On the eve of the Paschal celebrations of 2022 sad news reached Samarkand: in the city of Simferopol Priest Viktor Nikolaevich Panchenko, who in the 1990s became the first rector of the reviving Saint Alexius Cathedral, had reposed in the Lord.
Viktor Panchenko was born in 1949 and from childhood was gifted as a musician and artist. He studied at the art studio of the Samarkand Palace of Pioneers, graduated in painting from the P. P. Benkov Tashkent Art College and then in choral conducting from the Tashkent Conservatory. On returning to Samarkand he led the children's choir at the Palace of Pioneers, and as early as 1980 he held a solo exhibition of his work in Tashkent.
The turning point of his life came in 1990. Having fallen seriously ill, Viktor Nikolaevich followed his wife in coming to work at the Protection Cathedral, and while recovering his health he stayed on to serve the Church, where his gifts as an artist and musician and his beautiful voice proved useful. Through his efforts Saint Alexius Cathedral was returned to the faithful, and he himself was appointed churchwarden and head of the restoration of the church. In 1992 Archbishop Vladimir ordained him to the diaconate, and in 1993 to the priesthood.
When, after long years of appeals to the authorities, the keys to the cathedral were finally handed over to Viktor Panchenko, a scene of devastation opened before him: the walls were covered with obscene graffiti and satanic symbols, the ceiling was torn apart, the windows were smashed, the crosses on the window grilles had been sawn off, and in the altar there were heaps of rubbish and traces of campfires. "At that moment I felt that I would not be able to do anything," Fr. Viktor later recalled. But gradually caring people began to join in the work of restoration.
Serving at the same time in the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God and the Church of the Great Martyr George the Victorious, Fr. Viktor tirelessly made the rounds of plants, factories and institutions, begging for funds and building materials to restore the cathedral, in the difficult years of the mass departure of Russian-speaking residents and the shutdown of enterprises. It took almost three years to secure the cathedral's own grounds; in this he was spiritually supported by Archbishop Vladimir of Tashkent and Central Asia. From the city museum of history and culture he managed to obtain several old icons, including a large image of the Savior, "The Great High Priest," which Fr. Viktor restored with his own hands; the icon returned to the very church where it had once hung. Following his sketches, the Samarkand sculptors Nodar Bandzeladze and Anzor Berdzenishvili made the crosses for the domes, and the Krasny Dvigatel plant cast them free of charge.
The first Liturgy in the returned cathedral was celebrated on 25 February 1992, the feast of St. Alexius of Moscow. That morning the Orthodox people of Samarkand gathered at the Protection Church and, in a solemn procession of the cross with the icon of St. Alexius, walked across the whole city to the cathedral, singing; they were mostly elderly women parishioners who remembered the church from before its closure. At the doors of the cathedral the procession was met by Fr. Viktor himself, holding a cross. Thus, for the first time in many years, life was rekindled within the walls of the church.
The labors begun by the first rector of the revived cathedral were continued by his successors, and today Saint Alexius Cathedral stands beautifully adorned and full of prayerful life. The parish remembers Fr. Viktor in prayer: may the Lord grant rest to the soul of the newly reposed Priest Viktor in the dwellings of the righteous and make his memory eternal.
