Memorial board to Patriarch Josyf Slipyj in Kharkiv renewed

The memorial sign to Patriarch Josyf Slipyj in Kharkiv has been restored. The sign was designed by a well-known sculptor from Kharkiv, Oleksandr Ridnyi.

The official unveiling ceremony the sign was attended by representatives of Lviv, including Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi, Deputy Mayor on Humanitarian Questions Vasyl Kosiv, Chaplain of the City Council Orest Fredyna, and public figures of the city.

The board was installed on the façade of the bulding at 5 Malynovskoho Street, where a former transit prison was located, it was reported by the press service of Lviv City Council.

The memorial board contains an inscription: “In this place, in the former transit prison, in July-August 1961, Patriarch Josyf Slipyj of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was imprisoned.”

“The authorities of Kharkiv have made an important and wise step in response to the request of the Lviv community to honor the memory of the great figure of the Blessed Josyf Slipyj, the patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. We officially unveiled the memorial board despite the objections of certain figures,” said the mayor of Lviv.

Lviv historian Yaroslav Hrytsak, Kharkiv historian Vladyslav Maistrenko, head of the Lviv City State Administration Mykhailo Tsymbaliuk, head of Kharkiv City State Administration Mykhailo Dobkin, Mayor of Kharkiv Gennadii Kernes, Chaplain of the Lviv City Council Orest Fredyna addressed the participants. The ceremony was attended by representatives of 10 religious confessions.

“Everyone stressed that it is an outstanding event for Kharkiv, for it is the first recorded attempt to reconcile and unite the pages of history which were silenced in the past. Today, the first step has been made and today we are making modern history,” stressed a political scientist from Lviv, Ihor Balynskyi.

Let us remind that after the court decision to remove the memorial board, Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi approached the Kharkiv City Council with an official petition to grant the city authorities of Lviv with official permission to install the memorial board to Patriarch Josyf Slipyj of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The Kharkiv City Council complied with the petition.