Why Did St. Chrysostomos of Florina mistakenly praise Joseph Stalin in 1945?

St. Chrysostomos praised Stalin at a very specific moment [in time] for two specific reasons: a. because the latter stopped the persecution of the Church in the face of the common danger of the Germans (we clearly know today that he did so out of necessity and not out of love for the Church) and b. because a Pan-Orthodox Council was being prepared in Moscow (finally held in 1948) at which the Saint hoped to resolve the calendar question. Clearly, when his hopes were dashed, he did not repeat such a characterization.

- Nikolaos Mannis, comment on April 12, 2018.

Source: https://krufo-sxoleio.blogspot.com/2014/08/blog-post_40.html  - (ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΜΑΤΘΑΙΟΥ ΚΑΡΠΑΘΑΚΗ (ΜΕΡΟΣ Α΄) [On Matthew Karpathakis (Part A)]