The Patriarchate of Georgia appeals to the donors of the icon of St. Matrona to make appropriate changes to the icon, or the Patriarchate will do it itself.

“Due to one of the episodes depicted on the icon of St. Matrona in the Sameba [Holy Trinity] Cathedral, conflicting conversations and confrontations have been ongoing in recent days, which has taken a kind of political context.

At the same time, the icon became the object of completely unjustified offensive actions, and the tension increased even more.

There are other misconceptions, which is why we explain the following:

Based on the canonical rules of iconography, not only the Saint, but real stories related to the Saint’s life with the image of any person can be painted on the icon, including rulers and ordinary people, heretics and persecutors of the Christian faith, even those who tortured the saint himself.

However, this does not mean at all that the icon glorifies these persons or attributes any dignity to them, but such details are a reflection of indisputable facts related to the saint.

Since J. Stalin’s meeting with St. Matrona, due to insufficient evidence, is not included in the canonical text of her life, is not recognized by the Russian Church, which canonized her and conducted a special study on this issue, it is necessary to change the mentioned episode and take into account other details related to the canonicality of iconography.

We appeal to the donors to make appropriate changes to the icon themselves, or we will do it”, - reads the statement of the Patriarchate.