On 22nd August 2023, a life-sized brass image of Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II was removed from the doors of St. Nicholas Cathedral, situated at the *Pokrovsky [Holy Intercession] Convent in Kiev, Ukraine.

*The convent was founded in 1889 and developed in the last decade of the 19th century by the Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna (1838–1900), the estranged wife and later widow of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, Sr. (1831-1891). The laying of the St. Nicholas Cathedral took place on 21st August (O.S.) 1896. The first stone in the foundation of the cathedral was laid by Emperor Nicholas II. Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna died on 25th (O.S. 12th) April 1891, and was buried in the convent, according to her wishes.

PHOTO: a beautiful autumn view of St. Nicholas Cathedral, situated at the Pokrovsky [Holy Intercession] Convent in Kiev, Ukraine

On 15th August, Ukrainian People’s Deputy Rostislav Pavlenko published a post on social media, in which he pointed out that “despite the war with the Russian Federation, an image of the last Russian tsar can be seen on the doors of the Kiev convent”. Pavlenko was responding to complaints from local residents, who demanded the removal of the image.

He then filed a deputy appeal to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), regarding “the inadmissibility of the image of Nicholas II the bloody on the doors of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kiev”. Two weeks later, the SBU, in response to the deputy’s appeal, reported that on 22nd August, at the direction of the administrator of the Kiev Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the doors with the image of the Russian tsar were dismantled. Pavelenko personally went to the convent to confirm that the doors of St. Nicholas Cathedral with the image of Nicholas II was no longer in place.

PHOTOS: before (above) and after (below) views of the life-sized brass image of Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II, depicted on the doors leading into St. Nicholas Cathedral

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On 3rd April 2023, Ukrainian nationalists hung a large black banner denouncing the Moscow Patriarchate, across the facade of the Chapel in Honour of the Miraculous Image of the Lord Jesus Christ in Odessa. In addition, two icons including one depicting the Holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II were dismantled.

In July 2022 Ukrainian nationalists destroyed a bust-monument to Emperor Alexander III in the village of Pershotravneve, located in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. The bust of the “Tsar-Peacemaker” was knocked to the ground, while the plaque, which included Putin’s name was also removed from the front of the pedestal.

The bust-monument was erected in 2013 on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and the 125th anniversary of the BorkiTrain Disaster on 29th October 1888, when the Imperial Train carrying Alexander III and his family from Crimea to St Petersburg derailed at high speed at Borki.

© Paul Gilbert. 2 September 2023