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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Rewrite the icon with Stalin |
| 2024-01-12 |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin [ColonelCassad] In Georgia, local priests called for an “urgent rewrite” of the icon of Stalin with Matrona (made in 2008), with whom Stalin allegedly met during the Battle of Moscow. Previously, Georgian priests quite calmly displayed the icon at home, but now, after acts of vandalism, they called for “historical authenticity.” They threaten that if those who donated the icon do not redraw it themselves, then they will take up the paints themselves. Of course, there is not a single documentary evidence that Stalin ever met with Matrona, not to mention the feverish delirium about the flights of Moscow with icons during Operation Typhoon. These are already post-Soviet tales. Which, however, as part of the development of a bizarre branch of “Orthodox Stalinism” (in the second half of the 2000s, when a large-scale process of rehabilitation of Stalin in the public consciousness began in Russia), also gave rise to similar icons, from which the left laughed and the right babbled. The icon itself with Stalin in the church had long ago turned into a meme that didn’t really bother anyone (those who wanted to believe in this story could believe in it, those who didn’t want to could laugh at it), which floated out in such a bizarre form during the next paroxysms Russophobia in Georgia, which in relation to Georgia is especially ironic, since Georgia has not given birth to a greater man than Stalin (although the Ossetians can present here, with their version that Stalin was not a Georgian, but an Ossetian) and it is not a fact that it will ever give birth sometime in the future. More from regnum.ru The Patriarchate of Georgia asked to remove the image of Stalin from the icon of Matrona The Patriarchate of Georgia considers it necessary to rewrite the icon of the Matrona of Moscow, which depicts Joseph Stalin, kept in the Tbilisi Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. This is reported on the organization's website. “Since Stalin’s meeting with Saint Matrona, due to insufficient evidence, is not included in the canonical text of her life and is not recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church... it is necessary to change the mentioned episode and take into account other details related to icon painting. We urge those who donated the icon to make the appropriate changes themselves, or we will do it,” the Georgian Patriarchate said in a statement. The icon found itself at the center of a scandal after ex-deputy of the Georgian Parliament Georgiy Kandelaki posted a video of her on one of the social networks on the eve of the Nativity of Christ. Then it turned out that the image of St. Matrona was donated to the Holy Trinity Cathedral by the leaders of the Alliance of Georgian Patriots party, Irma Inashvili and David Tarkhan-Mouravi. In the comments, users began to express their concerns about this. The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia agreed with the position of the Georgian Orthodox Church and will comply with the proposal to remove the image of Stalin. According to Inashvili, the icon was painted several years ago. It was donated to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. And Inashvili called the excitement around the icon a triumph of complete illiteracy and darkness. Later, a photograph of the same icon appeared, which was doused with blue paint. This was done by opposition activist Nata Peradze, after which protest rallies were held near her house. It all happened on January 9th. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia opened a case on the fact of vandalism. The Georgian authorities want to tighten responsibility for the desecration of shrines. As Regnum reported, on August 6, the Ukrainian trident coat of arms was installed on the Motherland monument in Kiev instead of the coat of arms of the USSR. On August 1, the hammer and sickle were removed from the Motherland monument in Kiev. They decided to send the coat of arms itself to the museum for storage. The authorities timed the dismantling to coincide with the celebration of Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24. Workers began lifting a new coat of arms with a trident onto the monument on August 5, but the installation was stopped due to darkness. Even more from kavkaz-uzel.eu Patriarchate of Georgia demanded to change the icon with Stalin Stalin's meeting with Saint Matrona, who is depicted on the icon donated to the Holy Trinity Cathedral, has not been confirmed, the Patriarchate of Georgia said today, calling on the donors to “make changes” to the icon. The leader of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia party, which donated the icon to the cathedral, called the position of the Patriarchate acceptable. As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, unknown persons in the Tbilisi Cathedral poured paint on an icon donated by the Alliance of Georgian Patriots party, which depicts Joseph Stalin, a video about this was published on the social network by activist Nata Peradze. Under Stalin, hundreds of clergy were executed in Georgia, the SovLab Laboratory for the Study of the Soviet Past said, calling on the Patriarchate to remove the icon from the cathedral. This is an icon of St. Matrona, not Stalin, and portraits of “the great persecutors of the church” are sometimes depicted on icons, the Patriarchate of Georgia said. In the Georgian religious tradition, it is not customary to depict persecutors of the church on icons, especially in a complimentary way, theologians interviewed by the Caucasian Knot pointed out. The appearance of an icon with Stalin in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi is a political action to support Russian information influence, an expert at the Laboratory for the Study of the Soviet Past is sure. Activist Nata Peradze, who on January 9 published a video of an icon of Stalin splashed with paint, complained of threats. On January 10, supporters of the Alt-Info movement came to Peradze’s house; the police did not allow them to approach the building. The Georgian Patriarchate released a statement today calling for the fragment of the icon depicting Stalin to be changed. Even persecutors of the faith can be depicted on icons, the Patriarchate said in a statement. “Depending on the canonical rules of iconography, the icon can depict not only a saint, but also real stories related to the life of a saint, with the image of any person, including rulers and ordinary people, heretics and persecutors of the Christian faith. This does not mean that the icon glorifies these persons - such details are a reflection of the indisputable facts associated with the saint,” says a statement published on the website of the Patriarchate of Georgia. The meeting of Stalin and Saint Matrona “due to insufficient evidence, is not included in the canonical text of her life and is not recognized by the Russian Church, which canonized her and conducted a special study on this issue,” the Patriarchate noted. “It is necessary to change the mentioned episode and take into account other details related to the canonicity of the iconography. We ask the donors to make the appropriate changes to the icon themselves, or we will do it,” the patriarchate said in a statement. The leader of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, Irma Inashvili, called the position of the Patriarchate acceptable. “I wrote two days ago: if the church asks to replace this fragment of the icon with a fragment of a different content, we must obey. But this does not mean that we should forgive someone for insulting the icon,” she wrote on her Facebook page*. The "Caucasian Knot" also wrote that a representative of the Georgian Dream stated the need for criminal punishment for desecration of the icon. The opposition considered the scandal surrounding the icon with Stalin to be an artificial manipulation in the information space, and social network users demanded that the icon be removed from the temple so as not to insult the memory of the repressed. Many Georgians are unaware of the scale of Stalin's repressions and are proud of Stalin as a fellow countryman who held the highest office in the Soviet Union, historians said on August 2, 2020. Some of the Georgian residents interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" confirmed their sympathy for the personality of Stalin. |
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