The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is calling for support for an initiative to rename Rylskyi Lane in central Kyiv in honour of Patriarch Filaret. In a Facebook post, the Church explained that this lane between Volodymyrska and Striletska streets is not named after the poet and publicist Maksym Rylskyi, but after a regiment of Tsarist troops that, after 1654, was stationed near Sofiyska Square.
The OCU says it is unacceptable to commemorate a Moscow military unit in the centre of Kyiv through a street name now, in the midst of the war. Therefore, in view of the law on de-Russification and decommunisation, it proposes renaming it in honour of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret.
“The personality and numerous good deeds of the late His Holiness Patriarch Filaret rightfully occupy a special place in modern history, both of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine and of Ukraine as a whole. Having taken charge of the Kyiv see six decades ago, he did a great deal to preserve church life during the years of Soviet persecution of the Church, during Ukraine’s spiritual revival, and especially during the years of the struggle to establish church autocephaly. It was precisely thanks to his decision and principled stance that it became possible to successfully hold the Unification Council in December 2018 at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, to organisationally establish the single Local Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and to receive the Tomos of autocephaly,” the statement says.
You can vote for the renaming until 30 September in the “Kyiv Digital” app. You can also support the renaming of Muromska, Donska, Zelenohirska, 9 May, Lev Tolstoy, First of May, Lermontov and other streets. The full list can be found in the “Surveys” section.