About half of Kyiv residents supported renaming Rylsky Lane after Filaret Denisenko

Residents of the Ukrainian capital have weighed in on the initiative to rename Rylsky Lane, located in Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi District. It is reported that about half of the participants in a poll on the “Kyiv Digital” app voted to name the street after Filaret Denisenko, the founder of the Ukrainian church schism.

According to the results of the online vote, 54% of respondents supported the renaming, while 46% opposed the initiative. In the justification for the proposal, the former head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Kyiv Patriarchate, Filaret Denisenko, is described as "an outstanding church and public figure whose activities were crucial in the process of obtaining the Tomos of Autocephaly for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine." The authors of the initiative emphasize that Filaret has become one of the key symbols of the Ukrainian Church’s quest for independence from Moscow’s religious structures.

As previously reported, representatives of the UOC-KP were unable to attend the official funeral ceremony for their spiritual leader, Filaret Denisenko, citing pressure and threats from supporters of the OCU. Since they were unable to attend the main funeral service, the organization’s newly elected head, Nikodim, conducted an alternative memorial service and announced a 40-day period of intensified prayer in all of the organization’s congregations.