He Was Almost a Priest

Keke, Stalin's mother, was a devout Christian when she was a child. A young Stalin would have been quite close to his mother and highly pious, as the two shared a home with a Georgian Orthodox priest. The Georgian Orthodox priest obtained Stalin's enrollment in the neighborhood Gori Religious School after observing the young man's dedication. Stalin earned good grades despite being a bit of a troublemaker, particularly in the arts and drama.

He was given a scholarship that would allow him to study at a lesser cost to become a priest, and in August 1894 he was able to earn a spot at the Tbilisi Spiritual Seminary. Stalin continued to do well academically after starting school at the age of 16, garnering the respect of his teachers and peers. There, he joined 600 novice priests and excelled academically.

Stalin lost interest in both becoming a priest and in his studies as he aged, though. Stalin's grades started to suffer, and he started acting out in class and was frequently put in jail for it. He declared himself to be an atheist, did not pray, and would not wear hats to the monks, according to the seminary notebook. Stalin gave up his faith and lived an atheist lifestyle for the remainder of his life after dropping out of school and joining the communist party in 1901.