church at old cemetery
The Ukrainian parish, together with its church dedicated to the Holy Protection of the Mother of God, was established in 1922, with the authorization and blessing of Archbishop Methodius of Harbin and Manchuria.
Archpriest N. Trufanov, Rector
The first rector of the church was Archpriest Prokopy Gordzievsky, who served from 1922 till October 1, 1925, after which, Archpriest Nikolai Trufanov became the rector. At the beginning, I. G. Sarabun held the post of churchwarden, and now for almost six years, A. G. Bogdanov is the churchwarden. The chairman of the Parish Council is T. A. Apostolov.
At first, the church was actually a house church located at the Ukrainian Residence. When this building was taken away from the Ukrainians, the church moved to a basement at B. Avenue, and thus the need came about for building a proper church. The Property Administration answered the requests of the parish and allocated a spot for free belonging to the Old Cemetery, where on June 1, 1930, a marvelous stone church began to be erected according to the project of the civil engineer Y. P. Zhdanov.
The church building was finished during the same construction season, and it took only six and a half months for that. It was finally consecrated by Metropolitan Methodius on December 14, 1930. The construction of the church cost around 32,000 Yuan, which put a heavy burden on the parish. Till now, only half of the sum had been repaid, while the other half stays as a debt.
A. G. Bogdanov
church foundation
T. A. Apostolov
At the cemetery many pioneers of the Russian culture lay to rest. Here, the first builders of the roads and of Harbin city are buried, and also such engineers like Rinek, Kazi-Girey, Oblomievsky, Vargasov, the children of Prince Hilakov and many others prominent persons. However, the majority of these graves are in dilapidated condition, not to mention the unnamed resting places of ordinary Russian people, who found here their eternal repose, so far away from their Motherland. The Parish Council took upon itself the duty step by step to put in order the territory of the cemetery as well as all the forgotten and anonymous tombs.
Donations are being received at the receipt office in the church compartment of the Old Cemetery by the secretary Mr. Yakimov.