• ABOUT US
    • History
    • Our Team
    • Advertising
    • Subscription
  • CONTACT US
Georgia Today
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business & Economy
  • Social & Society
  • Sports
  • Culture
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business & Economy
  • Social & Society
  • Sports
  • Culture
No Result
View All Result
Georgia Today
No Result
View All Result

Controversy after Stalin icon found in Tbilisi’s Sameba cathedral

by Georgia Today
January 9, 2024
in Highlights, Social & Society
Reading Time: 2 mins read
Controversy after Stalin icon found in Tbilisi’s Sameba 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.

Footage of the icon in Sameba was first shared on Saturday by Ilia Chigladze, a Georgian archpriest, on Facebook. Soon after, Giorgi Kandelaki, a member of the opposition European Georgia party and a researcher at the Soviet Past Research Laboratory, shot and shared footage of the icon on social media.

The icon depicts Saint Matrona of Moscow, a 20th-century Russian Orthodox Church saint. A man who both Chigladze and Kandelaki claimed to be Joseph Stalin, the Georgian-born dictator and leader of the Soviet Union, appears in one of the smaller icons surrounding the central depiction of Matrona.

In an interview with Tabula on Saturday, Andria Jagmaidze, the head of the Patriarchate’s public relations department, did not deny that Stalin was depicted in the icon, but stated that the icon was dedicated to Matrona, and not the Soviet leader.

“If, somewhere on the fresco of St. George, [the Roman Emperor] Diocletian is depicted, this does not make it an icon of Diocletian,” he said, adding that the controversy surrounding the Matrona icon was designed to deliberately overshadow the celebration of Orthodox Christmas on 7 January.

The following day, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, the leader of the conservative Alliance of Patriots party, announced that he had donated the icon to the cathedral. He said that Stalin had met Matrona for counsel during World War II.

Archimandrite Ioane Mchedlishvili of the Holy Trinity Cathedral stated on Sunday that the icon had been in the cathedral “for several months.”

The same day, Gocha Barnov, a theologian, told TV channel Mtavari Arkhi that the icon’s presence in the cathedral was ‘blasphemous’ and that it should be removed immediately.

In a 2021 publication commissioned by the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy titled “13 Myths about Stalin,” the Eastern European Center for Multiparty Democracy found that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime has actively been trying to portray Stalin as a ‘religious man,’ despite the Soviet authorities’ mass arrest of worshippers and demolition or destruction of churches and other religious buildings during Stalin’s time in power.

Tags: Stalin icon found in Tbilisi’s Sameba cathedral
ShareShareTweet

Related Posts

Access to water and sewage services expands in Georgia in 2024
News

Access to water and sewage services expands in Georgia in 2024

June 27, 2025
Zurabishvili: Georgia has rare number of political prisoners — A sign of our strength
Highlights

Zurabishvili: Georgia has rare number of political prisoners — A sign of our strength

June 27, 2025
Thomas O. Melia at the 2025 Rondeli Security Conference in Tbilisi
Editor's Pick

“Falling Faster, Falling Deeper”: US Diplomat Warns Georgia Risks Strategic Irrelevance

June 26, 2025

Recommended

Putin, Xi, and allied leaders mark Russia’s Victory Day at Moscow parade

Putin, Xi, and allied leaders mark Russia’s Victory Day at Moscow parade

2 months ago
Experience Seamless Connectivity with Silknet eSIM in Georgia

Experience Seamless Connectivity with Silknet eSIM in Georgia

1 year ago
Champion Karateka Luka Khvedeliani on the Benefits of Georgian Karate for Georgia’s Youth

Georgia to Celebrate First Europe Day with European Union Candidate Status

1 year ago
Georgian Foreign Minister Holds Farewell Meeting with French Ambassador to Georgia

Georgian Foreign Minister Holds Farewell Meeting with French Ambassador to Georgia

3 years ago
Natia Mezvrishvili on Dealing with 2 Political Giants

Natia Mezvrishvili on Dealing with 2 Political Giants

3 years ago
Giorgi Gakharia: We were Told We Were Capable of Nothing – It’s All a Lie and Ukraine is a Great Example of This

Giorgi Gakharia: We were Told We Were Capable of Nothing – It’s All a Lie and Ukraine is a Great Example of This

3 years ago
GT Interview with Giorgi Badridze

GT Interview with Giorgi Badridze

3 years ago
Russo-Ukrainian War and Georgia – Analysis from security expert Kakha Kemoklidze

Russo-Ukrainian War and Georgia – Analysis from security expert Kakha Kemoklidze

3 years ago

Navigation

  • News
  • Politics
  • Business & Economy
  • Social & Society
  • Sports
  • Culture
  • International
  • Where.ge
  • Newspaper
  • Magazine
  • GEO
  • OP-ED
  • About Us
    • History
    • Our Team
    • Advertising
    • Subscription
  • Contact

Highlights

European Court of Human Rights begins consideration of Mzia Amaglobeli’s case

Amendments: Only high council of justice to decide on courtroom recording

Norwegian MFA: Arrests of Georgian opposition leaders are unprecedented attack on democracy

Prosecutor charges Poet Zviad Ratiani with assaulting officer

French Minister for European Affairs: Repression of the opposition in Georgia is unacceptable

US-brokered ceasefire calms flames in Israel‑Iran crisis, but situation is fragile – what’s at stake

Trending

Experience Seamless Connectivity with Silknet eSIM in Georgia
Business & Economy

Experience Seamless Connectivity with Silknet eSIM in Georgia

by Georgia Today
June 26, 2024

Why Silknet's eSIM could be your top choice in Georgia  Since its introduction, eSIM technology has become...

Photo by the author

Virtuosity and Versatility: Marc-André Hamelin Opens Tbilisi Piano Festival 2024

May 30, 2024
  • Where.ge
  • Newspaper
  • GEO
  • Magazine
  • Old Website

2000-2024 © Georgia Today

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business & Economy
  • Social & Society
  • Sports
  • Culture
  • International
  • Where.ge
  • Newspaper
  • Magazine
  • GEO
  • OP-ED
  • About Us
    • History
    • Our Team
    • Advertising
    • Subscription
  • Contact

2000-2024 © Georgia Today