On 6 March 2023, Archpriest Daniel Lugovoy, rector of the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Johannesburg, celebrated a funeral service at the grave of Russian officer Lev Pokrovsky in Utrecht, 400 km from the capital of South Africa, Pretoria, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Lev Pokrovsky was mortally wounded by an English sniper on 25 December 1900 during the Anglo-Boer War. He was reburied 25 years later in the grounds of the Dutch Reformed Church of Utrecht. A monument was subsequently erected over his grave, topped by a stone statue of the deceased. "He voluntarily gave his life for an oppressed people," is written on the pedestal.
Words of Orthodox prayer were said over his grave. Then flowers were laid on behalf of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in South Africa and the Russian military attaché. The memorial ceremony was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation Ilya Igorevich Rogachev, representatives of the Defence Attaché, staff of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in South Africa and the Utrecht Museum.
A memorial wall to the Anglo-Boer War was erected at the nearby city museum. The names of about 90 Russians who fought on the side of the Boers are embossed on it. Among them are Prince Bagration-Mukhransky, Counts Bobrinsky, Kanetsky and Komarovsky. In the war participated, according to some data, 225 Russian soldiers and officers, Russian settlers, and also operated a branch of the Russian Red Cross. One of the most prominent and brave military commanders was Evgeny Maximov, who rose to the rank of general in the Boer army.