Over the years of the revolution, my native Penza disappeared. One day I received an album with photographs of Soviet Penza and was struck by how the power of this 'internationalist' party disfigured the city. Faceless people, who seized power in Russia, destroyed the Orthodox churches of Penza, of which there were about thirty, and it was they who gave the city its unique appearance.

In Cathedral Square stood a majestic cathedral with snow-white walls, a golden dome, and a tall shining cross. This cathedral, which stood atop a hill and dominated the entire Penza, was blown up and leveled to the ground. Two monasteries, one male and one female, were also destroyed.

Instead of ancient beauty and splendor, the party erected something resembling 'Penza's Corbusier,' hideous constructivist box-like buildings that killed the style and charm of the city. But those who did this do not even realize their guilt.

The cathedral was built from 1800 to 1824. By the time Emperor Alexander I arrived in Penza in 1824, the finishing works were completed, the porticoes were erected, and the temple was connected to the bell tower by a gallery. The interiors of the cathedral also inspired admiration. The wall paintings were completed from July 1850 to August 1851 under the guidance of Kuzma Alexandrovich Makarov and his students. These works miraculously survived in the bishop's house. The cathedral housed the miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God and other Penza relics, banners, and standards of the people's militias of 1812 and 1855.

The cathedral was visited at different times by members of the imperial family, such as Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, Alexander I, Nicholas I, the future Emperor Alexander II, Nicholas II, and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich.

After the revolution of 1917, the cathedral suffered constant humiliations until it was blown up in 1934, and under its ruins lay the graves of the Most Reverend.