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# Stalin's mother Ekaterina Geladze wanted to see her son become a priest
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/kogda-stalin-poseshchal-svoiu-starenkuiu-mat-nezadolgo-do-ee-smerti-v-oktiabre-1935-goda-po-vospominaniiam-ee-vracha-oni-korotko-pogovorili-i-stalin-poproboval-rasskazat-o-tom-chem-zani/
- Published: 2024-08-15T14:04:45.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:40:17.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archive, Faith, Mores, People

When Stalin visited his aged mother shortly before her death in October 1935, according to her doctor's recollections, they spoke briefly and Stalin tried to explain what it was that he did.

"Mother, do you remember our Tsar? I am something like a tsar now," said Stalin.  
"You would have done better to become a priest," his mother replied.

It was not the only time that Ekaterine Georgievna Geladze said she would have liked to see her son a priest. She recalled: "My dream was that my son would go to the ecclesiastical school, since we were a very devout family. And I liked it when some bishop would come from Tbilisi in his vestments… And how the teachers praised his voice! Simon Gogilidze used to say that my son had a voice that would astonish the whole world. More than once I went to church and listened to him sing."