Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Kyiv Patriarchate has died at the age of 97: what he is remembered for

Filaret (born Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko), Honorary Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, has died at the age of 97. 

This was announced by the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Epiphanius. 

“Today, my heart is filled with deep sorrow and grief, as are the hearts of many Ukrainians, for the earthly journey of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret has now come to an end. I call upon the Ukrainian flock to offer heartfelt prayers for the repose of the soul of the newly departed Patriarch Filaret, who has today gone to the Lord. Let us ask the Almighty to receive him into His Heavenly Kingdom. My heartfelt condolences to the family of the late hierarch!” – wrote Epiphanius.

He added that we will always remember Patriarch Filaret’s teachings on the importance of maintaining the unity of the Ukrainian Church around the Kyiv See, and we will also remember and follow his lessons and teachings on the importance of conciliarity, on humility before God’s will and the will of the fullness of the Church, and on devoted service to God, the Church of Christ and the Ukrainian people. 

Epiphanius wrote that prayer and remembrance of Filaret will remain in the local autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church for all time. 

It should be recalled that Filaret was one of the key figures in the struggle for Ukraine’s ecclesiastical independence. 

Patriarch Filaret: biography

Patriarch Filaret (born Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko) was born on 23 January 1929 in the Donetsk region. During the Soviet period, he built a career within the Russian Orthodox Church, where he held the position of Metropolitan of Kyiv.

Following Ukraine’s declaration of independence, he became one of the initiators of the creation of the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. 

In 1992, he became head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, and from 1995 held the title of Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine.

His activities were accompanied by conflicts with Moscow: in 1997, he was excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church, which did not recognise the Kyiv Patriarchate. At the same time, in Ukraine he remained an influential church leader and a symbol of the movement for autocephaly.

In 2018, Filaret supported the establishment of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the granting of the tomos of autocephaly. Following this, a conflict arose between him and the new leadership of the OCU, as a result of which he announced the resumption of the activities of the Kyiv Patriarchate.