Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko)

Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko) (1929-2026)

Filaret may be spelt Philaret.

Mykhailo may be spelt Mykhaylo, Mihailo, Mikhail, Michael.

Denysenko may be spelt Denisenko.

Early life of Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko

On 23 January, 1929 (some say 1930 or 1933), Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko (in Russian pronunciation and transliteration, Mikhail Antonovych Denisenko) was born into the worker family of Anton and Melania Denysenko in the village of Blahodatne in the Amvrosiivka (Amvrosiivsky) Raion (county) of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR), in what became the Donetsk Oblast (province) in Eastern Ukraine. This raion (county) had (in 2018) an international border with the Russian Federation Rostov Oblast to the east.

Anton Denysenko was a coal miner. The industrial Donbas area is and has been an area with a large Russian-speaking population. Despite the environment of state atheism, Mikhail Antonovych was raised as an Orthodox Christian within the Russian Orthodox Church.

Mykhailo Antonovych received his primary and secondary education in his home region.

Higher education

Mykhailo Antonovych received his theological education first at the Odessa Orthodox Theological Seminary, beginning in 1946.

After his graduation, in 1948, he entered the Moscow Theological Academy in what was then called “Zagorsk” but what now is called “Sergiyev Posad”, north of Moscow, Russia. There, he became a close associate of Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky) of Moscow. (It was only in 1946 that Mr. J Stalin permitted the re-opening of this seminary and academy.)

Seminarian Mikhail A Denisenko in Odessa

Monastic tonsure, 1950

On 1 January, 1950, Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko was tonsured at Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra (where is located the Seminary and Academy) to be a monk. He was given the name Filaret.

Ordinations : 1950, 1951

On 15 January, 1950, Monk Filaret (Denysenko) was ordained to the Holy Diaconate at the seminary, and then to the Holy Priesthood on 18 June, 1951. (These dates alone strongly suggest that his birthdate would be either 1929 or 1930, rather than 1933. The canonical age for ordination is 30 years.)

Pastoral service, 1951-1962

After his graduation from the academy, Hieromonk Filaret (Denysenko) stayed at the Moscow Theological Academy, where he served as a professor of New Testament (from 1952). He further served as the dean of Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Lavra.

In March, 1954, he was assigned to serve as senior assistant to the academy inspector.

In 1954, Hieromonk Filaret (Denysenko) was elevated to the dignity of igumen.

In 1954, Igumen Filaret (Denysenko) was assigned to serve as the Inspector of the Saratov Theological Seminary.

In 1957, Igumen Filaret (Denysenko) was assigned to serve as the Inspector of the Kiev Theological Seminary.

In July, 1958, Igumen Filaret (Denysenko) was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite.

Also in 1958, Archimandrite Filaret (Denysenko) was assigned to serve as the rector of the Kiev Theological Seminary.

Under the direction of N S Khrushchev, the seminary was closed by the Soviet authorities in 1960.

From 1960, Archimandrite Filaret was effectively in charge of the Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, and he served at Saint Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev. This cathedral may be called the exarchate's “mother cathedral”, much in the manner that a very large city is often called a “metropolis” or “mother-city”.

In 1961, Archimandrite Filaret (Denysenko) was assigned to serve in the representation church (“metochion”) of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to the Patriarch of Alexandria.

In January, 1962, Archimandrite Filaret (Denysenko) was elected by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to become a bishop.

Episcopal ordination, 1962

On 4 February 1962, Archimandrite Filaret (Denysenko) was ordained to the Holy Episcopate at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Leningrad by Metropolitan Pimen (Izvekov).

Episcopal service, 1962 and the following years

Bishop Filaret (Denysenko) was assigned to serve as Bishop of Luga, and as a Vicar-Bishop of the Leningrad Eparchy.

As a Vicar-Bishop, from 1962 to 1964, Bishop Filaret was assigned to several diplomatic missions of the Russian Orthodox Church. This included serving as the Bishop of Vienna and Austria for the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1962, he was for a time assigned to serve as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) metochion in Alexandria, Egypt.

In February, 1962, Bishop Filaret was assigned to serve as the Vicar-Bishop of the Leningrad Diocese, and he was assigned to serve as the head of the Riga Diocese in Latvia.

In June, 1962, he was assigned to serve as Vicar-Bishop of the Central European Exarchate, and in October of that year he was appointed Bishop of Vienna and Austria.

In 1964, Bishop Filaret was returned to Moscow, where he was assigned to serve as the Bishop of Dmitrov, Vicar-Bishop of the Moscow Diocese. With this title, he was assigned also to serve as the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary in Zagorsk (Sergeiev Posad).

In 1966, Bishop Filaret (Denysenko) was elevated to the dignity of archbishop.

Transfer, assignment to Ukraine, 1966

In May, 1966, Archbishop Filaret (Denysenko) was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR), and he was assigned to serve as the Archbishop of Kiev and Halych. In this capacity, he became one of the most influential hierarchs in the Russian Orthodox Church, since this title is associated with the “Mother City of Rus’”.

At that time, he became also a permanent member of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is the highest collegiate body of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has the responsibility of electing the Patriarch of Moscow when there is a vacancy.

Metropolitan of Kiev, 1968

In February, 1968, Archbishop Filaret (Denysenko) was elevated to the dignity of metropolitan.

At the same time, his title was changed to “Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia”. It is notable that he was the first ethnic Ukrainian to serve as the Metropolitan of Kyiv for 150 years.

In March, 1969, Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) became chairman of the Kiev office of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Visit to Canada, 1969

In 1969, Metropolitan Filaret visited several parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate in Western Canada (at that time, still part of the Russian Exarchate of North America. These included Saint Barbara’s Cathedral in Edmonton, Alberta, and Holy Trinity Russo-Orthodox Church in Smoky Lake, Alberta.

In March, 1976, Metropolitan Filaret was included in the commission of the Holy Synod for Christian Unity and Inter-Church Relations.

In November, 1976, he headed the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church for the pre-conciliar pan-Orthodox discussions in Geneva. This council was part of the preparation for what much later became the Council of Crete.

In November, 1979, he was assigned to serve as the chairman of the Commission of the Holy Synod on Matters of Christian Unity.

Developments in Ukraine

Consistently opposed to the idea of an Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Greek Catholic Church, Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) criticised Ukrainian nationalism. On the eve of a national referendum in March, 1991, he called the Faithful to vote in favour of the renewal of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). At the same time, from the very beginning of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms in the mid-1980s, Metropolitan Filaret made significant efforts to renew the Church’s infrastructure and Church life.

As a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Metropolitan Filaret supported actively and publicly the persecution of Ukrainian churches that refused to join with the ROC. These included the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC). Soviet authorities of that time described him in writing as being a willing and active collaborator with the Soviet government and its policies.

The revival of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) pressed the Moscow Patriarchate, and in particular the Ukrainian Exarchate of the ROC (headed by Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko)) to look for mechanisms to combat these communities. Metropolitan Filaret took an intransigent position against both the Greek Catholics and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

As late as October, 1989, Metropolitan Filaret was still saying, “The Uniats will never be legalised in our country”. He was also insisting on the use of the Church Slavonic language in worship, and the use of the Russian language at all other times.

In the exarchate, many clergy (mainly from the western regions) were of the opinion that the Ukrainian Exarchate would not be able to maintain its position in Ukraine if it did not become a fully autocephalous church. They believed that if it became autocephalous, the exarchate would help them better to resist the pressure from the Ukrainian Greek Catholics and the UAOC. Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) and the Patriarch of Moscow received many letters asking that autocephaly be granted to the Kyiv Exarchate. In response at the Hierarchical Council (which took place in Moscow on October 9-11, 1989), it was decided to revise the Regulations on Exarchates of the ROC. The task of developing the new provision was given to Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev) of Smolensk and Kaliningrad.

According to Deacon Dr. Nicholas Denysenko,

 In 1989, the Soviet government legalized both the UGCC and the UAOC.  It's important to note that the 
 UAOC was not a reincarnation of the 1921 version, because the bishops who constituted the 1942 UAOC had 
 long ago rejected the method of conciliar ordination (not 'presbyteral' as erroneously reported) used to 
 establish the 1921 episcopate.  
 
 In 1989, the UAOC declared its allegiance to Metropolitan Mstyslav, whose descent can be traced to the 
 1942 UAOC, and therefore, the Church in Poland.  In 1990, the UAOC elevated its status to a patriarchate 
 and elected Mstyslav as the first patriarch ; he was enthroned in November 1990.

Because Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov) was in worsening physical condition, Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) was given the blessing to supervise personally the preparation and celebration of the anniversary celebrations of the Baptism of Rus' in 1988. That celebration redefined the relationship between the Soviet state and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), and it was marked by the beginning of the return of numerous church buildings to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Upon the repose in Christ of Patriarch Pimen on 3 May, 1990, Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) was perceived widely as being a primary candidate to become the next patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church at the impending election. This was especially so when he was assigned to be the “locum tenens” of the Patriarchal Throne.

Nevertheless, on 6 June, 1990, the Bishops’ Sobor (synod) of the Russian Orthodox Church elected Metropolitan Aleksey (Ridiger) of Leningrad to become the patriarch. Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridger) was enthroned in Moscow on 20 June, 1990.

It had happened that during the election, there were 3 candidates : Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) of Kiev and Galich ; Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Rostov and Novocherkassk ; Metropolitan Aleksey (Ridiger) of Leningrad and Novgorod. It was Metropolitan Aleksey (Ridiger) who received the most votes (166), closely followed by Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) (143), followed then by Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) with 66 votes. None of them was an ethnic Russian.

Substantial initial steps towards Ukrainian ecclesiastical self-sufficiency, 1990

After the election at the National Council in 1990 of the new Patriarch of Moscow, Aleksey II (Ridiger), the UOC episcopate headed by Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) at a meeting on 9 July, 1990, addressed the Patriarch and Synod with a request to extend the autonomy in governance of the UOC, preferably towards autocephaly. At the same meeting, Metropolitan Filaret was elected to serve as the head of the UOC. The issue of the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was discussed at the Hierarchical Council of the ROC on 25-27 October of the same year.

The bishops of the ROC gave the UOC “independence and self-governance”, and annulled the name “Ukrainian Exarchate”. It was also agreed that the head of the UOC would be elected by the council of hierarchs of the ROC, would have the title “Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine”, and in Ukraine the title of “His Beatitude”.

According to the decision of the ROC, the power to appoint the ruling and vicar bishops, establish and abolish eparchies in the territory of Ukraine was given to the Synod of the UOC, and the head of the UOC would be elected by the bishops of the UOC and blessed by the patriarch of Moscow. The primate of the UOC remained the former Ukrainian exarch, Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko).

On 27 October, 1990, in a ceremony at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Patriarch Aleksey II (Ridiger) presented to Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) a tomos which granted “independence in self government” (the tomos did not use either of the words “autonomy” or “autocephaly”). On that same occasion, Patriarch Aleksey II enthroned Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) (previously known as “Metropolitan of Kiev”) to be the “Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus'-Ukraine”.

Creation and leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, 1991-1992

After the communist putsch in Moscow on 19-21 August, 1991, which was organised by previous Soviet functionaries, on 24 August, 1991, the "Verkhovna Rada" (Parliament) of Ukraine declared the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union itself came to an end by the conclusion of 1991.

Then, on 1-3 November, 1991, a national assembly (sobor) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was convoked by Metropolitan Filaret. At this sobor, the voting delegates (that is, all the UOC bishops, clergy and lay delegates from each diocese ; a delegate from each monastery and seminary, and also from each recognised lay-brotherhood), unanimously passed a resolution stating that henceforth the UOC would operate as an autocephalous church. A separate resolution, also unanimous, affirmed the church's desire that Metropolitan Filaret be its primate. Therefore, the participants in the council adopted the following resolution : “To address His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Aleksey II and the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church with a request to give the Ukrainian Orthodox Church full canonical independence, that is, autocephaly”. In his address to the "Verkhovna Rada" of Ukraine, Metropolitan Filaret wrote that “the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the independent Ukrainian state is canonically justified and historically inevitable”.

The need for the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church was also expressed by the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk, referring to the independent status of the Ukrainian State.

Ukrainian political independence, 1991

On 1 December, 1991, 90.32% of Ukrainian citizens voted for the full sovereignty of the Ukrainian state.

On 22 January 1992, a meeting of bishops of the UOC was held in Kyiv, during which an appeal to the Patriarch of Moscow and all the bishops of the ROC was made. In particular, it stated that “certain forces, including from Moscow, sow confusion amongst the monks, clergy and laity in certain oblasts and thus are working against Orthodoxy in Ukraine. Some Moscow publications launched a slander campaign against the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, trying to confuse the minds and hearts of uninformed people. In connection with the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, we believe that it is time to grant complete independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, to grant autocephaly”.

However, 3 hierarchs (Onufry (Berezovsky), Serhiy (Sergiy) (Hensetskyi) and Alipiy (Pogrebnyak)) withdrew their signatures from the appeal for the autocephaly of the UOC. On 23 January, 1992 the Synod of the UOC deprived them of their diocesan sees. Bishops Alipiy and Serhiy became Vicar-Bishops of the Kyiv Metropolitanate, and Bishop Onufry was transferred to the Ivano-Frankivsk diocese. The monks of the Kyiv Caves Monastery also refused to sign the appeal for autocephaly.

After these events, Patriarch Aleksey appealed to Metropolitan Filaret to refrain from any drastic action, including any punishment of bishops and clergy.

Accusations about Metropolitan Filaret, 1992

In 1992, during his exposure of other persons, the Soviet dissident and Russian Orthodox Priest Gleb Yakunin revealed information from the Committee for State Security (KGB) records that suggested that the Exarch Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) was an informer for that entity. Father Gleb stated that he had seen KGB files which listed Metropolitan Filaret's codename as “Antonov”. However, this sort of accusation was not and is not accompanied by necessary ancillary information for a proper interpretation of such a detail. In other words, that there is such a detail in files is not concrete evidence of voluntary collusion by him or by any others so accused. Nevertheless, some articles appeared in the press which additionally accused Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) of severe violation of his monastic vows (through an alleged clandestine marriage), and of the abuse of his ecclesiastical authority.

From 1 to 4 April, 1992, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church (including Metropolitan Filaret) convened in order to consider a single agenda item : the resolution passed by the UOC Sobor 4 months earlier. It seems that this particular matter was not discussed by itself, although other related matters (which are not published) were in fact considered. There was reportedly a heated debate. Six UOC hierarchs from western Ukrainian eparchies supported the request. However, most bishops of the ROC opposed it (some of them feeling it was untimely), but Metropolitan Filaret was the most criticised. At the end, Metropolitan Filaret was asked to resign. On the second day of the meeting, Metropolitan Filaret agreed to submit his resignation to the UOC Synod, and the ROC Synod passed a resolution which stated :

 The Council of Bishops took into account the statement of the Most Reverend Filaret, Metropolitan of Kyiv 
 and All-Ukraine, that for the sake of church peace, at the next Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian 
 Orthodox Church, he will submit a request to be relieved from the position of the Primate of the UOC. 
 Understanding the position of Metropolitan Filaret, the Council of Bishops expressed to him its 
 gratitude for the long period of labour as Archbishop of the See of Kyiv and blessed him to serve as
 Archbishop at another cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Summarising the discussion, Patriarch Aleksey II spoke against granting autocephaly at this particular point in history, and he urged Metropolitan Filaret to leave the post of head of the UOC.

Metropolitan Filaret agreed to leave his service and responsibility in the UOC and to open the way for a new head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The council also decided to postpone the issue of granting autocephaly to the UOC until the next National Council of the ROC.

Rejection by Metropolitan Filaret of the request of the Holy Synod, 1992

Upon his arrival in Kyiv on 7 April, 1992, in the Saint Volodymyr Cathedral, Metropolitan Filaret declared his refusal to leave the post of head of the UOC. He argued that the promise he made in Moscow was made under intense pressure and under a barrage of furious criticism. At a press conference on 14 April, Metropolitan Filaret also said he would not leave his flock at such a time for they trusted him ; and he referred to the lifetime status of metropolitan according to the Tomos of Patriarch Aleksey II. Metropolitan Filaret did not reply to Patriarch Aleksey II when asked if he indeed was not going to leave the post of Metropolitan of Kyiv. He did not attend the session of the Synod of the ROC on 6-7 May, 1992.

This series of events lends credence to the 1992 accusations in the press, and suggests that he was not a victim of oppression or discrimination by the Russian Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod. Rather, these events may be interpreted as showing that the Holy Synod had become free to act on information that had become available to them, but the details of which they were not making known publicly.

On 14 April, 1992, Metropolitan Filaret held a press conference. At this conference, he alleged that undue pressure was exerted at the ROC Synod in Moscow, both directly, and through threats made by Federal Security Service (FSB) personnel who, he said, were present at the meeting. Metropolitan Filaret stated that he was retracting his resignation on the grounds that his resignation “would not bring peace to the Church, that it would contradict the will of the believers, and that it would be uncanonical”.

On 30 April, at a meeting in Zhytomyr, the bishops of the UOC : Vladyka Agafangel (Savin) (who at that time was out of the country) ; Vladyka Iov (Tyvonyuk) ; Vladyka Vasyl (Vasyltsev) ; Vladyka Onufry (Berezovsky) ; Vladyka Serhiy (Sergiy) (Hensetskyi) and Vladyka Alipiy (Pogrebnyak), as well as clergy and monks from different parts of the UOC, all expressed their distrust in Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko). They asked the ROC hierarchy to impose on the metropolitan canonical disciplines. At the meeting in Zhytomyr, it was also proposed that Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) be elected as head of the Kyivan Metropolitanate.

Serving

Removal of Metropolitan Filaret by the Holy Synod of the ROC, 1992

Shortly thereafter, there was a session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on 6-7 May, 1992, which was attended by bishops from Ukraine. Effectively, the Holy Synod removed Metropolitan Filaret from the leadership of the UOC.

The Russian Orthodox Church, confronted with the danger of the formation of a “schismatic church” in independent Ukraine, helped to organise a properly canonical Synod of Bishops, which was held in Kharkiv during May of the same year.

At a Synod meeting of the UOC on 21 May, 1992, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rusnak) of Kharkiv (the eldest in ordination amongst the bishops) was assigned to serve as the temporary administrator of the UOC, and he was entrusted to convene a synod of hierarchs of the UOC for the purpose of electing the new head of the Ukrainian Church. During the deliberations, Metropolitan Nikodim, who was presiding, was called several times to the telephone. As the metropolitan reported later, the calls came from people from the entourage of President L Kravchuk, who had asked him not to go against Metropolitan Filaret (whom the president supported). Were Metropolitan Nikodim to oppose Metropolitan Filaret, then the Ukrainian Orthodox Church would be deprived of state recognition and support.

Election of Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) to be the Metropolitan of Kyiv, 1992

Nevertheless, by a majority of votes (16 of 18), the bishops elected the Metropolitan of Rostov and Novocherkassk Volodymyr (Sabodan), to be the Metropolitan of Kyiv. With this, they received the blessing from Moscow to be the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC-MP) in Ukraine. During that meeting, changes were made to the Statute of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The majority of the bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate voted that Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) should be removed from his office and that he be suspended from his clerical functions. This could only be done by the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Metropolitan Filaret had refused to participate in the Kharkiv assembly, and he did not recognise its legitimacy because it was convened without his consent as the head of the UOC. Further, he protested against the actions of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and of the Kharkiv Council, and he called it interference in the internal affairs of the Ukrainian Church. He then declared that the Kharkiv Council was uncanonical, and he stated that because those bishops had seceded from the church (from his perspective), they did not have the right to speak in its name.

Intensification of the division, 1992

On 7 June, 1992, Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) and Bishop Yakiv (Panchuk) of Pochaiv ordained a new bishop, Spyridon (Babsky), and on 8 June, another new bishop, Varsonofiy (Mazurak).

In Moscow on 11 June, 1992, a Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church was called expressly to examine the case of Metropolitan Filaret. He had been invited 3 times to present himself before the bishops, but he did not appear. A statement, signed by 16 Ukrainian bishops, was presented to the council. In the process of examination, all the accusations against Metropolitan Filaret were confirmed. The Council decreed the deposition of Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko), stripped him of all the degrees of priesthood, and left him as the layman Mykhailo Denysenko.

The ROC informed all the Autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches about what had happened. Metropolitan Filaret also addressed these Churches, and he stated that he did not consider himself guilty in absentia of the accusations by the Kharkiv and Moscow councils of bishops. Nevertheless, the Heads of all the Eastern Orthodox Churches congratulated Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) as the new Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and they supported the deposition of the former Metropolitan Filaret.

Comments by the Ukrainian government

On 15 June, 1992, ignoring the fact that the state has no right to intervene in the internal affairs of the Church, the Presidium of the "Verkhovna Rada" declared that the decision of the Kharkiv Council was illegal and uncanonical.

In addition to Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko), Bishops Yakiv (Panchuk), Andriy (Horak) and Bartholomew (Vashchuk) did not participate in the Kharkiv Council. Relying on the support of political authorities in Ukraine, Metropolitan Filaret, together with these 3 bishops, united with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which until then he had denounced as sectarian and schismatic.

Creation of the Kyivan Patriarchate, 1992

On 25-26 June, 1992, Metropolitan Filaret called a “National Ukrainian Forum on Protection of the Canonical Rights of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”, which was attended by bishops, clergy, laity of the UOC and UAOC. It was to be a “unifying” council in the metropolitan’s residence. There were present several bishops of the UAOC, deputies of the “Verkhovna Rada”, and service staff of the office. A decision was taken to dissolve the UOC and UAOC and to fuse their real estate, finances, and assets into one property of a newly-created entity, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP).

The forum condemned the resolutions of the Synod of the ROC from 7 and 21 May, and it also drew attention to the fact that the bishops who opposed Metropolitan Filaret of Kyiv had violated the Charter of the UOC. The conference further appealed to the Ecumenical Patriarch. In their address to the patriarch, the participants promoted the appropriateness of granting autocephaly to the UOC ; and they requested the annulment of the subordination of the Kyiv Metropolitanate to the Moscow Patriarchate in 1686, since Ukraine had now become an independent state.

At the forum, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was represented by Metropolitan Filaret, Bishop Yakiv (Panchuk), and 2 new bishops : Spyridon (Babsky) and Varsonofiy (Mazurak). From the side of the UAOC the council was attended by Bishops Antony (Masendych), Volodymyr (Romaniuk), Roman (Balaschuk), Sofroniy (Vlasov), Roman (Popenko) and Mykail (Dutkevych).

Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk), 1992

The forum confirmed the recent election of Metropolitan Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) as Patriarch of Kyiv and All Ukraine.

The new entity was registered by the authorities, and the registration of the UAOC was annulled (it was dissolved). However, some of the clergy and faithful of the UAOC were displeased with the formation of a new structure because the Unification Council and the formation of the UOC-KP took place in the absence of Patriarch Mstyslav and without his blessing.

Indeed, Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) of the UAOC, who was living in the USA at that time, was not at all aware that the UAOC had been declared dissolved by the decision of Metropolitan Filaret and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk.

Immediately after the Unification Council, 4 bishops of the UAOC, (Antony (Fialko) of Khmelnytsky ; Panteleimon (Romanovsky) of Dnipropetrovsk ; Mykola (Hroha) of Ivano-Frankivsk ; and Polikarp (Palahniuk) filed a request for transfer to the Russian Orthodox Church. Three were re-ordained ; however, Bishop Polikarp renounced the episcopal dignity, and he was received as a priest.

Although he had been chosen only to assist the 94-year-old Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk), Metropolitan Filaret was actually in control of church affairs. Opposing this situation, some of the Autocephalous Church bishops and clergy refused to join the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate.

In July, Patriarch Mstyslav visited Ukraine. During a meeting with former bishops of the UAOC, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the Unification Council and the formation of the new structure – the UOC-KP. Nevertheless, Patriarch Mstyslav personally signed and affixed his seal to the merger documents, which formed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate under his leadership.

However, the status of the new church as well as the overall situation with the Orthodox Faith in Ukraine became a subject of a wide controversy (see “History of Christianity in Ukraine”), which the patriarch was unable to resolve within his lifetime.

In September, 1992, Metropolitan Filaret re-ordained bishops of the UAOC : Antony (Masendych) ; Volodymyr (Romaniuk) ; Roman (Balaschuk) ; and Sofroniy (Vlasov).

On 17 October, 1992, the head of the UAOC dismissed Metropolitan Antony (Masendych) and Bishop Volodymyr (Romaniuk).

On 12 December, 1992, Patriarch Mstyslav arrived in Ukraine for the last time.

On 23-24 December, 1992, there was a meeting in Kyiv of the patriarch with the Faithful and the clergy who did not recognise the unification with the part of the UOC headed by Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko). The Archbishop of Lviv, Stepan (Petrus) also participated in the meeting. The result of the meeting was an address from Patriarch Mstyslav dated 24 December to the president of Ukraine, the prime minister, and the prosecutor general of Ukraine, in which he insisted on the illegality of the participation of bishops and believers in the Unification Council of 25-26 June, 1992, and the violation of the Statute of the UAOC.

In turn, the Holy Synod of the UOC-KP (17 bishops) responded with a resolution dated 28/15 December, that none of the actions of Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) could have any validity without approval of the Synod. Patriarch Mstyslav himself was invited to participate in the council, but he flatly refused.

In response, Patriarch Mstyslav appointed Archbishop Stepan (Petrus) as the new administrator of the UAOC Patriarchate, and he authorised him to convene in January, 1993, an extended hierarchical council to settle yet further the status of the UAOC. The meeting was held on 22 January in Lviv ; but, other than Archbishop Stepan (Petrus), only Bishop Mykhail (Dutkevych) was present.

In response to the actions of Archbishop Stepan (Petrus), on the same day, the Hierarchical Synod of the UOC-KP deprived him of the episcopal dignity, and also the presbyteral dignity of those clerics who tried to reactivate the UAOC.

Repose of Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk), 1993

On 11 June, 1993, Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) reposed in Christ at the home of his daughter in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada.

Shortly after this, a meeting of the Hierarchical Council of the UAOC took place, where it was decided to ask the priest Volodymyr (Yarema) to be tonsured a monk and to accept episcopal ordination.

On 23 August, 1993, in Saints Peter and Paul Church in Lviv, Archbishop Stepan (Petrus) tonsured Father Volodymyr, and he gave him the name Dymytriy. On 5 September, in Kyiv, Monk Dymytriy (Yarema) was ordained to become the Bishop of Sichevskyi. On 7 September, 1993, at the second National Council of the UAOC, he was elected to be the Patriarch of Kyiv. The enthronement took place on 14 September in the Church of Our Savior on Berestove in Kyiv.

At the same time, the UOC-KP, which had also considered Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) to be its head, also held elections for a new patriarch of Ukraine. In Kyiv, from 21 to 24 October, a National Council was held in which the Bishop of Chernihiv Volodymyr (Romaniuk) was elected to be the head of the UOC-KP. The Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine was enthroned in the Saint Sophia Cathedral.

Metropolitan Filaret, who had been also one of the candidates for patriarch, was elected “substitute Patriarch”, and also to be the successor to newly-elected Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk). However, the full ecclesiastical authority remained in Metropolitan Filaret’s hands.

Therefore, the authority of Patriarch Volodymyr as the head of the UOC-KP was in permanent conflict with that of Metropolitan Filaret.

There followed yet another split : 4 hierarchs left the UOC-KP along with their Faithful.

Also in 1993, the Holy Synod of Milan (a Greek Old-Calendarist entity) was invited into full communion with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate.

Since in Ukraine, 2 entities (the UOC-KP and the UAOC which had lost its official registration with the government) considered Patriarch Filaret to be their hierarch, the UOC in the USA distanced itself from both entities. Also, the American bishops refused the request of the restored UAOC to participate in the pending ordination of Bishop Dymytriy (Yarema) in Ukraine.

From the beginning of his time on the patriarchal throne, Bishop Dymytriy (Yarema) considered it his mission to overcome the division between the 3 branches of Ukrainian Orthodoxy and he was ready to use his powers to unite and elect a joint head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

During 1993-1996, in the UAOC there was a confrontation between the newly elected Patriarch Dymytriy and the administrator of the Patriarchate, Archbishop Stepan (Petrus). The main reason of the conflict was Bishop Stepan’s attempt to gain the power in the patriarchate that he had received from Patriarch Mstyslav.

The result of this was the registration in 1995 of 2 statutes of the UAOC, one of which was given by Patriarch Dymytriy and the other by Bishop Stepan (Petrus). Both statutes were registered by state authorities of Ukraine. This put an end to the illegal situation of the church, but it was registered as a new religious movement, not as a successor of the UAOC from 1990, as was sought by Patriarch Dymytriy.

In 1995, the UAOC in the USA came under the omophor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to settle its canonical status. (Earlier, in 1990, this had been done by the UOC of Canada.) On 12 March, 1995, all 12 bishops were formally received into the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

In June, 1995, Patriarch Volodymyr of the UOC-KP turned to the head of UAOC with a proposal to begin the unification process between the churches. As a result of reaching an agreement to merge the 2 jurisdictions, the parties agreed to renounce patriarchal rights and to hold elections of a new head.

Deacon Dr Nicholas Denysenko summarises :

 Filaret joined the UAOC at the June 1992 council, and that church divided into two - the UAOC and KP. 
 Filaret was deputy patriarch to both Patriarch Mstyslav and Patriarch Volodymyr until Filaret was elected 
 as patriarch in 1995.

He comments further :

 The autocephalous movement began BEFORE the fall of the USSR, not after, and gained significant momentum 
 - considering they had no legal status and no presence in Ukraine until 1989 - before the KP ever came 
 into being.  There is no doubt that Filaret is the dominant figure of Ukrainian autocephaly in the post-
 Soviet period - but he joined an existing Church, a movement traceable to the debates at the all-
 Ukrainian council in Kyiv in 1918.

Repose of Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk), 1995

This initiative, however, was not implemented due to the sudden death of the head of the UOC-KP, Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk), on 14 July, 1995.

Black Tuesday, 18 July, 1995

Then came the scandalous events associated with the funeral of Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk), which came to be known as “Black Tuesday” or the “Sophia Battle”. The faithful of the UOC-KP wanted to bury the body of the patriarch on the territory of the Saint Sophia Cathedral. This resulted in clashes between the funeral procession participants and the security forces who tried to prevent the burial. Ultimately, the patriarch was buried in front of the Saint Sophia church complex. The conflict at the Saint Sophia Square showed a clear change in attitude towards the UOC-KP by the new government of the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma.

Election of Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko), 1995

After the repose and interment of Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk), Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) was elected to be the Patriarch of Kyiv at the National Council of the UOC-KP, which was held on 20-21 October, 1995, in the Saint Volodymyr Cathedral. The enthronement of the newly elected patriarch took place there on 22 October.

The day before the assembly, on 19 October, a group of several bishops of the UOC-KP, dissatisfied with the candidature of Metropolitan Filaret, announced their withdrawal from the Kyivan Patriarchate. They included the Metropolitan of Ivano-Frankivsk Andrij (Abramchuk) ; the Archbishop of Ternopil Vasyliy (Bodnarchuk) ; the Archbishop of Vinnytsia Roman (Balaschuk) ; and the Bishop of Khmelnytskyi Mefodiy (Kudriakov). Then, in the Kyiv Feodosievsky Monastery, they met with the bishops of the UAOC during which the “Act of Unifying the Churches” was passed.

Because of the departure of the bishops from Western Ukraine, the number of parishes of the UOC-KP decreased to 400 communities.

Excommunication of Patriarch Filaret by the Russian Orthodox Church, 1997

After the election of Metropolitan Filaret as Patriarch of Kyiv, the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate, which had previously (in 1992) deprived him of his episcopal dignity, excommunicated him from the Orthodox Church at the Hierarchical Council in Moscow on 20 February, 1997. The leadership also put him under anathema. He refused to acknowledge the validity of this act. Rather, he insisted that he had simply left one national church and chosen another.

Expansion and consolidation of the Kyivan Patriarchate, 1995

After his election and enthronement as patriarch in 1995, Patriarch Filaret began to take a very active part in church politics. He tried to gather around his church all groups with a nationalist orientation and all church structures which did not have canonical recognition. He admitted the error of his previous opposition to the idea of autocephaly and Ukrainian Greek Catholics.

Patriarch Filaret started actively to develop the structure of the UOC-KP. Soon after, almost all the parishes that had defected because of bishops who were dissatisfied with the UAOC returned to the Kyivan Patriarchate. Patriarch Filaret also began to impose contacts with unrecognised Orthodox jurisdictions outside Ukraine. He took part in the enthronement of the official rival to the Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim (Minkov), “Patriarch” Pimen (Enev). He also established contacts with the Macedonian Orthodox Church which, like the UOC-KP, is not recognised by the world’s canonical Orthodox Churches.

In 1996, the Milan Synod of Greek Old Calendarists were received into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate.

In 1996, the UOC-KP canonised Metropolitan Petro Mohyla.

However, in 1997, the former unity between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate and the Holy Synod of Milan was ended.

In 1997, the UOC-KP was given the Vydubetsky Monastery complex by the Ukrainian government, and it began reconstruction of Saint Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery.

Patriarch Filaret

Patriarch Filaret was and is of the opinion that Ukraine needs a national church, to which all the Orthodox in the country should unite, and that only the UOC-KP under his leadership is capable of fulfilling this role.

He made a few unsuccessful attempts at gaining canonical recognition for the UOC-KP.

Patriarch Filaret has continued to lead the drive for his church to become a single Ukrainian national church, but attempts to gain a canonical recognition for the church remain unsuccessful. Further, the attempts seem to exclude the UOC-MP.

In 2000, with the support of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a dialogue began between the UOC-KP and the UAOC, which culminated with the signing of the “Symphoniticon”. After a joint meeting in Istanbul on 8 November between the UOC-KP and the UAOC, which together sought recognition of their legitimacy from the Ecumenical Patriarch, relations began to improve. The “Symphoniticon” was to be used as a basis to unite the 2 structures into 1 church. However, for internal reasons in the UOC-KP and the UAOC, as well as the activation of the Moscow Patriarchate in blocking the formation of any other recognised structures in Ukraine other than the UOC as part of the ROC, the negotiations had no positive results.

In January, 2001, the UOC-KP held a National Council, in which the delegates pondered the situation of the church in the “modern world”. They worked on a document which dealt with the stance of the UOC-KP on the issues of secularisation, globalisation, media, church-state relations, and the like.

Influence of the state, 2004

In 2004, the situation of the UOC-KP in Ukraine changed dramatically after Viktor Yushchenko became the President of Ukraine. A supporter of a unified Orthodox Church with an autocephalous status, the new president tried actively to support the Kyivan Patriarchate and to promote its recognition in the Orthodox world.

In 2005, there were several consultations between the UOC-KP and the UAOC on a possible unification. The parties reached certain agreements, but shortly before the Unification Council, the UAOC withdrew from negotiations because of dissatisfaction with the terms of the unification.

In 2008, the National Council of the UOC-KP glorified Prince Yaroslav the Wise, Prince Konstanty Ostrogski, Saint Yov Boretsky, and Saint Petro Kalnyshevsky.

In 2008, for the UOC-KP and UAOC, the climax of hope for leaving canonical isolation was the visit to Ukraine of Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople.

During the negotiations between the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the UOC-KP, and the UAOC, the head of the Kyivan Patriarchate refused to accept the conditions set forth by the Constantinople delegation, which proposed that the unrecognised Ukrainian churches join the Ecumenical Patriarchate with rights of an autonomous metropolitanate. This process was also blocked by representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate, who tried to prevent the formation in Ukraine of 2 distinct canonical entities which would not, in effect, improve the disunity.

Dialogue between the UOC-KP and the UOC-MP, 2009

Patriarch Filaret and Metropolitan Volodymyr

In autumn 2009, a dialogue began between the UOC-KP and the UOC-MP. However, after a single meeting, held on 2 October, the dialogue was discontinued.

In 2010, after President Viktor Yanukovych came to power, the Kyiv Patriarchate began to feel some pressure on its structures. Immediately, Patriarch Filaret announced that the new government intended to destroy the Kyiv Patriarchate at the request of Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) of Moscow, with whom the new president had friendly relations. However, a year later the Kyivan Patriarchate stopped expressing such statements, because the relationship between the UOC-KP and the new government had improved.

In September, 2011, regular talks again began about the unification between the UAOC and the UOC-KP. The commission on the dialogue between the churches held a meeting on 27 October, 2011, in the Saint Michael "Golden-Domed" Monastery, where hierarchs of both churches discussed and agreed on the final text of the document. In 10 paragraphs, the document stated the overall vision of the unification process, and the specific suggestions for overcoming the existing church division.

Since the 2014 election of President Petro Poroshenko, there were increased activities and pressures with regard to the unification of the UAOC and the UOC-KP, and the possible granting of autocephaly by Constantinople. Greater pressures were exerted against the canonical UOC-MP.

Until 2018, the unity between UAOC and UOC-KP had not been achieved.

However, since there was considerable pressure to achieve unity in the context of the desire to achieve the long-sought autocephaly under the Church of Constantinople, at a "unification council" in Kyiv, the merger was achieved on 15 December, 2018.

Thus, the "Orthodox Church of Ukraine" was established. However, this new entity did not include the "Ukrainian Orthodox Church", which maintained communion with the Church of Russia.

Statistics, 2018

According to statistics published in Wikipedia, in 2018, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) had : 85 bishops (53 governing) ; 11,312 priests ; 12,069 parishes ; 4,412 monks ; 2,727 nuns ; 251 monasteries. It also had an academy in Kyiv, as well as seminaries in Kyiv, Pochaiv, Lutsk, Odessa, Poltava, and others.

The other 2 entities have not had their statistics published similarly on the internet. However, one source published that the Kievan Patriarchate had 40 bishops and 4,371 parishes in Ukraine, united in 29 eparchies. It had Orthodox theological academies in Kyiv and Lviv, seminaries in Lutsk and Rivne, a theological institute in Ivano-Frankivsk, and a theology department of the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology of the Chernivtsi National University.

According to the Kyivan Patriarchate, more than 10 million people of adult age belong to the UAOC-KP.

Political views

Early September, 2014, amidst the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Patriarch Filaret implied that the Russian President Vladimir Putin “calls himself a brother to the Ukrainian people, but in fact according to his deeds, he really became the new Cain, shedding brotherly blood and entangling the whole world with lies” (referring to the Bible story in which Cain kills his brother Abel). He went on to conclude about Mr. Putin that “Satan went into him, as into Judas Iscariot”.

At an interview

Participation in, and departure from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, 2019

Although the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) had been recognised, and had been given autocephaly by Patriarch Bartholomew (Archontonis) on 5 January, 2019, Vladyka Filaret was unable on his part to remain within the new entity.

On 20 June, 2019, he publicly severed his relationship with and participation in the UOC. This departure followed the election and installation of Metropolitan Epiphaniy (Dumenko), the new head of the OCU. Patriarch Filaret would not accept the direction and decisions of the new leader.

The product of this dispute was the re-appearance of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (Kyiv Pariarchate) under "Patriarch" Filaret (Denysenko), in opposition to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (EP) under Metropolitan Epiphaniy (Dumenko). "Patriarch" Filaret departed along with 2 bishops and 12 priests. He convened an assembly, and openly re-constituted the patriarchate (which he had never legally dissolved despite requests to do so by Patriarch Bartholomew (Archontonis) and assurances that he had done so).

In fact, the disputes began already during the process leading to the Church of Ukraine granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, and they continued after the reception of the “tomos” (official decree) of autocephaly of the OCU in January, 2019.

In 2022, instead of one unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church, there continued to be 3 entities : the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Pariarchate), the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (Ecumenical Patriarchate), and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in communion with, but not subject to the Moscow Patriarchate).

Repose

On 20 March, 2026, Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko) fell asleep from this life.

There followed a controversy about who would be responsible for the funeral and interment of the newly-reposed patriarch. The controversy was between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church -- Kyiv Patriarchate (led by Archbishop Nykodym of Sumy and Okhtyrka), and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (led by Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko).

Ultimately, the responsibility was taken up by Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko).

On Monday, 22 March, 2026, the Funeral Service for the Burial of a Bishop was served at Saint Michael's Monastery in Kyiv.

After the conclusion of the funeral obsequies, the funeral procession passed from Saint Michael's Monastery, past the Saint Sophia Cathedral, to the Saint Volodymyr Cathedral.

Funeral procession

At Saint Volodymyr's Cathedral, a final Memorial Litiya was served, after which the body of the newly-departed patriarch was enclosed in a tomb in the crypt of the cathedral.

— Bishop of Luga 1962. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Vicar-Bishop of the Leningrad Eparchy 1962-1964. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Bishop of Vienna and Austria 1962-1964. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Bishop of Dmitrov 1964-1966. Preceded by : ____.

— Vicar-Bishop of the Moscow Diocese 1964-1966. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Archbishop of Dmitrov 1966. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Archbishop of Kiev and Halych 1966-1968. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Metropolitan of Kiev and Halych 1968-1990. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne 1990. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Rus’-Ukraine 1990-1995. Preceded by : ____. Succeeded by : ____.

— Patriarch of Kyiv and all Rus-Ukraine 1995-2018. Preceded by : Patriarch Volodymyr (Romaniuk). Succeeded by : Metropolitan Epiphany (Dumenko).

Reflections

Awards :

State awards

USSR

The Order of Friendship of Peoples (1980)

The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1988)

Ukraine

Member of the Order of Liberty (2009)

The Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st (2008) ; 2nd (2006) ; 3rd (2003) ; 4th (2001) and 5th (1999) classes.

The Cross of Ivan Mazepa (2011)

Upon his decease, the following was reported about him in the "Kyiv Independent" :

Metropolitan Epiphanius (Dumenko) wrote on Facebook. 'We will always remember Patriarch Filaret’s guidance on the importance of preserving the unity of the Ukrainian Church around the Kyiv See'.

Serhiy Dmitriev, a priest and deputy head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine's charity
department, said that Filaret was the founder of an independent Ukrainian church.

'For me, he was a leader who, regardless of all obstacles, consistently built a Ukrainian church in
the difficult conditions of an information war', he told the Kyiv Independent.

Filaret's health had deteriorated in recent years but he had occasionally conducted services at
Kyiv's St Volodymyr Cathedral until 2025. He was hospitalized on March 9. [...]

Filaret broke with the Russian Orthodox Church and co-founded the unrecognized Kyiv
Patriarchate in 1992 and was the patriarch of Ukraine from 1995 to 2018. He was involved in a
bitter standoff with the Russian church, which anathematized and demonized him. [...]

'If the Kyiv Patriarchate had not existed, I don't know what Russia's war would have led to',
Dmitriev said. 'This church was one of the tools for resisting Russian aggression'. [...]

Filaret became involved in a power struggle with Epiphanius over the new church in 2019,
seeking to resurrect the Kyiv Patriarchate as an entity separate from the Orthodox Church of
Ukraine. He also accused Constantinople of trying to limit the Ukrainian church's independence.

However, Filaret's attempts to re-establish his own church were eventually unsuccessful.

References

Wikipedia biography

Ukrainian Wikipedia biography

Russian Wikipedia biography

Drevo Encyclopedia biography

Additional information :

Andrew, Christopher and Mitrokhin, Vasili, “The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB”, (New York : Basic Books, 1999), p. 503. ISBN : 0-465-00312-5.

Zhukovsky, Arkadii, 'Ukrainian Orthodox Church in “Internet Encyclopaedia of Ukraine”.

Orthodoxwiki article about the Kyiv Patriarchate

Orthodox Journalists "A Brief Biography of Philaret Denisenko, with an open Letter from his Daughter"

2002 RISU interview

Holy Synod of Milan

Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate statistics

The Struggle to Establish the World's Largest Orthodox Church

Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate

The need for reform in Orthodoxy

Orthodox Ukrainians To Build Church In Romania : 03.31.03

Interfax article : "Autocephaly is goal of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate - Filaret"

Asia News : A possible reconciliation between Moscow and Kiev