Patriarch Filaret, who championed Ukrainian Orthodox church free from Russian rule, dies at 97
Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv, an Orthodox Church leader who helped create a denomination independent of the Russian Orthodox Church, has died at 97.
The Ukrainian news site Ukrinform reported Friday that Filaret had died after being hospitalized earlier that month due to worsening health. His funeral was held Sunday at St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, with hundreds attending. He was laid to rest in the crypt of St. Volodymyr's Cathedral.
Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, released a statement offering condolences following Filaret’s death.
“The person and numerous good deeds of the late Patriarch Filaret rightfully occupy a special place in the modern history of both the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Ukraine as a whole,” Metropolitan Epiphanius said, as quoted by The Associated Press.
“[Filaret] did much to preserve church life during the years of Soviet oppression of the Church, during the spiritual revival of Ukraine, and especially during the years of the struggle for the establishment of church autocephaly.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed condolences, calling Filaret’s death “a great loss for Ukrainians” and describing him as “one of the most steadfast defenders of the Ukrainian church, independence and statehood.”
“Without the energy, character and courage of Patriarch Filaret, many of Ukraine’s accomplishments simply would not have been possible,” Zelensky said, as quoted by the AP.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also issued a statement in response to Filaret’s death, commending his longtime service to Ukraine.
“We mourn the loss of His Holiness, Patriarch Filaret, and extend our heartfelt condolences to the people of Ukraine and all the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox community,” Rubio said.
“His steadfast life of service shaped Ukraine’s spiritual identity during pivotal moments in its history, and his legacy will endure in the strength of Ukraine’s religious and national life. May he rest in peace.”
Patriarch Filaret was born Mykhailo Denysenko in 1929 in Ukraine’s Donetsk region and pursued a ministry career despite living under Soviet rule.
During the 1960s, reported the AP, he was the Russian Orthodox Church’s top official in Ukraine and was at one point considered for the position of head of the Moscow-based church.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Filaret championed efforts to establish an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which led to him being defrocked by the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 2019, his efforts contributed to the official recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as an independent church by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, who is regarded as "first among equals" in the Orthodox Church.
By July of that year, more than 500 congregations in Ukraine switched their affiliation from the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the newly formed Orthodox Church of Ukraine. In 2022, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced it had cut ties with Moscow.
The Russian Orthodox Church has denounced the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and severed ties with the global Orthodox community over Patriarch Bartholomew’s decision.
Filaret had long been a critic of Russian expansion into Ukrainian territory. In October 2014, after Russia occupied Crimea, he sent a letter to then-President Barack Obama urging U.S. intervention.
“For if the aggression of [the] Kremlin is not stopped now, the consequence will be a third world war, in which nuclear weapons may be used,” the church leader wrote at the time.
“Therefore, on behalf of millions of Ukrainians I urge the United States … to help Ukraine to stop the aggressor and restore our country’s sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders, by all necessary means.”
