In Saturday’s DM, entitled “Honoring the Courage of Those Who Sacrifice & Follow Conscience,” we remembered the heroism of Sister Dorothy Stang, US attorney Danielle Sasson, and five other US attorneys who quit their jobs rather than submit to breaking their oaths. (Since that time a sixth US attorney has left his job out of conscience.)
These displays of courage and conscience are needed and meaningful in this time of peril to our democracy our planet. It is spiritual warrior energy that imitates that of Christ, called a “stern warrior” in the Scriptures. And of all prophets.
Indeed, to me the name spiritual warrior parallels that of “prophet.” To “speak out” (pro pheto in Greek) about truth and justice when falsehood, misinformation and disinformation reigns, is what prophets do. In that same DM I cited Rabbi Heschel: To do justice is what God demands of every person: it is the supreme commandment, and one that cannot be fulfilled vicariously.
We are all called to be both prophets and mystics. The mystic is the lover in us; the prophet is the defender of what one cherishes. The mystic says “Yes” to Life; the prophet says “No” to injustice which is the greatest threat to Life, love and community.
In response to that DM and the teaching from Aquinas that we are to “brave great dangers for great things, for instance the common welfare, justice, divine worship, and so forth,” one reader wrote this:
Serendipity. Just yesterday I finished reading Alexis’s Navalny’s recent memoir. I am now convinced that Navalny will be remembered as a ‘Spiritual Warrior,’ perhaps akin to St. John of the Cross. Navalny records how he was tortured through the time of his incarceration by fellow Russians. Navalny sacrificed himself for Russia and the Russian people. His fight against Putin’s oligarchy robbing Russian citizens was unrelenting. And he never lost his sense of humor. No wonder Putin was so afraid of him.
Aquinas: “A tyrant is more afraid of good people than of bad people.”
As I write this Sunday morning, it is the first-year anniversary of the murder of Alexis Navalny. As you read it, it is the day after that anniversary. Let us all remember his courage and his inner strength, and that of his wife and family also. Let us imitate it in our own way and in our own time and in our own land.
Let us remember Jesus’ words in his Beatitudes: Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In Aramaic, Jesus’ language: Tune to the Source are those persecuted for trying to right society’s balance; to them belongs the coming king- and queendom.
Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. In Aramaic: Renewal when you are reproached and driven away by the clamor of evil on all sides, for my sake….
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. In Aramaic: It is the sign of the prophets and prophetesses to feel the disunity around them intensely.*
*See Neil Douglas Klotz, Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus, pp. 68-72.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Faith Traditions, pp. 404, 408, 411-414.
And Matthew Fox, “Spiritual Warriorhood,” in Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine, pp. 77-104.
And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice.
See Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ, p. ix.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: Mural in Kiryat HaMelacha (near Haifa in Israel) that was painted after the death of Alexei Navalny in his memory and in solidarity with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Photo by Nissan Cohen. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
What do you learn from the examples of Sister Dorothy, Alexis Navalny, the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, Rabbi Heschel and Jesus in this DM? Hopefully they strengthen us in the struggle ahead.
Recommended Reading
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine
To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
9 thoughts on “Alexei Navalny: More Courage, Sacrifice, Conscience, Spiritual Warriorhood”
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Thank-you, Matthew, for always consistently telling the truth, standing up for truth, and opening up the way of the mystics and prophets to everyday people like me. You inspire and strengthen all hearts who love compassion, justice, kindness and what Christ taught. I loved the Rabbi Heschel quote today. You have been clear that warrior does not mean violence. As I pointed out to one of those detractors here, if MLK had listened to those of his day that told him salvation is exclusively private & personal, there should be no social justice work by Christians, the civil rights movement would never have happened.
The recent discussions bring the work of Joseph Campbell to mind.
The Hero figure or archetype that has weaved through human history.
To me there are parallels to the Spiritual Warrior.
Heroism is manifested in self sacrifice. In some cases martyrdom.
Navalny knew what he was doing. He gave himself to the Russian people.
The lesson to me –
Not all are called to this level of action but if you feel there is truth here
keep it in your heart.
Thank you Matthew for sharing again your story of meeting Lorna Byrne who is a spiritual teacher and has experienced angels (like many others) from the angelic spiritual realms since a young age and written about her experiences. There are other spiritual teachers/experiencers/saints from all religions who have experienced and written about the spiritual realms, reincarnation, and spiritual warfare of positive and negative forces (angels). Even though I have not personally experienced these spiritual realms, I have no doubt they exist, as part of our galactic multidimensional/multiverse physical and nonphysical spiritual realms in our Cosmos/Universal Consciousness. Mystics of the past and present, and now modern quantum scientists, are coming together to inform us consciously of our evolution as a human species towards a more compassionate Unitive Cosmic Consciousness in the Sacred Process of the Eternal Present Moment within and among Us… We’re All Mystics and Spiritual Warriors on Our spiritual journeys with one another and with-in Our Source Co-Creator’s LOVING Evolving Diverse ONENESS….
As Trump prepares to meet with Putin he might want to read Navalny’s Memoir:
Page 258: reminder of Russia’s interference in Trump’s election campaign via Paul Manafort who was paid millions by Russian operative Deripaska for info re Trump campaign…..
Page 400: [Navalny describes his team as] a group of people who unite and organize those citizens who are against corruption, who are for justice in the courts and equality before the law….We will rethink everything…we will change, evolve, adapt. But we will not back down…..This is our country and we have no other…. register to vote…I’m sure that all this haste is due to the fact that the authorities are scared of smart voting…..
It is a shame to get caught up in semantics. We should also remember the Salvation Army, which serves “the least of these” without discrimination. I had a friend in high school whose father was a severe alcoholic and who would literally have died without the services of the Salvation Army. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was another spiritual warrior with some parallels to Navalny in that he started out as a nationalist as well but grew in consciousness as he spent time in the U.S. in Harlem and other places. He, too, made a deliberate choice to leave the safety of New York City in 1939 to return to Germany, where he was already under suspicion because of his peaceful opposition to Hitler. I hope and pray that courage is more “catching” than fear and that we can look to these martyrs, including Sister Dorothy Stang for strength.
Sourced – Jesus is not referred to as a “stern warrior” in the Bible. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is described using titles like “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), “Lamb of God” (John 1:29), and “Good Shepherd” (John 10:11). His character is depicted as compassionate, humble, and forgiving.
While there are prophecies in the Old Testament that describe the Messiah with imagery of a warrior (such as in Isaiah 63), these are typically understood as symbolic of God’s judgment and victory over evil. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus is portrayed as a conquering King who defeats the forces of evil (Revelation 19:11-16), but this is in an eschatological context.
The idea of Jesus as a “stern warrior” is not found in the biblical text; rather, it is a theological interpretation some have made, but it is not a direct scriptural title.
I beg your pardon. It is found in the Book of Wisdom, 18: 14-15. (Jerusalem Bible translation) Not only is it found there, but it is also found in the midnight Christmas Liturgy so it is given very special prominence since it is invoked to name the very night of the birth of Christ. Now the Protestant tradition tends to call the Book of Wisdom apocryphal (The Roman Catholic Church does not and that is my original tradition) but it has it also. The New English Bible translates it this way, “a relentless warrior.” And I offer many other uses of the term “warrior” in the Scriptures and in the mystical tradition of Christianity and other world traditions in my book, One River, Many Wells, pp. 404-422. Please look there. And also in my book on The Hidden Spirituality of Men since spiritual warrior is a needed archetype for healthy masculinity. And the stories I told earlier of indigenous use of the word are very important. Thank you for listening.
I appreciate your point about Wisdom 18:14-15, and I acknowledge that this verse contains warrior imagery applied to ‘the Word’, which some Christian traditions interpret as Christ. However, this is not an explicit title given to Jesus in the New Testament, and its theological application depends on the tradition one follows. While Catholic and Orthodox traditions accept Wisdom as canonical, Protestant traditions do not. My original statement was focused on the New Testament, where Jesus is more frequently referred to as the Prince of Peace, Lamb of God, and Good Shepherd rather than a warrior. That said, I recognize that the ‘warrior’ theme appears in Christian mysticism and certain interpretations of Old Testament and deuterocanonical texts.