that must have given comfort to many.
 
Suicide is not an option. You fight to the death. Don’t become a POW.
 
You are correct. But I meant for a hearty philosophical question. Kant, St Thomas Aquinas, Lonergan, etc… would all give diverse and various answers. I know this is a real issue, and have dealt with suicide in my own life as friends have dropped from the earth without any sign. But the morality of a soldier being captured is at hand.

God Bless!
 
Did I ask for his rank? Regardless, I’m not gonna blow myself up, swallow Cyanide, or shoot myself. The enemy can put me down like a rabid dog. There’s no way I would cooperate.
 
This particular enemy woudln’t give him the courtesy of putting him down. I’d have done the same thing before allowing them to parade me in front of video cameras and light me on fire alive or hang det cord around my neck and set it off. Or worse.
 
I’m not killing myself. Chances are someone will shoot me. If not, I’d still have a knife and continue to fight.
 
Here’s my take on it.
If his purpose was to kill the enemy, then he wasn’t committing suicide. He was sacrificing his life to strike at the enemy.
If he meant to end his life to avoid interrogation or torture, then that was suicide; but he was most likely under extreme pressure, which probably reduced culpability.
Also we cannot be sure the beliefs he was raised with forbade suicide. If he had been taught that suicide is acceptable under those circumstances, that also reduces guilt.
 
Don’t take everything personal. I’m referring to suicide as a whole. God will determine each individuals fate. God comes BEFORE county. I’m not a US zealot and have no intention killing myself for our murky causes.
 
RT reported that he was born in Voronezh, then moved to the Far East after graduating from military aviation school in Krasnodar, and that he is survived by his wife and daughter who reside in Vladivostok. His salary was also made public by a Russian website as it appears that the ministry of defense has a publicly accessible database with some security holes. None of that tells us about his religious background, of course, aside from the obvious statistical probability that he’s at least nominally Orthodox… and some things might have been lost in translation when moving from Russian-language media to English-language.

Back on subject, I think the Catholic Church is pretty clear that it all comes down to what one’s intentions are, whether to take out the enemy (knowing that you’ll die in the process) or to kill oneself. I don’t think anything Maj. Filipov did was the “easy way out.” His death is tragic. Only God knows what his intentions were at the last moment, and I think we can in good conscience commend him to God and ask God to have mercy on his soul and receive him into heaven.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top