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Filaret comment

I just discovered your comment [1] by coincidence. Comments to an existing discussion can be made by clicking "edit" to the right of the discussion heading, in this case Wikipedia:New contributors' help page#Correcting misinformation. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:18, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

The name Filaret, like all christian name of Greek origin, appeared here and there in history (mostly among the clergy) and became quite popular after ascencion of Romanovs. The best known Filaret is not Fyodor Romanov (patriarch; in Russian tradition he is usually referred to by his original, pre-tonsure name), but St. Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow (borm Vasily Drozdov, 1782 - 1867). His life overlaps with life of St. Filaret, Metropolitan of Kiev (1779-1857), and yet these are two very different personalities. So

There are 8 Filarets in English Wiki, and 6 in Russian Wiki (all top clergy, including Romanov), and the list of canonized Filarets (most killed in 1920s-1930s) exceeds 20. Current Patriarkh of Kiev is, again, Filaret.

However, the monk Filaret mentioned in popular history of Moscow bridges might be real or might be a legend or even a recent invention. In fact, any information about people of low birth and social status of this period is ... sketchy at best. Too much of this period's history is either loosely construed based on bits of information in surviving documents, or has been deliberately doctored during the later periods. Sometimes parallel sources (i.e. Iranian, Turkish or European records) can help, but definitely not in this case.

Hope it helps. Sorry for the delay, NVO (talk) 19:51, 12 January 2008 (UTC)