Under pressure from Ukrainian nationalists, the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate had to paint over the frescoes on the Samson Church, located on the field of the Battle of Poltava.
In July, adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Mikhail Apostol, during a visit to Poltava, noticed an image of the Russian Tsar Peter I on his frescoes, who was sitting on a horse trampling a yellow-blue flag.
And, although the author of the fresco meant a Swedish flag, the Apostle stated that the colors of the flag reminded him of Ukrainian symbols. The adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs sent an appeal to the SBU.
And so, on July 21, the Poltava diocese, under pressure from nationalists, made concessions.
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“Yesterday, quietly at night, provocative, I am sure, anti-Ukrainian paintings - a flag and a double-headed eagle - were painted over. True, they still left behind the executioner of the Ukrainians, the so-called Tsar Peter I, but nothing, and we will overcome this,” the Apostle joyfully reported in his blog.
The fresco that outraged the Ukrainian official
Double-headed eagle on the facade of the temple
The Russian coat of arms is painted over - instead of it there is an icon of the Virgin Mary