spiritual father

Also aboard the jet was Dmitry Utkin, the decorated, former Russian special forces officer who was the mercenary group’s founder and spiritual father.

“You are truly my spiritual father, a friend and a mentor,” Panahi emailed Graham on Jan. 22, 2014.

“It’s not like a church where people listen to you and call you ‘Spiritual Father,’” he said.

It was 2017, and he was walking the streets of downtown Fort Worth asking God to make him a “spiritual father” of the city when he heard God say no.

"I consider him my spiritual father."