What happened?
On January 9, 2024, an icon of St. Matrona of Moscow, a Russian Orthodox saint, was found defaced with blue paint in Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral. The icon, which had been donated to the church by a right-wing populist party called the Alliance of Patriots, showed a painting of St. Matrona on its main panel and scenes of her life on smaller panels. One of them depicted Stalin, who was born in Georgia and ruled the Soviet Union as an atheist dictator who persecuted religious people.
The incident sparked outrage among many Georgians, who condemned the presence of Stalin’s image in one of their main churches and accused the party that gave the icon to the church of glorifying a mass murderer. A former member of Georgia’s parliament, Giorgi Kandelaki, first drew public attention to the icon and called it a politically motivated move.
Who is involved?
The activist who posted a video online showing the defaced icon was Nata Peradze, a civic activist and journalist who works for an online information portal called Alt-Info. She claimed that she was one of the first people to approach the icon after it was vandalized and that she wanted to expose its origin and meaning.
However, some pro-Russian activists from Alt-Info accused Peradze of being responsible for throwing or splashing paint on the icon and rallied outside her house on January 10. They demanded that she be arrested and punished for damaging state property and insulting national heroes.
Peradze denied any involvement in the act and said that she was only trying to inform people about the truth behind the icon. She also said that she had received threats from unknown sources after posting her video.
What are the implications?
The protest by Alt-Info members has exposed deep divisions in Georgia over Stalin’s legacy in his homeland. While some Georgians view him as a national hero who defeated Nazi Germany during World War II, others see him as a tyrant who oppressed religious freedom and caused millions of deaths through his policies.
The controversy over Stalin’s image also reflects Georgia’s complex relationship with Russia, which has sought to rehabilitate Stalin in recent years as part of its efforts to boost national pride. Russia has also supported separatist movements in Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where many people identify with Russian culture and history.
The Georgian authorities have launched an investigation into the paint throwing incident and have placed police guards around Holy Trinity Cathedral to prevent further damage or violence. The Interior Ministry has warned protesters to stay within legal norms or face police intervention.
