Sometime last year I listened to the Slow Newscast episode The trials of Alexei Navalny. It takes you through the decision-making of Alexei Navalny and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya. They are returning to Russia where a year earlier he had been poisoned with Novichok nerve agent. It is simple, they say, Russia is their home. They are brazen, announcing the details of their flight, and livestreaming the journey. Before reaching passport control, Alexei gives a speech to the press huddle in which he says he is not afraid. They continue on round the corner, and, predictably, Alexei is met by border guards and taken away.
Just two weeks ago, following Alexei’s murder by the Russian state, Yulia released a video on YouTube. She ends the video by saying, “Keep fighting and do not give up. I am not afraid and I urge you not to be afraid of anything as well”.
We are now three days on from his funeral, and there is a line of people queuing to lay flowers on at the grave of Alexei Navalny. Hundreds of people have been arrested while paying their respects. And yet a mourner told the BBC’s Newshour: “It’s not time to be a coward. Those people in our government are cowards because they are afraid of us. We are only people with flowers and graves. That’s all.”
Flowers and graves.
The insistence of Alexei and Yulia on not being afraid reminds me of scripture. Variations of ‘do not be afraid’ are the most frequent command in the Bible. This isn’t because there isn’t anything to be fearful of; in standing up to the controlling forces in Russia Navalny was poisoned, imprisoned and killed. Instead we are not to be fearful because what we fear has already been conquered by Jesus, who has gone before us. I say this not in a trite way, but in the belief that there really is reason not to be afraid.
Navalny often quoted from Jesus’ sermon on the mount: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”
He commented:
“I’ve always thought that this particular commandment is more or less an instruction to activity.”
What I admire in Alexei and Yulia, is that their commitment and belief is, in many ways, simple. Russia was their home, so they went there. They want for a different future for Russia, so they act to bring it about. How to interpret scripture? To simply live it as “more or less an instruction to activity”. The threats of those against them have not been able to diminish the way they lived. Even though Alexei has paid with his life, Yulia is insistent “I am not afraid and I urge you not to be afraid of anything as well”.
“Take heart” says Jesus at the end of John’s gospel, “I have overcome the world”.
Take heart indeed, and do not be afraid.
thejoyofrachel 