Nikanor Ivanovich Zverev was the author of the sculptural part of the “Monument-chapel to those who fell in the struggle against the Comintern”.
Since 1916 he lived in Vladivostok, where he studied in the workshop of the sculptor Baburin. After military service (1919-20) he continued to engage in sculpture, fulfilling orders in Vladivostok. In 1924 he emigrated to Harbin, where he also carried out private orders, working in collaboration with sculptors F. T. Chopp and Olesinsky. (1941). [Personal file in the BREM]
On June 8, 1941, the monument to the fighters against the Comintern ("Monument to the heroes who fell in the struggle against the Communist International") had its grand opening on the Cathedral Square in Harbin, opposite the hotel "New Harbin". (Rubezh, June 21, 1941. pp 13-15)
From St Nicholas Cathedral came a procession of the cross led by Metropolitan Meletius, Archbishop Nestor, Bishops Dimitry and Juvenal, who performed a prayer service and a ceremony of consecration of the monument. In the niches of the two side facades there were bas-reliefs carved from granite: St. George the Victorious, striking the serpent with a spear, and the Archangel Michael, striking with a fiery spear and trampling the devil with his foot.
It was destroyed in August 1945 when the Soviet troops entered Harbin and erected in its place with the monument to fallen Soviet soldiers, which stands to this day.