1st March 2024. Remember this day. The funeral of Aleksei Navalny in southeast Moscow. I spent some time looking at the BBC coverage of events surrounding the service in the Church of the Icon of Our Lady Quench My Sorrow, and then his burial in Borisovskoye Cemetery.* Several thousands of brave fellow Russians lined the streets for over 1 kilometre despite the near-freezing weather, bearing red roses; there were huge heaps of flowers. They came to honour a wonderful, funny, creative, daring, hope-filled human being who had been so outspoken about government corruption during his life that his enemies had to incarcerate him and finally see to his death.
There was an irony in the location of the funeral since this Russian Orthodox Church and its clergy had made very clear their support for the ‘military operation’ in Ukraine, whilst Aleksei had been an outspoken opponent of the war. However, the Navalny family probably had little choice other than to approach their local church.
Aleksei’s parents, Lyudmila and Anatoliy, sat by his open casket during the funeral, surrounded by many mourners holding candles. His mother had bravely insisted on taking possession of her son’s body in the face of obstruction by the prison authorities. His wife, Yulia, decided not to travel to Russia and so could only send a message of love, thanking Aleksei for “26 years of absolute happiness.” Since the announcement of Navalny’s death on 16th February, she had made several outspoken speeches condemning those responsible for his murder. It was too dangerous also for their two children, Daria and Zakhar to be present: likewise, Aleksei’s brother, Oleg.
In 2020, Navalny had fallen ill on an aeroplane and was initially taken to a Russian hospital. He was then transferred to Germany for specialist treatment and there it was confirmed that he had been poisoned. He spent months in recovery, then conducted his own remarkably successful investigation into those who put the Novichok in his underpants. This extraordinary man decided to return to Russia in 2021 since he was concerned for the fate of his people and wanted to convey to them his lack of fear. He was arrested immediately, put on trial, and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment.
Aleksei had once been a militant atheist and made fun of organised religion, but at his sentencing he surprised the court when he said that he had become a Christian. He explained what it means to suffer for one’s beliefs, and referred to Jesus’ words, “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [or “truth” in the Russian version] shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6) **. In the months since Navalny’s incarceration in an Arctic penal colony, he found inspiration in reading the Bible.
There is a significant symmetry between Aleksei’s final years and the last week of Jesus’ life. Both challenged the corruption and exploitation of the leaders of their respective countries, and both were prepared to make the perilous journey to challenge the centre of power and violence – Moscow and Jerusalem – and consequently both met their deaths. There are, of course, all sorts of differences between these two witnesses to the truth, and I do not wish to detract from Jesus’ unique identity. However, it has been the church’s tradition to remember the stories of the martyrs, and Aleksei has given me a glimpse of Jesus’ reckoning with fear.
Many Russian dissidents continue to be detained and need our support, but here I simply stay with Aleksei. The crowds chanted “Navalny:” the people cried, “We won’t forget you.”
Rest in the peace of Christ, my brother. I will not forget you.
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this article of those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Contemporary Christianity.
*Associated Press report on 24 April about the Priest who conducted Aleksei’s funeral. Click here.
** Statement by Aleksei, at his trial in 2021: https://www.rightsinrussia.org/navalny-2/
The death of anyone is a tragedy, and Navalny’s was certainly regrettable. However, this article is a complete gloss over the life and actions of a man who was an extremely nuanced character, and whose outspoken racist comments were never retracted even after Amnesty International revoked his “prisoner of conscience” status. He might well have been ‘concerned for the fate of his people and wanted to convey to them his lack of fear,’ however at the time of his death, there were very few popular outpourings of grief in Russia concerning his demise. Western legacy media viewed him as a hero much more than his Russian compatriots ever did! I find it somewhat offensive that he should be compared to Jesus Christ, even though the author acknowledges there are ‘all sorts of differences between’ them. Would CC perhaps like to give us an article on Julian Assange, another flawed character but whose demonization and persecution by the Western press and Western governments surely merit some kind of balanced Christian scrutiny and comment?
Alexei Navalny was a flawed hero: his flaws shouldn’t be ignored, but – personally – I find his bravery and courage both humbling and inspiring. He self consciously chose martyrdom for what he believed in, and was prepared to take on an authoritarian monster: how many of us could see that through? His fellow Russians may not have taken to the streets to support Navalny in large numbers, but that perhaps says rather more about what a cruel and oppressive state Russia is, than it does about Navalny.
Andrew makes a valuable point about Western government persecution of Julian Assange and the bias against him in much of the Western press. There is a worthwhile comparison between the press coverage of Assange and Navalny on the Aljazeera website (24th Feb 2024). However, if the Amnesty International revocation of Navalny’s status as a “prisoner of conscience” is to be introduced into this discussion, it must be pointed out that Amnesty reinstated that designation after a review of its overall approach to the subject (see its press release of May 7, 2021).
It is true that there was a time when Navalny made many vile racist statements, stemming from his political origins in far-right nationalist movements. Andrew says that Navalny’s ‘racist comments were never retracted,’ so I must note that Navalny publicly apologized for his previous obnoxious pronouncements on Georgia (see Frontnews Georgia article, 13 April 2023). It is also true that Navalny was equivocating about Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea even until 2018, however, in his 15-point plan of 2023 he came out clearly for the internationally recognised Ukrainian borders defined in 1991 (see The Moscow Times article, February 20, 2023). Such changing aspects of Navalny’s career and character were far too complex to cover in my brief article, though it did note a major shift in his religious stance in his last years. And it was that shift I wanted to highlight since it places Alexei within the Christian martyr tradition (whereas it seems that Julian is an atheist). We will know more when his posthumous memoir is published in October.