An icon depicting Stalin hangs in Tbilisi's main cathedral, Sameba. How did it happen?

Stalin icon in Tbilisi Cathedral

A scandal is growing in Georgia over an icon discovered in Tbilisi’s main cathedral Sameba which, together with Russian saint Matrona of Moscow, depicts Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who ordered the extermination of tens of millions of people in the 1930s and 1940s.

Stalin is depicted in his famous coat, along with his trademark coiffure and mustache.

Historian Giorgi Kandelaki noticed the icon and published a video from the Sameba Cathedral. In his post he called the reason for its appearance “the Russian propaganda machine”.

This message caused a great stir in the Georgian segment of Facebook. People are furiously protesting against the appearance of a bloody tyrant in the church and demanding explanations as to how and why it happened.

“Journalists deliberately created a scandal on Christmas Day” – the Patriarchate’s position

Father Andria Jagmaidze, head of the Patriarchate’s public relations service, made the first comment on January 7, Christmas Day. He said that the icon of Russian saint Matrona has been in the cathedral for several months, but the issue of Stalin’s image on the icon was allegedly raised specifically now in order to “spoil the feast of Christmas.”

“This is not the first time they want to create a scandal right now. They want the condemnation of each other and those who allowed this to happen to be in the hearts of people instead of the Christmas holiday.

Such iconography has a place in Russian reality. I and many others believe that it does not mean anything special to us. It is a secondary issue, and in general it is an icon of St. Matrona, not Stalin.

And we should also remember that if somewhere on the fresco of St. Giorgi the persecutor of the church Diocletian is depicted, it does not mean that it is an icon of Diocletian,” Jagmaidze told Tabula.

Archimandrite Ioanne Mchedlishvili, a clergyman at Sameba Cathedral, also commented on the situation. He said that the icon of St. Matrona of Moscow has been in the cathedral for several months.

“This is not an icon of Stalin. There is some small image painted by one of the icon painters, to which no one but journalists paid attention, and they hyped up the story. This icon has been there for several months, it is not actually visible, but some people made a scandal out of it for some reason,” John Mchedlishvili told Mtavari Archi TV channel.

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The icon of St. Matrona with Stalin was presented to the cathedral by a pro-Russian party

It turned out that the icon was presented to the cathedral by the leaders of the pro-Russian political force “Alliance of Patriots of Georgia”.

Secretary General of the Alliance of Patriots Irma Inashvili published a video message on Facebook and said that she participated in the transfer of the gift.

“We have to live in such an era that people like us must always justify ourselves. But we have nothing to justify. We gave this beautiful icon to the Sameba Cathedral. And this pointless discussion now, on Christmas Day, seems very symbolic to us. On these important church holidays, the enemies of the church tend to become inflamed. We are observing this even now and we understand why all this is happening,” Inashvili explains in the video.

Another leader of the “Alliance of Georgian Patriots” David Tarkhan-Mouravi also made a video message, where he said that he personally presented the icon depicting Stalin to the Sameba Cathedral.

“And the icon of St. Giorgi depicts Diocletian, the defeated Diocletian, what should we do, remove the icons of St. Giorgi? Stalin’s presence on the icon is not a crime, and does not carry any negative meaning,” says Tarkhan-Mouravi.

Icon was first to be hung at the church in Rossia in 2008, and it ended in scandal there

The icon has an equally scandalous history. In 2008 it was painted in Russia on the initiative of the Russian hegumen Evfstrafiy Zharkov.

The icon is called “Blessed Matrona blesses Joseph Stalin”.

The icon describes the meeting of the bloody dictator with St. Matrona of Moscow, which allegedly took place during World War II, when the Germans were approaching Moscow. The saint allegedly blessed him as commander-in-chief before an important battle.

However, independent Russian theologians and historians confidently state that this icon is completely part of the propaganda of the Kremlin and the Russian Church, and there was no actual meeting between Stalin and Matrona.

In any case, according to the content of the icon, Stalin is not there in the role of a monster, dragon or villain as Diocletian. He is there as a great knight who must defend Moscow from the Nazis.

The Soviet legend on which the icon is drawn says that there was a brief conversation between Matrona and Stalin, and Matrona said to Stalin, “The Russian people will win, victory will be yours. You will save Moscow.”

When this icon appeared in November 2008 in a St. Petersburg church, and it caused a scandal in Russia. Even within the Russian Orthodox Church there were those who objected to the image of Stalin on the icon, and eventually it was removed from the St. Petersburg church.

“Deacon Jagmaidze deliberately lied” – theologian’s commentary

“The Patriarchate’s report that Stalin is depicted on the icon as an evil force is a deliberate lie,” Georgian theologian Beka Mindiashvili wrote on Facebook.

“The depiction of evil on an icon has its own rules. For example, demons, devils are usually depicted as black spots, without drapery. Evildoers are depicted either in a small volume or in profile, and in no case on an equal footing with the saints.

In particular, with regard to the aforementioned Diocletian, he and other torturers of Christians are “cast” on images of saints as a sign of the victory of faith over evil.

St. Diocletian is thrown under the feet of St. Giorgi, who pierces him with a spear.

There is no way the icon celebrates evil. And what do we see in this so-called icon with Matrona? Stalin stands full-length in the foreground, with one hand in his pocket.

The hand in his pocket is a gesture saying that he is not subject to Matrona, the church, the word of God, but is himself in charge over them. In this ‘icon’ Stalin is in charge, not Matrona,” Mindiashvili says.

He also tells the story of the creation of this image.

“According to legend, Stalin met Matrona during World War II in 1941. She blessed him and told him that he would not leave Moscow and would eventually win.

This story is a myth about Stalin that has not been confirmed by anyone.

Such myths about Stalin especially spread in the 1990s, after the movement in the Russian Church to canonize Stalin. According to the claims of Stalinist godless Orthodox, Stalin saved Orthodoxy from Western apostasy.

This is a myth that even the Russian Church does not recognize.

When in 2008 an anti-Christian “icon” of Matrona and Stalin was exhibited in a St. Petersburg church, and the St. Petersburg diocese issued an official statement saying that there was no such meeting and that it was a legend.

After that, this lawless icon, whose only purpose is to pay homage to Stalin, was taken out of the temple.

Also, the canonization of Matrona incites great resistance in the Russian Church. Her sainthood is not recognized by many Russian clergymen, not to mention world churches.

In general, the church tradition looks with great suspicion at semi-mythical characters like Matrona or Xenia of St. Petersburg, with whom paranormal phenomena and false miracles occur.”

In his opinion, the fact that this “icon” appeared in the Sameba Cathedral in Tbilisi shows the “extreme degradation” of the Georgian Church.

“This shows that we are a marginal branch of Russian Stalinist Orthodoxy, not the Apostolic Church of Georgia.

Stalin is one of the greatest instruments of Satanism in world history. His name is associated with the destruction of tens of millions of people and the Church of Christ.”