Fr Nikita Du - an Albazinian, was born in Beijing.

He served in the Kazanskaya Bogomater Church in Hailar in the autumn of 1956 according to the "Religious History" compiled by the Inner Mongolia Ethnic Affairs Commission and Religious Affairs Bureau.

In 1967, at the age of 80, he was called in daily to the police station to renounce Orthodoxy and to close down his church. When he continued to refuse, he was dragged into the church, where the activists began to wreak havoc. This included throwing down icons and holy things from the altar table. Fr Nikita was unable to endure this defilement of the church. He suffered a heart attack and died in the altar. Above information courtesy of Abp Hilarion and Fr Michael Li of Australia.

According to Hankou municipal archives, after the last Russian priest left Hankou in 1955, Fr Nikita Du and his son Fr Pinna Du served successively from 1955-1958 as priest in charge of dwindling parish of St Alexander in Hankou until its closure.

Fr Ignaty Shuang and Nikita De

Fr Nikita and his wife Zhao Guifang

Zhao Guifang

Fr Nikita's eldest son
Fr Pinna Du
photo in front of
archbishopric
residence, Beiguan

Fr Nikita's second son
Du Gang
photo in Wuhan, 1961

Before the Chinese immigrated to Australia, they needed the seal of Du Bining as consent