Vladimir, Ukraine, February 10, 2026
Photo: bug.org.ua
Ukrainian authorities and the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” have agreed to remove a fresco of the Royal Martyrs from the Holy Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir, which was recently stolen from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
It was thanks to the donation and fundraising efforts of Tsar-Martyr Nicholas himself that the cathedral was built in 1900. However, for the Ukrainian state and schismatics, the fresco is not an image of God-pleasing saints, but rather of Russian imperialism, MP Igor Huz said on Radio BUG, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The Russian Orthodox Church canonized Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 2000 as “Royal Passion-bearers,” and this tradition was followed by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Huz said.
“There are people who consider it normal to pray to a Russian tsar. It’s precisely on such grounds that Russian special services easily recruit agents,” he stated.
According to Huz, the question of the fresco’s future has already been discussed with the leadership of the OCU. After the dismantling of the fresco, it will be replaced with images of "Ukrainian saints", “without any imperial or political connotations.”
OCU members were bussed in for a service with schismatic leader Epiphany Dumenko at the cathedral on January 29, but the church has been largely empty since.
Tsar Nicholas II is considered the founder-patron of the Dormition Cathedral, as the church was rebuilt from ruins using his funds. He allocated approximately 60,000 rubles (about $1.8 million today) for the cathedral’s restoration and then additionally announced a collection throughout all churches of the Russian Empire. Ultimately, 127,550 rubles (about $3.8 million) were collected, and by 1900 the Dormition Cathedral was rebuilt by Russian architects in its current form.
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