This image of Aleksei A. Navalny’s body in a coffin, at a church in southern Moscow, conveys many of the traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church, an institution that has bound itself closely to the Kremlin but that also counted opposition figures, including Mr. Navalny, among its faithful.
“I, to my shame, am a typical post-Soviet believer,” Mr. Navalny said in an interview in 2012.
“I keep fasts, I got baptized at church, but I go to church quite rarely.”Being an Orthodox Christian, he said, made him feel “like I am part of something big and shared.”He added: “I like that there are special ethics and self-restraints.
At the same time, it doesn’t bother me at all that I exist in a predominantly atheistic environment.
Until I was 25 years old, before the birth of my first child, I myself was such an ardent atheist that I was ready to grab the beard of any priest.”Those remarks reflected the circumstances of many Russians who came of age as the Soviet Union broke apart and as the Russian Orthodox Church again rose to prominence in public life.
Persons:
Aleksei A, Navalny, “, Mr
Organizations:
Russian Orthodox Church, Orthodox, Soviet
Locations:
Moscow, Russian, Soviet Union