Scandal at Christmas: Icon with Stalin's image found in Georgia's capital
Kyiv • UNN
A scandal erupted in Georgia's main cathedral after an icon depicting Stalin appeared, and debates about its origin and consequences unfolded amid Christmas celebrations.
The scandal over the icon depicting Stalin, which appeared in the main cathedral of Tbilisi, Sameba, is gaining momentum in Georgia, UNN reports with reference to Novosti Georgia.
The video from the church was posted by Giorgi Kandelaki, a historian of the Sovlab team: "We are on the right track, comrades. Another success of Russian propaganda in the information war. The initiator of the destruction of Georgia's independence, the murderer of thousands of clergymen and the creator of the Soviet totalitarian system, was placed on the icon in Sameba.
It is unknown how long ago the image appeared in Sameba and on whose initiative. Archpriest Andrei Jagmaidze, head of the Public Relations Service of the Patriarchate of Georgia, did not answer these questions.
As for the icon itself, he suggested that it was no coincidence that the topic was raised at Christmas. It should be noted that Georgia celebrates Christmas on January 7.
"This is not the first time they want to mar the holiday with a scandal in order to sow hatred in people's hearts instead of joy," Jagmaidze said.
As for the image of Stalin, the representative of the Patriarchate said that there was nothing special about it. He emphasized that this is an icon of St. Matrona, not Stalin. In addition, there are precedents when great persecutors of the church, such as Diocletian, appear on icons, but this does not mean glorification of them.
Jamgaidze called the Russian trace of iconography depicting Stalin a "secondary issue.
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Later, the publication reported that the icon of Matrona of Moscow depicting Stalin was donated to the Sameba Cathedral Church of the Georgian Orthodox Church by the leaders of the pro-Russian Patriot Alliance party Irma Inashvili and David Tarkhan-Mouravi.
"We are not going to make excuses, we have nothing to justify. We gave this icon as a gift to Sameba... This icon was painted by a very great professional, a famous icon painter, an extraordinary person who has the appropriate knowledge and meets the requirements and criteria of an icon painter with his lifestyle," Inashvili said in a video message, without specifying who exactly created the icon commissioned by the Patriot Alliance,
The media notes that on the icon, the blessed Moscow Matron blesses Stalin to defend Moscow.
