Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat volunteer unit and deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, published a video in which he commented on criticism of his book, "The Army of Jesus in the Battle Against the Army of Dajjal-Antichrist," about the joint struggle of Muslims and Orthodox Christians against the "Antichrist." A representative of the Russian Orthodox Church (RAC) had previously called the book "heresy."
"Someone wrote something there—apparently, the smartest one—and decided that it represented the opinion of the ROC leadership. That's not true. The general view of what's right or wrong can be expressed by the Patriarch or the Synodal Department, as far as I know. As for the rest, as with everything else, there are people who think for themselves," the military commander said.
According to Alaudinov, Muslims and Orthodox Christians share a common enemy.
"I'm not laying claim to anything you have. I'm simply speaking for myself: I'm a Chechen, a Muslim, and I believe we must stand in solidarity with our Orthodox brothers, who, like me, share a common Creator. And in this case, God is one for us," he emphasized.
The day before, Sergei Fufayev, deputy chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department for Apologetic Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church, pointed out that Apti Alaudinov's book mixes Christian and Islamic ideas, distorting the foundations of the Orthodox faith and leading to heresy. According to him, one of the distortions is the idea of a supposed joint army of Muslims and Christians, led by Jesus Christ, to fight the Antichrist.
