The article analyzes the transformation of the “Peter-Catherine imagery” in the panegyric literature of the late XVIII - first quarter of the XIX century. The paper demonstrates the evolution of this imagery against the background of the French Revolution of 1789, the formation of an adamant cult of Catherine at the end of the empress’s reign, the stability of this cult in the panegyric tradition during the reign of Paul I and the first years of Alexander’s reign. The use of the “Catherine imagery” in secular panegyrics dedicated to the accession of Alexander I was unique: it aimed at presenting the new monarch not only as the new Peter, but also as the new Catherine, while criticizing Paul’s “tyranny”. At the same time, the political theology of the “beautiful days of Alexander’s reign” lacked the historical analogy with the “Catherine imagery”, which allowed the authors to conclude that the cult of Catherine II began to gradually “die away” during the reign of Alexander I and the figure of the tsar himself as the savior of Russia and Europe against the background of the military fortune of 1812 was subsequently redefined.