Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ A cult of 'Saint Stalin' has appeared in the Russian Orthodox Church, with the Soviet dictator being hailed as a saint or even a secret Orthodox bishop. In reality, Stalin closed or destroyed nearly all churches in Russia and had 85,000 Orthodox clergy shot in 1937 alone. ⬇️

2/ The Russian religious journalist and researcher Alexander Soldatov has noted the increasing appearance of Joseph Stalin in the pantheon of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Stalin is portrayed as a saint in religious icons and priests are blessing monuments to the dictator.

3/ Soldatov links the emerging cult of 'Saint Stalin' to the Russian Orthodox Church's increasingly militaristic outlook, in which it has openly supported Russia's military campaign in Ukraine and blessed Warhammer 40K-inspired 'purity seals' for soldiers.

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1855195947615044021

4/ In an inversion of Soviet ideology, the ROC now portrays Soviet victory in World War II as the result of divine intervention. The gigantic Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces near Moscow portrays God, Jesus and the saints protecting and aiding the Russian armed forces.

5/ Soldatov notes that pro-Stalin ROC clergy have sought to portray Stalin as being inspired by Saint Matrona of Moscow (1885-1952), otherwise known as Matrona Nikonova, who was claimed to have the gifts of prophecy, spiritual vision, and healing.

6/ An apocryphal story describes Stalin coming to Matrona for advice on how to win the war. Icons showing the fictional encounter depict her sitting on a couch, with Stalin standing reverently in front of her. The cult of Matrona is very recent – she was only canonised in 1999.

7/ As Soldatov says, "Blessed Matrona herself, no matter how great a devotee she was, plays [only] a supporting role in this mythology. She is somewhere there, on the sidelines. She prays for the victory of the Red Army. She blesses Stalin."

8/ "That is, she mystically, spiritually serves this regime, this cult, this personality of Stalin and allows church people, who did not accept this person as the culprit of the repressions, as the culprit of the death of millions of new martyrs of Russia, to 'churchify' him."

9/ The next evolution of this trend, according to Soldatov, was for the 'Great Victory' of 1945 to be depicted on icons with the saints and the Virgin Mary blessing the Soviet army and Stalin personally. This has, ironically, been particularly popular among Russian communists.

10/ A number of Stalin-era figures who supported Stalin and the Red Army have also been canonised in the past 30 years, such as Saint Luke the Blessed Surgeon (Luke Voyno-Yasenetsky). He was awarded a medal and the Stalin Prize for his medical work during the war.

11/ Perhaps inevitably, Stalin himself has now come to be depicted with a halo, as if he was himself a saint. (He did enroll as a trainee Russian Orthodox priest at the Tiflis Theological Seminary as a young man, but abandoned his religious studies to become a revolutionary.)

12/ As Soldatov comments, this has been accompanied by "the emergence of a corresponding mythology that the war so deeply transformed Stalin's personality, communication with saints, Blessed Matrona, influenced him so much that a radical metanoia [prostration before God]…

13/ …occurred. He allegedly repented of everything he did before the war under the influence of evil forces. It was not he who organized voluntary repressions, it was all a conspiracy."

14/ "Stalin simply could not figure it out yet, not having some kind of spiritual support and protection in the person of saints, which is achieved through repentance.

15/ "After the war, after his repentance and conversion, he received this spiritual protection and therefore was no longer subject to the dark forces, but went from strength to strength, took monastic vows and even, according to some legends, became a secret Orthodox bishop.

16/ "These people who accept such legends, of course, no longer feel any obstacle within themselves to honoring him as a saint. I have seen his icons, where he is depicted in a bishop's omophorion [liturgical vestment]."

17/ The rise of "Saint Stalin" is deeply ironic given that Stalin demolished or closed all but 500 of Russia's 29,500 churches, with 400 demolished in Moscow alone – including the famous Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, since rebuilt – and had more than 200,000 ROC clergy killed.

18/ Stalin's quasi-religious veneration, with its echoes of his Soviet-era cult of personality, highlights how the modern Russian regime is seeking to link itself with the Soviet past, while trying to ignore or suppress memories of Stalin's atrocities and cruelty.

19/ Soldatov comments that "the centre of the current preaching and ideology of the Russian Orthodox Church is not the Gospel, not the Patristic tradition, not the fulfillment of the commandments, but an ideology associated with what in Russia is called…

20/ …the Special Military Operation, with imperial resentment, with armed struggle, with the romance of military action." /end

Source:
poligonmedia.appspot.com/aleksandr-sold…