The truth set Navalny’s soul free
St. John Paul II was once asked by his biographer what single verse from the bible he would preserve if somehow all the rest of it would be lost. He didn’t hesitate in his reply: And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)
He knew well the value of truth and freedom, having spent his entire adult life in a Poland enslaved by competing empires of lies, from the West by the Nazis and the East by the Soviets. And the lies continue, as Vladimir Putin recently told Tucker Carlson that Poland was responsible for Hitler’s invasion.
When The New York Times employed Walter Duranty, an apologist for Stalin, as its Moscow correspondent in the 1930s, it got a Pulitzer Prize for its efforts. Being a stooge is less prestigious but more lucrative today. Carlson is unlikely to win awards but he does make a lot of money.
Carlson, by way of an apologia for Putin, noted earlier this week in Dubai that “all leaders kill people.” Why all the fuss then when Putin does it?
Thus the grim context in which arrived the news that Alexei Navalny had died in an Arctic prison camp. Whether Putin specifically ordered his murder or he died of the harsh conditions matters little. He is a martyr of the Putin regime, which in any case attempted to kill him earlier with a chemical nerve agent.
In the American presidential contest between dementia and derangement, dementia had the better week. President Joe Biden received Navalny’s widow and daughter in a dignified condolence visit in California, mincing no words about Putin’s tyranny while announcing new sanctions on Russia. Over amongst the deranged, delusions took hold, with the vainglorious Donald Trump repeatedly likening his own trials to Navalny’s persecution. No word yet if Trump is encouraging donations, in lieu of condolence flowers, to his own campaign.
For the Christian believer, that the truth shall set you free is ultimately an eschatological claim. In this world witness to the truth is often offered from the grave, as the white-robed army of martyrs attest.
Navalny returned to Russia in 2021 from exile after poisoning. He was arrested, put on “trial”, convicted and shipped off to the gulag. He knew what would happen and he still returned to offer his witness. “Martyr” means “witness.”
He offered a courageous and inspiring witness. At the conclusion of his trial he spoke of various things — even Harry Potter! — and included this about eternal things.
“Your Honour, do you want me to talk to you about God and salvation?” Navalny said. “The fact is that I am a religious person … I was quite a militant (atheist) myself. But now I am a believer, and it helps me a lot in my work.”
“And it is said, ‘Blessed are those who thirst and hunger for righteousness, for they shall be filled’,” Navalny continued. “I’ve always perceived this particular commandment as more or less an instruction for activity. And so, certainly not very much enjoying the place where I am, nevertheless, I don’t have any regrets about being back, about what I’m doing … I did not betray the commandment.”
That’s another singular verse that might be preserved. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6)
That, too, is an eschatological hope. Navalny, like so many others who hunger for righteousness, was starved in prison.
In the end, it was Navalny, not his jailers, who was free. In the end, it was Navalny whose soul was filled even as his body was cold and fatigued and broken and hungry.
The killing of Alexei Navalny does not tell us anything new about the Russian regime. Yet it does remind us of something important about the Russian soul, the soul of a land that has produced millions of martyrs. Navalny belongs to that tradition, which includes the witness of believers and non-believers alike, from Solzhenitsyn to Sakharov.
There are additional verses from the Sermon on the Mount which inspire heroic witness against evil: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. (Matthew 5:10-11)
Those are not easy blessings; to the contrary they are heavy burdens. Blessed burdens, to be sure, but burdens all the same.
Navalny has now given his final witness, and free of any further burdens from Putin’s regime. May his witness endure. He died in the continual winter darkness of the Arctic Circle. May perpetual light shine on him, and all Russia’s martyrs, now.
HE OFFERED A COURAGEOUS AND INSPIRING WITNESS.