Politics Plus

Before there was Saint Javelin, there were Eastern Orthodox icons of many saints, including, of course, the Virgin Mary. She is more often than not shown with the Baby Jesus. This has often given people the impression that Mary was sweet, submissive, and silent. But that’s not entirely accurate. What do we know about Mary from the Bible?  Most of what we know is from the Gospel of Luke.

We don’t know her exact age when Jesus was born. The youngest I have heard her age speculated on is thirteen – the same age that Margaret Beaufort was when she gave birth to Henry Tudor (later Henry VII). Henry was certainly no Jesus, but Margaret Beaufort was definitely a tough cookie. But I digress.

The Biblical story goes (and please suspend disbelief if necessary, in order to appreciate the flavor) that an angel appeared to her and told her Jehovah (westernized spelling in my attempt to avoid cultural appropriation) had chosen her to be the mother of his son. Her first response was, “Yeah, right. How is that going to happen to someone who’s never had sex?” The angel gave her a mystical explanation involving the Holy Spirit and the Power of the Most High, and added that her childless and now post-menopausal cousin Elizabeth had conceived and was now in her 6th month of pregnancy. At that point, Mary said, “All right then, I consent.” You may not consider that fully informed consent, but she’d clearly had at least some sex education, and likely had a pretty good idea of what she was getting into socially.  And, like it or not, children were expected to grow up faster up to and including the Indistrial Revolution.

But she didn’t fail to do the fact checking. The first thing she did was go visit Elizabeth to see if this unlikely story was true. It was – and Elizabeth had also been informed somehow about Mary – because the first thing she said was “You? The mother of God? Visiting me? I’m overwhelmed!”

And that was when Mary on the spot composed the poem the church calls the “Magnificat.” A poem which has been around so long that its edge has been blunted. It was actually quite revolutionary.

In drastic paraphrase, but you can check it against any translation and see why you think: “Now I get it. This is a BFD. For the rest of time, everyone in the world will know about me and know my name. What an honor. Our god is amazing, and strong. He’s going to show the privileged elites they are just dirt. He’s going to kick out the powerful and give power to us nobodies. He’s going to feed the poor and starve the rich.” And, of course, that’s what Jesus told us to do. It was revolutionary then, and it’s revolutionary now. And you still have to be a badass if you are actually going to make it happen – or even try to.

Jumping to modern times, in 2012, an artist named Chris Shaw was inspired to do an acrylic-on-canvas painting of Mary holding an AK-47, in a style inspired by Orthodox Iconography. He called it Madonna Kalashnikov.  He doesn’r seem to have been thinking specifically about Mary’s character – he says, “The initial idea for the image was conceived during the post 9/11 era.  I have always juxtaposed and mixed concepts about culture and religion into my icons, and had long been intrigued at how weapons can be perceived as both evil and good – especially if they are doing God’s work.  The concept was brought a bit further in another painting I made around the same time, ‘Madonna of the Suicide Vest’.”

“I first exhibited Madonna Kalashnikov at Varnish Gallery (2012), then at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2013)” he says. “She received plenty of attention but also came back unsold after both exhibits, I think she was a bit too subversive for the times. I eventually sold her directly out of the studio.”

After that, “I can’t say she was ever a meme or went viral after her debut, but the image of Madonna Kalashnikov from my website got shared around. I’d look it up occasionally and typically got a kick out of where she ended up, eventually she was getting all over the place. Unfortunately that also meant unauthorized prints and merchandise started showing up too, ever since it’s been extremely labor intensive trying to keep people from printing her on shirts or other items to sell. Bootleg Madonna Kalashnikov merchandise has been popular in East Europe, which isn’t surprising. Less frustrating are the tattoos, there’s a lot of great Madonna Kalashnikov tattoos, I always enjoy seeing them.” She even became a patch for the Ukrainian military

Still later, “The story continues, in 2018 someone in Ukraine altered an image of the Madonna Kalashnikov painting. She now held a Javelin missile launcher and was posted on twitter, shortly after she was named, ‘Saint Javelin’. Not many people saw it then, I didn’t. However, in 2022 amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the St.Javelin version of Madonna Kalashnikov went hyper-viral, eventually becoming the face of the conflict and a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance against Russia.”

While Chris is not thrilled with the unauthorized uses, he is grateful that the images are being used to raise money for Ukrainians battling totalitarianism. “I feel better knowing that she’s become an icon of hope, freedom, and good.”

I don’t know what he would think of the interpretation of her in stained glass, which is quite recent. It was created by an American artist, Sheila Noseworthy, using vintage glass, made in West Germany, which is no longer obtainable, but which she had been saving. I think Chris would approve – not only is the work exquisite, but the purpose is to raise funds for Ukrainian defense.

Nor do I have a clue what he would think of this, or other videos at the “Saint Javelin Official” YouTube site. I can tell you it made me laugh and cry.  The CC ss good, the voices of the judges sound authentic.  The voice of HIMARS is that of a wise child.

There are other Saints being called upon also.  You can see quite a variety at the Saint Javelin Official Site.  One is Saint Neptune, Protector of the Seas.  I would call the site, among other things, ecumenical.