Virgin Mary and the Goddess Durga: The Sacralization of War and the Ambivalence of Divine Feminine Iconography

The Russo-Ukrainian war has prompted the creation of a great deal of marian iconography, where the Virgin is depicted as protecting and fighting. A notable example is the Javelin Madonna mural, with Mary carrying an anti-tank weapon, which was criticized by Ukrainian religious leaders as blasphemous. Although this critique rightly resists the politicization of religion, the accusation of blasphemy ignores the military symbolism within religious art of various traditions. I use Eastern Christian iconography of the Virgin Mary (which I compare with the Hindu representations of the goddess Durga), to illuminate some of the military features of the divine feminine. The key question I am trying to address is: what does a marian, i.e. feminine, military representation add to our understanding of religion and violence. Mary as Sophia, the Church/Polis and Women of Apocalypse allows us to keep the sacred and mundane together, and avoids an easy de-politicization of religion.