Navalny funerals, this is how the Orthodox rite works

The funeral of Alexei Navalny they have a political connotation, as well as obviously a religious one. They will be held at 2pm in Moscow, 12pm in Italy. The Russian opponent died on February 16 while serving a 19-year prison sentence. The funeral will take place at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in Maryeno, where the man had lived with his wife and children. Navalny's spokeswoman added that he will be buried in the Borisov cemetery in the Russian capital.
The controls are in both places: the church and the cemetery. The Telegram channel We can explain reports that police officers ask the reasons for the visit to the cemetery, carry out searches and check documents. There are officers at the exit of the nearby subway and cameras monitoring the streets.

The Russian Ministry of Education has provided students and teachers with a video with the rules on ban on participating in unauthorized events. The objective is clearly to make it clear that Navalny's funeral cannot be transformed into a political tribute to him and against President Putin. Certainly the participants will be registered and no one will go unnoticed. The charge d'affaires of the Italian embassy in Moscow, Pietro Sferra Carini, will participate in the funeral of Alexei Navalny on the instructions of Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. Navalny's collaborators have asked for participation, but Putin's opposition says they do not bring symbols.

A funeral that is not easy to organize. «There is no funeral agency to be found willing to take Alexei's body to the church where the ceremony is scheduled» the spokeswoman said in a post on her X account. «The funeral agents tell us that no hearse crew agrees to take the body there. Unknown people call all the teams and threaten them not to take Alexei's body anywhere.”

The mother will be there, the presence of his wife and children who are at risk when returning to Russia is not confirmed. The ceremony should take place according to the Orthodox rite and will be broadcast on Navalny's YouTube channel. Lyudmila Navalnaya he obtained his son's body on the ninth day of his death and opposed a private ceremony and anonymous burial. The choice of the ninth day is not a coincidence. According to the Orthodox religion, this is the day in which the soul presents itself before God. Navalny was Orthodox, but Putin is even more so and he needs to show himself as a good Christian given that the trial on the third day in which the deceased is buried or cremated.

After the funeral there are three ceremonies of remembrance, in Russian «pominki». In the first, everyone meets in a room or at home to toast the deceased without the glasses touching. On the ninth day there is a new pominki with friends. The image of the deceased is also poured a glass of vodka with a slice of black bread on top. On the fortieth day the fate of the deceased is definitively decided because the soul leaves the earth and goes either to heaven or hell. At home, the final farewell is said and the guests are offered kutyam rice with dried raisins to which bliny are added, similar to crepes to be eaten with salmon, caviar or cheese.

Part of the ceremonies were skipped for Navalny. The first function is the wake after death. We pray to Christ to rest the soul of his servant with the Saints. During the waking period, the body must never be left alone on the bier facing the easternmost part of the room, with his head towards the East. A sacred Byzantine image is placed on the wall above the head of the deceased. There may be cloths of various colors in the room except red during Orthodox Easter. Electric lighting is prohibited. The initials of the writing must be on the lid of the coffin Iesus Xristos Nika, Jesus Christ wins. The cross is added to the center of the lid. Some passages from the Gospel according to John are placed on the sides of the coffin. There is a veil to cover the body.