Joseph Stalin could have become a good Church leader if he had graduated from the Seminary and had not left the Church, the Educational Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church suggested, according to Interfax-religion. "He had the ability to manage, have a global vision, and make strategic decisions. If this man had not drifted away from the Christian tradition (or if he had not been pushed away), and his ability to make strategic decisions and global worldview would have been intertwined with Evangelical morality and the memory of the need for mercy and forgiveness, then Stalin could have been a very good leader - both the Church and the state one," said Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, Chairman of the Committee.  This was his answer to the question whether he would have excluded Iosif Dzhugashvili from the Seminary in Tiflis had he been a lecturer in his time.

According to the priest, God wants to save everyone, and the opportunity to grow to the spiritual level of a Saint is given at birth. "We are not Calvinists who believe that some are pre-determined before death and others before salvation. Consequently, Stalin had the potential to considerably large growth," said the representative of the ROC.

He noted that the more gifts a person has who has departed from God, the more notorious their collapse is. "Remember the same Leo Tolstoy - the measure of his talents and the measure of worldview collapse and squalor at the end of his earthly path. This is also the case - if someone could predict in advance who will become Iosif Dzhugashvili, and thus would be able not to lose this man, it would be worthwhile to make efforts of the best teachers of the Russian Church to guide him in the right direction,'' concluded the Chairman of the Education Committee. (Quelle: www.risu.org.ua, 13. Januar 2020)