Mikhail Kalashnikov, born November 10, 1919, invented the most common weapon in the world, the AK-47. Towards the end of his life, he wrote to the church.
"My spiritual torment is unbearable. ".
He was born in a village in the Altai region of Siberia, to a peasant family.
In 1930, Stalins regime classified his family as "kulaks", peasants who were considered too rich.
They were deported to the Tomsk region, further north.
In World War II he commanded a tank.
In October 1941 he was seriously wounded in the battle of Bryansk against the Germans.
In the hospital he heard soldiers complaining. Their guns kept jamming.
After he was released, he started working.
In 1947 he designed a simple and sturdy assault rifle. It is called AK-47, Kalashnikov Automatic, Model 1947.
In 1949 it became the weapon of the entire Soviet army.
And then it spread all over the world.
An estimated 100 million were produced.
It even appears on the flag of Mozambique.
Kalashnikov himself remained a loyal employee of the Soviet state, and later the Russian state, throughout his life.
But towards the end of his life, he wrote to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.
"My spiritual torment is unbearable. ".
One question haunted him. If his rifle killed people, was he, an orthodox Christian, responsible for their deaths?
The church answered him. When a weapon protects the homeland, it supports those who make it and those who use it.
He died in December 2013, at the age of 94. His letter was published a month later.
His rifle, meanwhile, has outlived him on every continent.