The news confirming Alexei Navalny’s cause of death was an extreme and brutal poisoning brought back to my mind something I wrote two years ago for a BBC Radio Wales programme. I had discovered that Navalny’s pursuit of justice was significantly influenced by Jesus’s Beatitudes.
The original transcript of my sermon from my broadcast on 3 March 2024 is below. Navalny’s pursuit of justice still resonates with me, still inspires me.
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Just a few weeks ago on Feb 16, the , 47 year old political activist, Alexei Navalny died in a Russian Prison. He was a lawyer, an anti-corruption activist, and opposition leader.
His high profile and vocal opposition to corruption and calls for justice saw him jailed on numerous occasions– most recently in August 2023 to an additional 19 years, having already survived being poisoned with Novichok 3 years earlier.
Despite having opportunity to stay out of Russia, when he was treated for his poisoning in Germany, he voluntarily returned to continue his campaign for truth and for justice.
I can remember thinking when he returned at the time, there’s only one way this will turn out. He’ll disappear and one way or another, be silenced.
And sure enough he has mysteriously died in Russian prison.
When news of his death was reported, the final footage of him the day before, showed him relaxed and almost joking with those who were holding him.
I was fascinated by this remarkable act of defiance, so I went searching for what made him tick – from where did he managed find the capacity to carry such peace, when faced with such opposition and struggle.
On my search, I found some closing remarks in a court case, that he gave on 20th February 2021, 3 years ago.
He was so used to giving closing remarks, as court appearances were so regular, on this occasion he decided to speak of his faith and his heartbreak.
It was a strong Christian faith that was at odds with his militant atheism of younger years, and at odds with many of his fellow campaigners, who are atheists.
He said, “But now I am a believer, and that helps me a lot in my activities, because everything becomes much, much easier. I think about things less. There are fewer dilemmas in my life, because there is a book in which, in general, it is more or less clearly written what action to take in every situation. It’s not always easy to follow this book, of course, but I am actually trying.”
There’s one particular instruction from Christ that seems to have kept him focussed on his work for justice –– and it was Jesus’ words from the Beatitudes, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied’
He went on to say,
“I’ve always thought that this particular commandment is more or less an instruction to activity. And so, while certainly not really enjoying the place where I am, I have no regrets about coming back, or about what I’m doing. It’s fine, because I did the right thing. On the contrary, I feel a real kind of satisfaction. Because at some difficult moment I did as required by the instructions, and did not betray the commandment.”
It seems Navalny discovered the true food and drink that would satisfy his soul in the most barren of landscapes.
As my own faith has matured over the years, the more and more I have come to realise that ‘faith’ is a verb. My faith in Christ gives me security, hope, redemption, the constant opportunity for new beginnings because of grace –– but it also calls me to action.
That’s why at Zac’s Place, as a worshipping community of Christians we are stirred to feed the poor – there’s a compulsion to do it. It is not a chore. There’s a satisfaction that comes with the pursuit of righteousness, of justice of being obedient to the call to make a difference. It gives you something deep within the core of your soul that money can’t buy, and something that baffles those who would seek to destroy you.
I totally understand Navalny’s sense of peace and his motivation. I think he really ‘got’ what Jesus was on about.
In Christ and indeed in all of scripture we find a constant theme of a bias towards the poor, towards those who are facing injustice, towards those who are suffering as innocent victims of another person’s greed.
The Gospels, especially Mark’s Gospel, were written for early followers of Jesus, who were facing extreme persecution under Nero in Rome, as they modelled a whole new way of living, loving and serving, under a brutal regime.
The prophets of the old testament are at their most challenging when the rights of the poor and the oppressed are being ignored, and the Psalmists are most animated, when the despair and brokenness of the human heart is most exposed.
At the start of this programme I asked the questions, where are the fixed points in our world of chaos?
What can we hold onto when everything seems to be moving?
I believe Navalny was right – the old book, the bible, still offers a most important point of anchor in the fiercest of storms. And far from just being blownaround in the chaos, it gives a call to action and the promise of satisfaction that defies the odds, even as like Navalny, he faced death. Whether it be to stand for justice with a defiance that cannot be ignored, whether it be to cry tears of sorrow and repentance and a committed to change, or whether it be to acts of service, meekness and humility which go against popular opinion – may we not betray the commandment to pursue righteousness and justice.
May we hunger and thirst after it, like our very lives depended on it.
(Originally written by Sean Stillman, for BBC Radio Wales, ‘Celebration’, 3.3.24)