Q41: What Does Spirit Wrestlers Mean?

From: Donald Simonds

I am curious, and perhaps you can help me. Why are the Doukhobors called "ghost" or "spirit wrestlers?"  I can find much in the literature about the interesting history of the group, but no explanations of the designation. Can you explain?

---

Answer

From page one of my latest book Spirit Wrestlers: Doukhobor Pioneers' Strategies for Living (2002):

'The term Doukhobor is derived from [Russian] Dukho-borets, or Spirit Wrestler. It was first formulated in 1785 by the Russian Orthodox archbishop of Ekaterinoslav in the southern region (present-day Ukraine) of the Russian Empire, who used the term in a derogatory manner, implying that it referred to those who wrestled against the spirit of the church and God. The group itself, however, adopted the name with the understanding that it referred to people who "wrestle with the spirit of truth". Although comprising elements of religion and a distinct way of life, Doukhobors might best be described as a social movement characterized by love, human goodness, and justice....'

From: Elkinton, Joseph. The Doukhobors, Their History in Russia, Their Migration to Canada. January 1903, page 4.

A Doukhobor (Spirit-Wrestler) was looked upon as one who wrestled against the Holy Spirit, whereas the Doukhobors themselves turned it into another meaning, and said it conveyed equally well the idea of wrestling by aid of the Holy Spirit, and not with carnal weapons.

From: Maude, Aylmer. A Peculiar People, The Doukhobórs, 1904, pages 6-7.

The name was used at least as far back as the year 1785. Certain Russian sectarians (every one who believed anything more reasonable than the doctrines of “the Church” was a heretic or a sectarian) objected to the use of icons and were called Iconobórs (image-wrestlers) . On the same lines the name Doukhobór (spirit-wrestler) was formed, to describe those whom the Orthodox Russian Church considered to be wrestling against the Holy Spirit. 

Like many other religious nicknames: Quaker, Shaker, Methodist, etc., the name stuck. It admitted, however, of an interpretation which rendered it innocuous, and the Doukhobors claim to be those who fight, not with carnal weapons, but armed with the Spirit of Truth. Recently they have begun to call themselves “The Universal Community of Christian Brotherhood," but to the rest of the world they have remained “Doukhobórs.”

More: Questions and Answers, Comments