Filaret (Denysenko)

Patriarch Filaret (secular name Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko, born 23 January 1929) is the primate and Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate (1995–2018; 2019–present). He was the honorary Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (2018–2019), and the former Metropolitan of Kiev of the Russian Orthodox Church (1966–1992). He was defrocked and in 1997 excommunicated by the ROC.

His Holiness and Beatitude Filaret "Honorary Patriarch"[lower-alpha 1]
Archbishop and Metropolitan of Kiev – Mother of the Rus Cities and of Galicia, Patriarch of All Rus-Ukraine, Holy Archimandrite of the Holy Assumption Kiev-Pechersk and Pochaev Lavras
Church	Kiev Patriarchate
See	Patriarch of Kyiv and all Ukraine
Installed	July 1995
Predecessor	Ioasaph II (Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)) Volodymyr (Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate)
Successor	Metropolitan Epiphany I (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) himself as "Honorary Patriarch"
Orders
Ordination	18 June 1951
Consecration	4 February 1962 by Pimen I of Moscow
Personal details
Birth name	Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko
Born	(1929-01-23) 23 January 1929 Blahodatne, Amvrosiivka Raion, Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR
Signature

On 11 October 2018, the Patriarchate of Constantinople reinstated him in church communion.[1] However, while restored to the episcopate, the Ecumenical Patriarchate never recognised him as Patriarch and views him as the former Metropolitan of Kiev.[2][3][4][5][6]

On 15 December 2018, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate united with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church[7] and some members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (MP)[8] into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine; the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate thus ceased to exist.[9]

Early years

Mykhailo Denysenko was born on 23 January 1929,[10] into a worker's family of Anton and Melania Denysenko in the village of Blahodatne in the Amvrosiivsky Raion (district) today in the Donetsk Oblast (province) in Eastern Ukraine.[11] He obtained his theological education at the Odessa Seminary (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Moscow Theological Academy where he became a close associate of Patriarch Alexius I of Moscow. He took monastic vows in 1950 assuming the monastic name Filaret and was ordained hierodeacon in January 1950 and priest in June 1951.[11] After his graduation he stayed at the Moscow Theological Academy as a professor (from 1952) and Senior Assistant to the Academy inspector.[11] In 1956 he was appointed Inspector of the Theological Seminary in Saratov and elevated to the rank of hegumen. In 1957 he was appointed Inspector of the Kiev Theological Seminary.[11] In July 1958 he was further elevated to the rank of Archimandrite and appointed seminary rector.[11]

Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church

In 1961, Filaret served in the mission of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to the Patriarch of Alexandria. In January 1962 Filaret was elected vicar Bishop of the Leningrad Eparchy and, in February, was ordained bishop in Leningrad by Metropolitan Pimen (later Moscow Patriarch) and other bishops. Filaret was appointed to several diplomatic missions of the Russian Orthodox Church and from 1962 to 1964 served as ROC Bishop of Vienna and Austria.[11] In 1964 he returned to Moscow as the Bishop of Dmitrov and rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary.

In 1966, he became archbishop of Kiev and Halych, thus becoming one of the most influential hierarchs in the Russian Orthodox Church, where the office of the Kyiv Metropolitan is highly regarded. At that time he also became a permanent member of the Holy Synod, the highest collegiate body of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has the responsibility of electing the Moscow Patriarch. In 1968 Filaret became Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia.[12]

As late as October 1989, Filaret was still saying, "The Uniates will never be legalized in our country."[13]

On May 3, 1990, Patriarch Pimen of Moscow died and, the same day, Filaret became the locum tenens of the Russian Orthodox Church. Filaret was not elected Patriarch of Moscow.[10] Retrospectively, in 2019, Filaret declared "it was not by chance that I was not elected. The Lord prepared me for Ukraine"[14][15]

On 27 October 1990, in a ceremony at St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the newly elected Patriarch Alexei II handed to Metropolitan Filaret a tomos granting "independence in self government" (the tomos did not use either of the words "autonomy" or "autocephaly") to Metropolitan Filaret, and enthroned Filaret, heretofore "Metropolitan of Kyiv", as "Metropolitan of Kyiv and All-Ukraine".[11]

In 1992, the Russian Orthodox priest and Soviet dissident Fr. Gleb Yakunin accused Exarch Filaret of having been an informer for the KGB. Father Gleb stated that he had seen KGB files which listed Exarch Filaret's codename as Antonov.[16][17] According to internal KGB documents, tasks the KGB assigned Filaret as an agent included promoting Soviet positions and candidates in the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Christian Peace Conference (CPC) and other international bodies, and, by the 1980s, backing the Soviet authorities’ attempts to prevent the long-suppressed Ukrainian Catholic Church (disparagingly called ‘Uniates’) from regaining an open existence, and backing state attempts to prevent religious believers demanding their rights as glasnost and perestroika opened up the sphere of public debate.[18] In 2018, Filaret declared in an interview with Radio Liberty that he, like all bishops under communism, had to have contacts with the KGB.[19][20][21][22] In 2019, he declared every bishop of the Moscow Patriarchate had to have contact with the KGB, even when it came to appoint a bishop. He added that he had been trained by the Politburo and Patriarch Alexy by the KGB.[23][24][25]

Creation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate

Main article: Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate

Following Ukraine's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991, a national sobor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was held from November 1–3.[11] At the sobor, the voting delegates, (who included all UOC bishops, clergy and lay delegates from each diocese; a delegate from each monastery and seminary, and recognized lay brotherhood) unanimously passed a resolution stating that henceforth the UOC would operate as an autocephalous church.[11] A separate resolution, also unanimous, affirmed the church's desire that Metropolitan Filaret be its Primate.

Filaret convened an assembly at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra in January 1992 that adopted a request of autocephaly for Ukrainians to the Moscow Patriarch.[26]

In March–April 1992, the Hierarchical Council of the Russian Orthodox Church met with a single agenda item: to consider the resolution passed by the UOC Sobor four months earlier. Although the issue itself was not discussed, Filaret was asked to resign.[11] 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 of 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 of 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 carry out his episcopal service in another diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church."[27][28]

However, after returning to Kiev, Filaret recanted his resignation. On 14 April, Metropolitan Filaret held a press conference in which he alleged that undue pressure was exerted at the ROC Synod in Moscow, both directly and through threats made by FSB personnel who, he said, were present at the gathering. Filaret stated that he was retracting his resignation on the grounds that his resignation "would not bring peace to the Church, would contradict the will of the believers, and would be uncanonical."

Suspension and anathemization

Shortly thereafter, the Russian Orthodox Church, unable to prevent the creation of what it viewed as a "schismatic church" in independent Ukraine, helped to organize a rival synod which was held in Kharkiv in May 1992. These bishops elected a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church, Bishop Volodymyr (Sabodan), Metropolitan of Kyiv, and received recognition from Moscow as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).[29]

Filaret was suspended on 27 May 1992 by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).[29][28]

Euromaidan activist kisses the hand of Filaret in the aftermath of 2014 Ukrainian revolution.

The bishops loyal to Metropolitan Filaret and a similar group from the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (another recently revived church in Ukraine) organized a unifying sobor which was held on 25 June 1992. The delegates agreed to form a combined church named the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) under the patriarch they elected, Patriarch Mstyslav.[11][30]

Filaret was defrocked by the Russian Orthodox Church on 11 July 1992.[28][31] The UOC-KP was not recognized by other Orthodox churches and was considered schismatic.

Filaret was then anathemized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1997.[32][28] ROC officials stated that the anathematization of Filaret was "recognized by all the Local Orthodox Churches including the Church of Constantinople"[33][34][35][30] The synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate did indeed recognize, in a July 1992 letter to Patriarch Alexy II, the defrocking of Filaret by the ROC,[36][37][28] and the Ecumenical Patriarch recognized the anathemization of Filaret in a letter of April 1997 to Patriarch Alexy II.[38][39][40] Filaret was also accused by the ROC of having a wife and three children, but it was "never proved".[41]

Leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate

Main article: Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate

See also: 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism

Filaret and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Kiev, 2007

After the death of Patriarch Mstyslav in 1993, the church was headed by Patriarch Volodymyr, and in July 1995, upon the death of Volodymyr, Filaret was elected head of the UOC-KP by a vote of 160–5.[11]

Metropolitan Filaret consecrated at least 85 bishops.

Filaret with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, 21 October 2018

It was reported that he suffered an assassination attempt in 2018.[42][43][44][45]

On 11 October 2018, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople announced that Filaret Denisenko, along with the Primate of UAOC, had been "restored to communion with the Church."[46] The decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate also abolished the Moscow Patriarchate's jurisdiction over the diocese of Kiev and hence all the bishops concerned were viewed by the Ecumenical Patriarchate as being under its jurisdiction.[47]

On 20 October 2018, the UOC-KP changed the title of its head, to "His Holiness and Beatitude (name), Archbishop and Metropolitan of Kiev – Mother of the Rus Cities and of Galicia, Patriarch of All Rus-Ukraine, Holy Archimandrite of the Holy Assumption Kiev-Pechersk and Pochaev Lavras".[48][49][50] The abridged form is "His Holiness (name), Patriarch of Kiev and All Russia-Ukraine" and the form for interchurch relations "Archbishop, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus'-Ukraine".[48][49][51][52][53][54] The fact the full title and the version for interchurch relations mention the titles of "archbishop" and "metropolitan" and not the title of "patriarch", but that the abridged form mentioned only the title of "patriarch" has been confusing for some.[49][50] The Russian Orthodox Church reacted by commenting that this new title was a "farce" and that for them Filaret "was and remains a schismatic".[55]

In the OCU

On 15 December 2018, the hierarchs of the UAOC decided to dissolve the UAOC, and the hierarchs of the UOC-KP decided to dissolve the UOC-KP. This was done because on the same day the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate, and some members of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) were going to merge to form the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) after a unification council.[56] Filaret was given the title of the "honorary patriarch" Orthodox Church of Ukraine.[57][58] Volodymyr Burega, Professor and Vice-Rector of the Kiev Theological Academy, explains this title this way: "in December [2018], no one wanted to aggravate relationships with Patriarch Philaret, since holding the council and receiving the Tomos were at stake. That is why the council, which took place on December 15, did not clarify the new status of Patriarch Filaret. After the unification council of the OCU, they stated that Filaret was henceforth "honorary patriarch", but what this phrase meant was difficult to understand. Indeed, such status is not stipulated in the Charter of the OCU, adopted on December 15."[59]

On 18 December 2018, Filaret's 90th birthday, the 23rd of January 2019, was voted by the Ukrainian parliament as a day of national celebration for the year 2019.[60][61]

On 16 January 2019, Filaret asked to be commemorated before Epiphanius, the primate of the OCU, during Divine Liturgies. He signed the document asking for it with "Filaret, Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine"[62][63] On 20 January 2019, Filaret declared in an interview when asked about his role in the Orthodox Church of Ukraine: "I am a patriarch, I have been and I remain a patriarch. Today, the Head of the Local Church is Metropolitan Epifaniy, but I do not refuse to participate in the development of the Ukrainian Church. I am an unrecognized patriarch for world Orthodoxy, but for Ukraine I am a patriarch and I remain a patriarch"[64][65]

On 5 February 2019, the Holy Synod of the OCU appointed Filaret the diocesan bishop of Kiev, except for the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.[66]

In an interview published by BBC Ukraine on 1 March 2019, Epiphanius explained the situation around Filaret as follows:[67]

"we are in a special situation, because we united three branches of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. And His Holiness Patriarch Filaret built the Kyiv Patriarchate for more than a quarter of a century, and thanks to his work, we succeeded. Moscow has especially emphasized that Patriarch Filaret worked throughout his life for the sake of the koukoulion [i.e. to become Patriarch], that he did not become the Moscow Patriarch, became Patriarch of Kiev, and would never give up power. We see the opposite, that the patriarch refused, went to the unification council. But nobody brought him to the patriarch's seat. Some want to completely eliminate him so that Patriarch Filaret did not exist at all, but that's wrong. He remains diocesan bishop, and he will continue to work towards the building of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. There is a leader, but he (Filaret) remains honorary Patriarch. He will continue to have his diocese - the city of Kiev, but will not generally manage the whole church."

Conflict

Main article: Conflict between Filaret and Epiphanius

A conflict erupted between Filaret and Epiphanius becauses of disagreements concerning the model of governance, the management of the diaspora, the name and the statute of the OCU.

According to Filaret, the agreement reached at the unification council was as follow: "the primate is responsible for the external representation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), and the patriarch is responsible for the internal church life in Ukraine, but in cooperation with the primate. The primate shall do nothing in the church without the consent of the patriarch. The patriarch chairs the meetings of the Holy Synod and the UOC meetings for the sake of preserving unity, its growth, and affirmation." Filaret considers this agreement has not been fulfilled.[68][69]

Political views

In March 2014, Filaret publicly opposed the annexation of Crimea by Russia.[70]

On 5 September 2014, amidst the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine,[71] Filaret held a service to consecrate a memorial cross to the Heavenly Hundred.[72] Filaret declared during his service that in the Orthodox church had appeared "among the rulers of this world [...] a real new Cain" who "calls himself a brother to the Ukrainian people, but in fact according to his deeds [...] really became the new Cain, shedding the brotherly blood and entangling the whole world with lies"[73] and that "Satan went into him, as into Judas Iscariot".[74] The statement was published on the official website of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kiev Patriarchate in English,[75] Russian[76] and Ukrainian.[77] Publications such as Church Times, Cogwriter, and Ecumenical News identified Filaret's "new Cain" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.[72][78][79]

Filaret said that the local population in Donbass "must pay for their guilt [in rejecting Kiev’s authority] through suffering and blood".[80]

Awards

• Order "For intellectual courage" of the independent cultural magazine I (2018)[81]

State awards

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) Cl.
• The Cross of Ivan Mazepa (2011)
• Hero of Ukraine (2019)[82][83]

USSR

• The Order of Friendship of Peoples (1980)
• The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1988)

Notes

1. He left the OCU on 20 June 2019 after conflicting with the authority and leadership of the Church.

See also

• History of Christianity in Ukraine
• List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Ukraine
• Conflict between Filaret and Epiphanius

References

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3. "ΑΠΟΚΛΕΙΣΤΙΚΟ | Βαρθολομαίος σε Ονούφριο: Δεν μπορείτε να έχετε πλέον τον τίτλο Κιέβου". ROMFEA (in Greek). 7 December 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-08.
4. Ο Σεβασμιώτατος Μητροπολίτης πρώην Κιέβου και Γαλικίας κύριος Φιλάρετος. (γεν. 1929). (Εκκλησία της Ουκρανίας).
5. "ΙΕ. ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΟΥΚΡΑΝΙΑΣ" (in Greek). 2019-02-16. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
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7. "Unification council taking place at Kyiv's St. Sophia Cathedral (Live video)". unian.info. 15 December 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
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11. Losiev, Ihor (8 November 2012). "Filaret: A Statehood-oriented Patriarch". The Ukrainian Week. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
12. Losiev, Ihor (2012-11-08). "Filaret: A Statehood-oriented Patriarch". The Ukrainian Week (International ed.). Ukrainian Week LLC. Retrieved 2016-11-22. Held several top offices in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1960-1990, including Exarch of Central Europe, Bishop of Vienna and Austria, Rector of the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy and Seminary, Exarch of Ukraine, Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia (since 1968)
13. Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, (1999). Page 503.
14. "Путин жалеет, что патриархом РПЦ выбрали не меня. Филарет рассказал "тайну" | НОВОСТИ СОБЫТИЯ ЛЮДИ". news24ua.com. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
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22. Радіо Свобода, Якби я не поступився, томосу не було б – Філарет, retrieved 2018-12-23
23. "Unlike KGB, SBU doesn't tell church what to do – Filaret". www.unian.info. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
24. "Ukrainian Church split by Moscow and KGB, Honorary Patriarch Filaret says". risu.org.ua. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-22.
25. Украинскую церковь раскололи Москва и КГБ. ТСН.ua (in Russian). 2019-01-20. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
26. After autocephaly, The Ukrainian Week (26 October 2018)
    (in Ukrainian) The Ecumenical Patriarchate unveiled documents in support of Ukrainian autocephaly, Gazeta.ua (14 September 2018)
27. "Определение относительно обращения епископата Украинской Православной Церкви по поводу дарования ей автокефалии / Официальные документы / Патриархия.ru". Патриархия.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2018-11-29.
28. "Official History of the Defrocking and Anathematization of Philaret Denisenko. Documents of the June 1992, 1994, and 1997 Bishops' Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church". OrthoChristian.Com. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
29. "To the anniversary of Kharkov Council, or a few words about how M.A. Denisenko was "expelled" from Church". spzh.news. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
30. After autocephaly, The Ukrainian Week (26 October 2018) (in Ukrainian) The Ecumenical Patriarchate unveiled documents in support of Ukrainian autocephaly, Gazeta.ua (14 September 2018)
31. Shapiro, Margaret (13 June 1992). "UKRAINE'S TOP CLERIC DEFROCKED". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
32. The Russian Orthodox Church. "Statement by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the encroachment of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the canonical territory of the Russian Church". mospat.ru. Retrieved 2018-10-31. By the decision of the Bishops’ Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which took place on May 27, 1992, in Kharkov, Metropolitan Philaret (Denisenko), for his failure to fulfil the promises he gave on oath at the cross and the Gospel during the previous Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, was removed from the see of Kiev and suspended.
    The Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, by its Resolution of June 11, 1992, confirmed the decision of the Council of Kharkov and deposed Philaret Denisenko depriving him of all ranks of ministry according to the following accusations: ‘Cruel and arrogant attitude to the clergy under his jurisdiction, diktat and blackmail (Tit. 1: 7-8; Apostolic Canon 27; bringing temptation to the community of the faithful by his behaviour and private life (Mt. 18:7; the First Ecumenical Council Canon 3, the Sixth Ecumenical Council Canon 5); perjury (Apostolic Canon 25); public slander and blasphemy against a Bishops’ Council (Second Ecumenical Council Canon 6); exercising divine offices including ordinations in the state of suspension (Apostolic Canon 28); causing a schism in the Church (Double Council Canon 15). All the ordinations administered by Philaret in the state of suspension since May 27, 1992, and the suspensions imposed by him were recognized as invalid.
    In spite of repeated calls to repentance, Philaret Denisenko after his deposition continued his schismatic activity, also within other Local Churches. By the decision of the 1997 Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was anathematized.
33. "Statement by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the encroachment of the Patriarchate of Constantinople on the canonical territory of the Russian Church | The Russian Orthodox Church". mospat.ru. Retrieved 2018-10-31. In spite of repeated calls to repentance, Philaret Denisenko after his deposition continued his schismatic activity, also within other Local Churches. By the decision of the 1997 Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was anathematized. These decisions were recognized by all the Local Orthodox Churches including the Church of Constantinople.
34. "Metropolitan Hilarion: Filaret Denisenko was and remains a schismatic | The Russian Orthodox Church". mospat.ru. Retrieved 2018-10-30. For us Filaret was and remains a schismatic. [...] [T]he decision of his excommunication in 1997 was correct in every respect. It was recognized by all Local Churches without any exception, the Patriarchate of Constantinople including.
35. Podobied, Pavlo (8 November 2012). "Freeing Ukraine from Spiritual Dependence". ukrainianweek.com (History of the churches in Ukraine). Retrieved 2018-10-29.
36. ΑΠΟΚΛΕΙΣΤΙΚΟ: Όταν ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης αναγνώριζε την καθαίρεση του Φιλάρετου!. ROMFEA (in Greek). 16 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-16.
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38. Cazabonne, Emma (2018-10-26). "April 7, 1997 Patriarch Bartholomew's letter taking note of Filaret Denisenko's anathematization". Orthodoxie.com. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
39. Όταν ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης το 1997 αποδέχθηκε το ανάθεμα του Φιλαρέτου. ROMFEA (in Greek). 26 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-28.
40. "Patriarch Bartholomew's 1997 acceptance of anathematization of Philaret Denisenko". OrthoChristian.Com. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
41. La-Croix.com (2018-10-11). "Philarète de Kiev tient sa revanche contre Moscou". La Croix (in French). Retrieved 2018-12-15.
42. В УПЦ КП заявили про замах на Патріарха Філарета. ТСН.ua (in Ukrainian). 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
43. "There was an attempt to assassinate Ukraine's Orthodox Church Patriarch Filaret". ukraine-english-news. 28 July 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
44. "On Filaret was assassinated – the UOC-KP". Ukrop News 24. 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
45. "An attempt on Filaret: a fine instead of a prison". spzh.news. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
46. "Announcement (11/10/2018). - Announcements - The Ecumenical Patriarchate". www.patriarchate.org. Retrieved 2018-10-27. 3) To accept and review the petitions of appeal of Filaret Denisenko, Makariy Maletych and their followers, who found themselves in schism not for dogmatic reasons, in accordance with the canonical prerogatives of the Patriarch of Constantinople to receive such petitions by hierarchs and other clergy from all of the Autocephalous Churches. Thus, the above-mentioned have been canonically reinstated to their hierarchical or priestly rank, and their faithful have been restored to communion with the Church.
47. Константинополь: Московского патриархата в Украине больше нет. BBC, 2 November 2018.
48. "ЖУРНАЛ №17 ЗАСІДАННЯ СВЯЩЕННОГО СИНОДУ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ ПРАВОСЛАВНОЇ ЦЕРКВИ КИЇВСЬКОГО ПАТРІАРХАТУ". www.cerkva.info. Українська Православна Церква Київський Патріархат (УПЦ КП). 20 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
49. ""Metropolitan" and "patriarch" rolled into one: KP changes its head's title". spzh.news. 20 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-29.
50. "UOC KP Spokesman: Our Primate is archbishop, metropolitan, and patriarch". spzh.news. 27 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-29.
51. Wozniak, Hanna (26 October 2018). "Is the Ecumenical Patriarchate Fine with St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv?". moderndiplomacy.eu. Retrieved 2018-10-27. On October 20, the UOC KP Synod changed the title of its head [Filaret]. Now the Church’s Primate will also be called the Archimandrite of Kyiv-Pechersk and Pochaiv Lavras, which seemingly reflects Filaret’s desire to get them at his disposal. At the moment both Lavras belong to the UOC MP [the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)], so it looks like the “Archimandrite” doesn’t want to comply with the fifth point of the Constantinople Synod decree in which the Patriarchate appeals to all sides involved that they avoid appropriation of Churches, Monasteries and other properties.
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External links

• Patriarch of Kyiv and all Rus-Ukraine Filaret at the Institute of Religion and Society of the Ukrainian Catholic University
• (in Russian) Filaret (Denysenko) in The World of Religions.

Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by Position reestablished from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine	Patriarch of Kiev and all Rus-Ukraine (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate) 2019–present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by N/A	Honorary Patriarch (Orthodox Church of Ukraine) 2018–2019	Succeeded by N/A
Preceded by Volodymyr (Romaniuk)	Patriarch of Kiev and all Rus-Ukraine (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate) 1995–2018	Succeeded by Position disestablished; Merged into the Orthodox Church of Ukraine
Preceded by (reorganization))	Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine (Ukrainian Orthodox Church) (Russian Orthodox Church) 1990–1992	Succeeded by Volodymyr (Sabodan)
Preceded by Pimen (Izvekov)	(Locum tenens) patriarch of Moscow and all Russia (Russian Orthodox Church) 1990	Succeeded by Aleksiy (Ridiger)
Preceded by Joasaph (Leliukhin) (interim Alipiy (Khotovitskiy))	Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia (Patriarchal Exarch of all Ukraine) (Russian Orthodox Church) 1966–1990	Succeeded by (reorganization)
Preceded by Kiprian (Zernov)	Bishop of Dmitrov (vicar of Moscow Eparchy) (Russian Orthodox Church) 1964–1966	Succeeded by Philaret (Vakhromeyev)
Preceded by Sergiy (Korolev)	Bishop of Vienna and Austrian (Russian Orthodox Church) 1962–1964	Succeeded by Varfolomei (Gondarovskiy)
Preceded by Ioann (Vendland)	Locum tenens governor of Middle-European Exarchate (Russian Orthodox Church) 1962	Succeeded by Sergiy (Larin)
Preceded by Aleksiy (Konoplev)	Bishop of Luga (vicar of Leningrad Eparchy) (Russian Orthodox Church) 1962	Succeeded by Nikon (Fomichev)