Filaret Denisenko (Ukrainian religious figure)

Filaret (Denisenko)
(born 1929), former. Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, self-proclaimed “Patriarch of Kiev and All Rus' of Ukraine” of the schismatic “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate” In the world Denisenko Mikhail Antonovich, was born on January 23, 1929 in the village of Blagodatnoye, Amvrosievsky district, Donetsk region, in the family of a miner. Father - Anton Denisenko, miner, died in 1943 at the front. Mother - Melania Denisenko, housewife. Had two brothers.

In 1946, after graduating from high school, he entered the third grade of the Odessa Theological Seminary.

In 1948 he graduated from the seminary and entered the Moscow Theological Academy.

On January 1, 1950, in his second year at the academy, he was tonsured a monk with the name Philaret and appointed acting caretaker of the Patriarchal Apartments in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

On January 15 of the same year, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy ordained him to the rank of hierodeacon, and on June 18, 1951, on the Day of the Holy Trinity, to the rank of hieromonk.

In 1952 he graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy with a candidate of theology degree and was appointed teacher of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament at the Moscow Theological Seminary. At the same time he served as dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

Since 1953 - teacher at the Moscow Theological Academy.
In the 1953-1954 academic year, the Academic Council of the Moscow Theological Academy awarded him the title of associate professor. In the same year, he was appointed to the position of senior assistant inspector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary.

In August 1956, he was elevated to the rank of abbot and appointed inspector of the Saratov Theological Seminary.

In 1957 he was transferred to the position of inspector of the Kyiv Theological Seminary.

On July 12, 1958, he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

Since 1960 - manager of the affairs of the Ukrainian Exarchate.

From May 1961 to January 1962 - rector of the metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Alexandria (OAR).

On February 4, 1962, he was consecrated Bishop of Luga, vicar of the Leningrad diocese and appointed administrator of the Riga diocese.
The rite of consecration was performed by: Metropolitan Pimen of Leningrad and Ladoga, Archbishop Nikodim of Yaroslavl and Rostov, and bishops: Mikhail of Kazan and Mari, Mikhail of Tambov and Michurin, Sergius of Novgorod and Old Russia, Cyprian of Dmitrov, Nikodim of Kostroma and Galich. On June 16, 1962, he was relieved of his duties as vicar of the Leningrad diocese and appointed vicar of the Central European Exarchate with temporary management of the Central European Exarchate.

On October 10, 1962, he was released from the temporary administration of the Central European Exarchate and on November 16 of the same year he was appointed Bishop of Vienna and Austria.

Since December 22, 1964 - Bishop of Dmitrovsky, vicar of the Moscow diocese and rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary.

On February 22, 1965, he was appointed Chairman of the Commission for the preparation of materials for the Theological Encyclopedia.

On May 14, 1966, he was elevated to the rank of archbishop and appointed a member of the Holy Synod, Archbishop of Kyiv and Galicia, Exarch of Ukraine.

Takes an active part in numerous foreign interfaith and peacekeeping conferences.

On February 25, 1968 he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.

On March 20, 1969, he was included in the Commission of the Holy Synod on Christian Unity, and from December 16 of the same year - Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate in Kyiv.

On June 25, 1970, he was appointed a member of the Commission of the Holy Synod for the preparation of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church,

On March 3, 1976, he was elected to the Holy Synod Commission on Christian Unity and Inter-Church Relations.

November 21-28, 1976 - head of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation at the first Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference in Geneva.

On November 14, 1979, Honoris Causa was awarded the diploma of Doctor of Theology at the Budapest Reformed Theological Academy.

On November 16, 1979, he was appointed chairman of the Holy Synod Commission on Christian Unity.

On May 17-23, 1980, at the invitation of His Beatitude Metropolitan of Prague and all Czechoslovakia, Dorotheus was in Czechoslovakia, where on May 20, the Presov Theological Faculty awarded him the title of Doctor of Theology “honoris causa”;

After the death of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Pimen on May 3, 1990, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church by secret ballot was elected locum tenens to the Moscow Patriarchal Throne. He was Chairman of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 7, 8, 1990 and one of the candidates for Patriarch.

By the definition of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church from October 25-27, 1990 - the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with the title: “Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine”, within the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the title “His Beatitude” is adopted.

Fall from the Church

With the worsening schisms and general crisis in church life in Ukraine, on April 2, 1992, at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Philaret solemnly, before the cross and the Gospel, promised to resign from his post as primate of the Ukrainian Church. However, upon returning to Kyiv, on April 14, he held a press conference at which he accused the Council of Bishops of putting pressure on him, saying that at the Council he was “like on Golgotha,” where he was “crucified.” He explained his promise to resign as primate for diplomatic reasons, declaring that in reality he would lead the Ukrainian Church until the end of his days.

On April 30 of that year, a meeting of representatives of the clergy and laity of the Ukrainian Church was held in Zhitomir, in the presence of six bishops, which expressed no confidence in Metropolitan Philaret in connection with his deception and declared the need to convene a Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Church to remove him.

On May 6-7, an extended meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church took place, but Metropolitan Philaret, a permanent member of the Synod, did not appear at the meeting. The Synod condemned his statements regarding the Council of Bishops as a blasphemy against the conciliar mind of the Church, and ordered Metropolitan Philaret to convene the Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Church by May 15, submit his resignation from the post of primate and resign. Due to the state of emergency in the Ukrainian Church, Metropolitan Philaret was prohibited from acting as primate - i.e. convene a Synod, ordain bishops, issue decrees and appeals concerning the Ukrainian Church - until the scheduled Council. All prohibitions and punishments imposed or could be imposed by him in connection with expressions of support for the determination of the Council of Bishops of April 2, 1992, were declared illegal and invalid. In case of failure to comply with these determinations, Metropolitan Philaret would have to appear before a church court. However, Metropolitan Philaret ignored this resolution of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church.

On May 21, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, again in the absence of the culprit of the crisis who did not want to appear, had a judgment on affairs in Ukraine. By synodal decision, the oldest ordained archpastor of the Ukrainian Church, Metropolitan Nikodim (Rusnak) of Kharkov, was instructed to convene a Council of Bishops before the celebration of the Holy Trinity, in order to accept the resignation of Metropolitan Philaret and elect a new primate of the Ukrainian Church. The temporary fulfillment of the duties of the first bishop of the Ukrainian Church was entrusted to Metropolitan Nikodim. Having received notice of this resolution, Metropolitan Philaret stated that he considered it unfounded and “incompetent.”

On May 26, Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Rus' sent a telegram to Metropolitan Philaret, in which, appealing to his archpastoral and Christian conscience, he asked him, in the name of the good of the church, to submit to the canonical hierarchy. On the same day, Metropolitan Philaret gathered his supporters in Kyiv for a conference, in which several clergy and laity participated, but not a single bishop was present. The conference rejected the resolution of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and addressed the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew with a message in which they declared the termination of the act of 1686 on the transfer of the Kyiv Metropolis to the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The next day, May 27, followed the Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kharkov, to which Metropolitan Philaret did not want to appear. The Council expressed no confidence in him and dismissed him from the Kyiv See, and for committing schismatic actions, as a pre-trial measure, banned him from serving in the priesthood until a decision on this issue was made by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church.

At a meeting on May 28, the Holy Synod of the Russian Church expressed agreement with the decision of the Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Church and appointed the convening of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church for June 11. Metropolitan Philaret received three summonses to the Council of Bishops from Patriarch Alexy, but did not appear at the meetings, after which the Council, according to the canons, could consider the case of the accused in his absence. Meanwhile, ignoring the decisions of the Council and Synod, who was prohibited from serving in the clergy, Filaret continued to perform divine services and even episcopal “consecrations.”

On June 11, 1992, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church deposed him from his existing rank, deprived of all degrees of the priesthood and all rights associated with being in the clergy [1].

After separation from the Moscow Patriarchate and the creation in 1992 of the schismatic organization “Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate” (UOC-KP), he became deputy to Patriarch Mstislav (Skrypnyk), after whose death in 1993 he became deputy to the new Patriarch Vladimir (Romanyuk), who died in 1995

Since October 25, 1995 - Patriarch of the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate”.

On February 19, 1997, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church excommunicated him from the Church through anathematization [2].

Awards

• Church:
• the right to wear the second panagia (decree of Patriarch Pimen June 17, 1971)
• personalized panagia (in connection with the 25th anniversary of episcopal consecration 1987)
• personalized panagia (for active participation in the preparation and holding of anniversary celebrations dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' on July 4, 1988)

• Order of Friendship of Peoples (decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR on January 23, 1979)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor (by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR for active peacekeeping activities and in connection with the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' on June 3, 1988)
• Order of Yaroslav the Wise, V degree (1999)
• Order of Yaroslav the Wise, IV degree (2001)
• Order of Yaroslav the Wise, III degree (2004)
• Order of Yaroslav the Wise, II degree (2006)
• Order of Yaroslav the Wise, 1st degree (2008)
• Order of Liberty (2009)

Patriarch Filaret Denisenko Mikhail Antonovich

Honorary Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, since 2022. Permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Hero of Ukraine

Mikhail Denisenko was born on January 23, 1929 in the village of Blagodatnoye, Donetsk region, Ukraine. The boy grew up in the family of miner Anton Denisenko and his wife Melania. My grandfather died during the famine in Ukraine, and my father during World War II. The death of his father had a great influence on Mikhail's worldview and his choice to become a priest.

In 1946, after graduating from high school, he entered the third grade of the Odessa Theological Seminary. Two years after graduating from the seminary, he entered the Moscow Theological Academy. In January 1950, during his second year at the academy, he was tonsured a monk with the name Filaret and appointed acting caretaker of the Patriarchal Apartments in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

In the same year, Patriarch Alexy I ordained him as a hierodeacon. In 1952, on the day of Pentecost, he was ordained hieromonk. In the same year, after graduating from the academy with a candidate of theology degree, he was appointed teacher of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament at the Moscow Theological Seminary; Acted as dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

In March 1954, he received the rank of associate professor and was appointed senior assistant inspector. Two years later he was elevated to the rank of abbot and appointed inspector of the Saratov Theological Seminary. Further, he becomes an inspector at the Kyiv Theological Seminary.

He was elevated to the rank of archimandrite on July 12, 1958 and appointed rector of the Kyiv Theological Seminary. He served as rector until the seminary was closed in 1960. In the same year, he was the manager of the affairs of the Ukrainian Exarchate, and from May 1961, for a year, he was the rector of the Russian Orthodox Church metochion at the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt.

Filaret, on February 4, 1962, was consecrated Bishop of Luga, vicar of the St. Petersburg diocese, and appointed administrator of the Riga diocese. The rite of consecration was performed by Metropolitan Pimen of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, Archbishop Nicodemus of Yaroslavl and Rostov and bishops: Mikhail of Kazan and Mari, Mikhail of Tambov and Michurin, Sergius of Novgorod and Staraya Rus, Cyprian of Dmitrov, Nicodemus of Kostroma and Galich.

In the same year, he was relieved of his duties as vicar of the St. Petersburg diocese and appointed vicar of the Central European Exarchate with temporary management of the Central European Exarchate. In 1962, he was given this position and appointed Bishop of Vienna and Austria.

On December 22, 1964, he became Bishop of Dmitrovsky, vicar of the Moscow diocese and rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary. A year later he was appointed chairman of the commission for the preparation of materials for the Theological Encyclopedia. In 1966 he was Archbishop of Kyiv and Galicia, Exarch of Ukraine and a permanent member of the Holy Synod.

At the end of February 1968, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan. Then he was included in the commission of the Holy Synod on issues of Christian unity, and from December 16 of the same year he became chairman of the branch of the department of external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate in Kyiv.

In June 1970, he was appointed a member of the Holy Synod commission for the preparation of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. Six years later he was elected to the Holy Synod commission on issues of Christian unity and inter-church relations.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pimen, died on May 3, 1990, and on the same day a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church took place, at which Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev and Galicia was elected Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne.

At the same time, at a meeting with the clergy of the Ternopil diocese, Filaret condemned the participants in the autocephalous schism, saying that the schismatics were acting on the direct orders of nationalist organizations that had settled abroad.

A Council of Bishops was held at the Patriarchal residence in the Danilov Monastery, electing three candidates for the Patriarchal throne: Metropolitan Alexy of Leningrad and Novgorod, Metropolitan Vladimir of Rostov and Novocherkassk and Metropolitan Philaret of Kyiv.

Having long-standing and close ties with the leadership of the USSR and the KGB, Filaret hoped that it would be he who would lead the Russian Orthodox Church. As a result of a secret vote on June 7, members of the Local Council received 66 votes, while 139 votes were cast for Metropolitan Alexy and 107 for Metropolitan Vladimir.

On July 9, 1990, the episcopate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church unanimously elected Filaret as its primate. At the same time, the Ukrainian episcopate submitted a petition for autonomy for the Orthodox Church in Ukraine. The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on October 25-27, 1990 transformed the Ukrainian Exarchate into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and granted it independence and autonomy in governance.

The Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church received the title “Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine”; within this Church he was given the title “Most Blessed.” The text of the Patriarchal letter dated October 27, 1990 includes a blessing for Philaret to be the primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

After the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR proclaimed the independence of Ukraine on August 24, 1991, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk became its first president. Metropolitan Filaret abruptly changed his beliefs to the opposite and began to act under the motto “in an independent state, an independent church.”

On November 1, 1991, the Bishops' Council of the UOC unanimously adopted a decision on complete independence, that is, autocephaly, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and turned to Patriarch Alexy II and the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church for approval of this decision. Later, at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow on April 2, 1992, almost all Ukrainian bishops withdrew their signatures, explaining their vote by threats and pressure from Filaret.

At the Council, appeals and telegrams from the clergy and laity of Ukraine were also read with requests to stop the forcibly imposed autocephaly of the UOC. Having heard all the arguments of supporters and opponents of autocephaly, the Council transferred consideration of the issue to the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Accused of leading an immoral lifestyle and not meeting the requirements for a person capable of uniting around himself all Orthodox clergy and laity in Ukraine, Filaret gave his archpastoral word to resign. However, upon returning to Kiev, he announced to the congregation that he did not recognize the charges brought against him allegedly for his request to grant independence to the Ukrainian Church and that he would lead the Ukrainian Orthodox Church until the end of his days, since he was “given by God to Ukrainian Orthodoxy.”

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church twice called on Filaret to fulfill the promises made before the Cross and the Gospel, but Filaret ignored all appeals, enlisting the support of some radical Ukrainian deputies and public figures of a nationalist orientation.

After unsuccessful appeals to Philaret, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church instructed the oldest ordained bishop of Ukraine, Metropolitan Nikodim of Kharkov, to convene a Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Church to resolve the issue of the further ministry of Metropolitan Philaret. Filaret was invited to the Council, but ignored the invitation, trying to put pressure on the members of the Council through nationalist-minded politicians in the Ukrainian parliament.

At the end of May 1992, the Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which met in Kharkov consisting of 18 bishops under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Nikodim of Kharkov, expressed no confidence in Metropolitan Philaret and dismissed him from the Kiev See, prohibiting him from serving in the priesthood until the decision of the Council of Bishops of the Mother Church.

The Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 11, 1992 decided to “dismiss Metropolitan Philaret from his existing rank, depriving him of all degrees of the priesthood and all rights associated with being in the clergy,” for “cruel and arrogant attitude towards the subordinate clergy, dictatorship and blackmail, bringing in his own behavior and personal life of seduction among believers, perjury, public slander and blasphemy against the Council of Bishops, performance of sacred rites, including ordinations in a state of prohibition, causing a schism in the Church.” Filaret did not admit his guilt and did not obey the decision of the Council, calling it uncanonical and illegal.

Filaret did not recognize the excommunication, since, from his point of view, it was committed for political reasons, thus being invalid. The defrocking and excommunication carried out by the Bishops' Councils of the Russian Orthodox Church are also recognized by other local Orthodox churches.

After his defrocking and the creation on June 25, 1992 of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), unrecognized by the Local Orthodox Churches, Metropolitan Filaret became the deputy of Patriarch Mstislav, and then, when Patriarch Mstislav died, he became the deputy of the new Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus'-Ukraine Vladimir, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1995.

In October 1995, the Local Council of the UOC-KP elected Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus'-Ukraine. The enthronement took place on October 22, 1995 at the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv.

At the end of February 1997, at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in the St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow, Filaret was excommunicated from the Church and anathematized. The resolution of the Council charged: “Monk Filaret did not heed the call to repentance addressed to him on behalf of the Mother Church and continued during the inter-Council period schismatic activity, which he extended beyond the borders of the Russian Orthodox Church, contributing to the deepening of the schism in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and accepting into communion schismatics from other Local Orthodox Churches."

In 2013, on behalf of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, he called on Ukrainians and Poles for mutual forgiveness for the Volyn massacre during the Second World War.

During the events of December 2013 - January 2014, he repeatedly spoke out in support of the Euromaidan. During the Crimean crisis in 2014, he sharply criticized Vladimir Putin. He also approved the actions of the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions during the armed confrontation in eastern Ukraine.

At the beginning of February 2015, Filaret arrived in the United States of America to participate in a “prayer breakfast” with the participation of US President Barack Obama, where he awarded Senator John McCain the Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class, and also reminded McCain of the US duty to help Ukraine in protecting its independence.

In November 2022, he sent a letter to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church, in which he expressed his desire to overcome the schism and hope for mutual reconciliation.

In April 2022, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko sent an appeal to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant autocephaly to the Ukrainian Church; shortly before that, the entire episcopate of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the UAOC conveyed to President Petro Poroshenko an appeal to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to grant the Ukrainian Church a tomos of autocephaly. In October of the same year, the Patriarchate of Constantinople announced the beginning of the process of granting autocephaly to the Church of Ukraine and reinstated the primates of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Following the meeting of the Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, held on October 9-11, the following was officially announced regarding Philaret: Accept petitions for appeal from Philaret (Denisenko), Macarius (Maletich) 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 appeals from hierarchs and other clergy of all autocephalous Churches. Thus, the persons mentioned above were canonically restored to their episcopal and priestly ranks, and communion between their flock and the Church was also restored.

According to Archbishop Job (Ecumenical Patriarchate), the decision means that Filaret is considered by the Ecumenical Patriarchate as a “former Metropolitan of Kiev.” Bishop Macarius (Grinezakis), vicar of the Tallinn Metropolis, assistant to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, permanent professor at the Patriarchal Academy of Crete, gave the following explanations of the decisions taken: “<...> at the last meeting of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, issues of appeals of “eclitus” [the right of the supreme church court to hear cases on which an appeal has been filed - approx. transl.] Philaret (Denisenko) and Macarius (Maletich) and the bishops and clergy related to them. After a careful study of these claims, it was decided to return both plaintiffs, as well as the bishops, clergy and laity related to them, to the canonical field. This means that from now on Filaret and Macarius are canonical hierarchs of the Church and have a canonical episcopal rank. The same, of course, applies to their other bishops, clergy and laity, who received the sacred sacraments from them. <…> We would legitimize the schism if we said to Philaret and Macarius: “Go to the Orthodox Church and we will recognize you as patriarchs and archbishops.” But it wasn't like that. <…> Patriarch Bartholomew and the Synod managed to unite two schismatic groups and restore them to canonicity without requests from these organizations regarding positions and honors.”

Filaret himself continued to consider himself a patriarch; in particular, at a press conference on October 11, he stated: “I was a patriarch, I am and I will be.” On October 20, the Synod of the UOC-KP changed the title, approving the full and short versions of the title, adding a mention of Kiev as the “Mother of Russian Cities” and the Kiev-Pechersk and Pochaev Lavra, and also allowing titles without using the title “patriarch” in relations with other churches . The full title of the head of the church: “His Holiness and Beatitude Philaret, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Kyiv - Mother of the Russian cities, Galician, Patriarch of All Rus'-Ukraine, Holy Dormition Kiev-Pechersk and Pochaev Lavra Holy Archimandrite.” In relations with other local Orthodox churches, the acceptable form is “His Beatitude Archbishop (name), Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus'-Ukraine” and derivatives from it.

Before the start of the Unification Council on December 15, 2022, the UOC-KP (in parallel with the UAOC) held its own Council and decided to dissolve itself, and its bishops took part in the formation of a single local Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

At the Uniting Council of Orthodox Churches in Ukraine in Kyiv on December 15, 2918, Filaret did not put forward his candidacy for the post of Metropolitan of Kyiv of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, to whom the Ecumenical Patriarchate was to present the tomos of autocephaly. After his election as Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Epifaniy (Dumenko), in an address to the people gathered on Sophia Square, declared Filaret (Denisenko) the spiritual mentor of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, who “will continue to be an honorary lifelong [mentor], helping us build together our one local Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

Filaret was not present at the presentation of the tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Istanbul on January 6, 2022. According to the press service of the Lviv diocese of the UAOC, the reason was that Filaret refuses to accept the status of metropolitan, but wants to remain a patriarch.

In the hierarchy of the OCU, Filaret received the title of honorary patriarch, is a permanent member of the Synod and the administrator of the Kiev diocese as part of the parishes and monasteries of Kiev, which were subordinate to him as the patriarch of Kiev and all Rus'-Ukraine (with the exception of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery). At the same time, Filaret (Denisenko), despite the “dissolution” of the UOC-KP, did not stop wearing a white doll and presenting awards of the Kyiv Patriarchate. In an interview on March 25, 2022, he stated: “The Kyiv Patriarchate does not exist legally, but it exists in fact. Because there is a patriarch. Therefore, there are reasons to award orders. I will continue to present them in the future.” On May 9, Filaret (Denisenko) made a statement from which it followed that, in his opinion, the Kiev Patriarchate was de facto not dissolved and continues to exist.

The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, held in Istanbul on October 11, 2022, decided to lift the anathema imposed on Philaret by the decision of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on June 11, 1992. By his decision, Patriarch Bartholomew announced the restoration of Denisenko to his rank at the time of anathematization. According to this decision, Filaret again became metropolitan.

The Holy Synod also recognized the decision to transfer the Kyiv Metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1686 as invalid.

On May 15, 2022, the head of the Kyiv Patriarchate of the UOC Filaret accused the head of the OCU Epiphanius and the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko of deception and violation of the agreement, which is why a schism is brewing in the new church structure. Before the “unification council,” the heads of non-canonical churches agreed that Metropolitan Epifaniy would become the head of the new church, but Filaret, who proclaimed himself patriarch, would continue to govern it. This agreement has been violated and is not being implemented in practice.

Awards of Patriarch Filaret

Awards of Patriarch Filaret

State awards of the USSR

Order of Friendship of Peoples (01/22/1979) - for patriotic activities in defense of peace

Order of the Red Banner of Labor (June 3, 1988) - for active peacekeeping activities and in connection with the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'

State awards of Ukraine

Order of Freedom (January 23, 2009) - for many years of fruitful church activity and the establishment of the ideals of spirituality, mercy and harmony in society

Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise:

I degree (July 22, 2008) - for outstanding personal contribution to the establishment of spirituality, humanism and mercy, many years of fruitful church activity and on the occasion of the 1020th anniversary of the baptism of Kievan Rus

II degree (October 18, 2006) - for outstanding personal contribution to the development of the local Orthodox Church in Ukraine, many years of church activity in promoting the ideals of spirituality, mercy and interfaith harmony in society

III degree (January 23, 2004) - for outstanding personal contribution to the establishment of Orthodoxy in Ukraine, the development of interfaith ties, many years of fruitful religious, peacekeeping and charitable activities and on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of his birth

IV degree (June 25, 2002) - for outstanding personal services to Ukraine in the field of state-church relations, many years of fruitful religious activity

V degree (August 21, 1999) - for many years of fruitful church activity, significant personal contribution to the establishment of the principles of Christian morality in society

The first (at the same time as Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan)) in the history of the award system of independent Ukraine to be a full holder of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise;

Insignia of the President of Ukraine - Ivan Mazepa Cross (January 20, 2010) - for outstanding personal contribution to the spiritual enrichment of the Ukrainian people, many years of fruitful church activity

Certificate of Honor from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (2010)

Church awards

While he was a hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, he was awarded numerous church orders from both the Moscow Patriarchate and other local Orthodox Churches.

The Holy Synod of the UOC-KP awarded the church orders - Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, I degree (1999, in connection with the anniversary of the 70th anniversary of his birth) and Saint Apostle Andrew the First-Called, I degree (2004, in connection with the anniversary of the 75th anniversary of his birth ).

Other

Honorary member of the Moscow Theological Academy (1970)

Honorary member of the Leningrad Theological Academy (1973)

Honorary Doctor of Theology from the Budapest Reformed Theological Academy (1979)

Honorary Doctor of Theology from the Pryashevsky Faculty of Theology (1980)

Honorary citizen of Kyiv (2008)

Honorary member of the Department of Animal Anatomy named after Acad. V.G. Kasyanenko NUBiP of Ukraine (2012)

Honorary Doctor of NUBiP of Ukraine (2014)

Refused

In January 2014, Filaret refused to award him the Order of Merit, 1st degree, as well as the Order of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian awarded to him in connection with the 85th anniversary of the Synod of the UOC-KP:

16.05.2019

Proceedings

• "The Doctrine of the Atonement of St. fathers of the 4th century - Athanasius the Great, Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian." (PhD essay).
• Speech at the naming of Bishop of Luga. JMP. 1962, No. 3, p. 12.
• "In the name of unity and peace." (Pilgrimage of Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Alexy to the shrines of the East). JMP. 1961, No. 3, p. 10-64.
• "Visiting Anglican monks." JMP. 1960, no. 8.
• “Participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the work of the World Peace Congress in Helsinki.” JMP. 1965, no. 10.
• "In the name of brotherhood and friendship." JMP. 1967, No. 3, p. 9-12.
• “Cyril and Methodius celebrations in Thessaloniki.” JMP. 1967, No. 3, p. 50-54.
• “The works of Saints Cyril and Methodius on the territory of the Russian state in Russian historical literature”: (Report at the anniversary of the 1100th anniversary of the beginning of the educational activities of Saints Cyril and Methodius, read in Thessaloniki on October 22, 1966). JMP. 1967, No. 3, p. 55-58.
• Address on events in Greece (Easter, 1967). JMP. 1967, No. 6, p. 7-8.
• Message on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. JMP. 1968, No. 1, p. 7-9.
• Speech at the presentation of the bishop's staff to Bishop Savva (Babinets) on March 30, 1969. JMP. 1969, No. 6, p. 11-14.
• “Fundamentals, practice and prospects for joint efforts of various religions in support of cooperation and peace among peoples”: (Co-report at the first meeting of the 5th working group of the Conference of Representatives of All Religions in the USSR, July 2, 1969). JMP. 1969, No. 9, p. 53-59.
• Speech at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. JMP. 1971, No. 8, p. 7-14.
• Speech at the presentation of the bishop's staff to Bishop Nikolai (Bychkovsky). JMP. 1971, No. 8, p. 32-34.
• Speech at the opening of the interview of theologians of the Russian Orthodox Church. Churches and Churches of the Brethren in the USA. JMP. 1971, No. 10, p. 53-59.
• Speech at a reception hosted by the League of Religious Leaders of Japan in honor of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, October 16. 1970 JMP. 1970, No. 12, p. 38-39.
• Speech at a reception at the Association of New Religions on October 23, 1970. JMP. 1970, No. 12, p. 40-41.
• Speech at a reception in Tokyo 29 Oct. 1970 JMP. 1979, No. 12, p. 41-42.
• Speech at the presentation of the archpastoral staff to Bishop Varlaam (Ilyushchenko) October 22. 1972. JMP. 1973, No. 1, p. 15-18.
• “Fraternal visit of the Moscow Patriarch to the Czechoslovak Orthodox Church.” JMP. 1973, No. 6, p. 8-16.
• Word on the name day of St. Patriarch Pimen September 9, 1973. JMP. 1973, No. 10, p. 16.
• "World Congress of Peace Forces." JMP. 1973, No. 12, p. 41-43.
• "Fraternal visit of the Church delegation of the Soviet Union to India." JMP. 1975, No. 5, p. 70-72; No. 6, p. 55-61.
• Speech at the presentation of the bishop's staff to Bishop Agathangel of Vinnitsa and Bratslav, November 16. 1975 ZhMP. 1976, no. 3, p. 10-12.
• Interview with APN correspondent on February 20, 1976. JMP. 1976, no. 5, p. 4-5.
• Speech before the opening ceremony on May 15, 1976 in Lvov. JMP. 1976, no. 9, p. 9-10.
• Sermon at the ecumenical service at Erfoot Cathedral, 12 September. 1976 ZhMP. 1976, No. 12, p. 53.
• Word at the presentation of the archpastoral staff to Bishop Sebastian of Kirovograd and Nikolaev. JMP. 1978, No. 1, p. 31.
• Word at the presentation of the archpastoral staff to Bishop John of Zhitomir and Ovruch. JMP. 1978, No. 2, p. 18-19.
• Speech at the opening of the 3rd theological interview in Kyiv by representatives of Russian. Right Churches and the Union of Evangelical Churches in the GDR, 2 Oct. 1978. JMP. 1978, No. 12, p. 53.
• "On the Fifth All-Christian Peace Congress." JMP. 1979, No. 2, p. 43-49.
• Word at the presentation of the bishop's staff to Bishop Lazarus of Argentina, April 18. 1980 JMP. 1980, no. 7, p. 35.
• “Word on the day of the 70th anniversary of St. Patriarch Pimen." JMP. 1980, no. 9, p. 14.
• Speech at the presentation of the diploma of Doctor of Theology to him from the Prešov Faculty of Theology on May 20, 1980. JMP. 1980, No. 10, p. 41.
• A word of congratulations to the saint. Patriarch Pimen on his name day, September 9. 1980 JMP. 1980, No. 11, p. 6.
• Word on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo in the All Saints Cathedral in Tula on September 18. 1980 JMP. 1980, No. 12, p. 14.
• Speech at the World Parliament of Nations for Peace. JMP. 1980, No. 12, p. 45.
• Report at the opening of the COPR meeting (Eisenach, October 14, 1980). JMP. 1981, No. 1, p. 38.
• “The Local Church and the Universal Church”: (Report at the theological symposium “Pro Oriente” in Vienna on December 1, 1980. ZhMP. 1981, No. 3, pp. 70-76; No. 4, pp. 60-67.
• “On the spiritual appearance of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel.” JMP. 1981, No. 5, p. 55-60.
• A word about forgiveness of grievances. JMP. 1981, No. 6, p. 36.
• Report at the solemn act of celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Lviv Church Council of 1946 (May 16, 1981). JMP. 1981, No. 10, p. 6-13.
• Sermon at the Epiphany Patriarchal Cathedral, December 4. 1982 JMP. 1983, no. 2, p. 17.
• On the decisions of the Second Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference. JMP. 1983, no. 8, p. 53; No. 9, p. 46; No. 10, p. 44; No. 11, p. 43.
• Speech at the presentation of the diploma of Doctor of Theology “honoris causa” by the Faculty of Theology. Jan Hus in Prague. JMP. 1984, No. 10, p. 58; No. 11, p. 61.
• Answers to questions from a correspondent of the Italian newspaper “Unita” 21 February. 1985 ZhMP. 1985, no. 6, p. 63.
• “V1st All-Christian Peace Congress “Global threat to humanity - global strategy for peace.” (Report read at Congress on July 4, 1985). JMP. 1985, No. 10, p. 38.
• Sermon in the Assumption Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius on July 23, 1985. ZhMP. 1985, No. 11, p. 8.
• Report at the solemn act dedicated to the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Lviv Church Council (Lviv, May 17-19, 1986). JMP. 8, p. 5-9.

"The Third Way" by Patriarch Filaret. The story of an Orthodox rebel from Kyiv

A man who could have become the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' and sought to unite Orthodoxy, but in the end became one of those who divided it even more. He communicated on equal terms with general secretaries and presidents, but in his old age he found himself abandoned by his followers and students. He was anathematized, acquitted and rejected again. And yet he does not give up. On October 22, it will be a quarter of a century since Filaret (Denisenko) became the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate.

The Second World War was still going on when Melania Denisenko, a widow and mother of many children from the village of Blagodatnoye, was informed that her son was expelled from school. The administration was informed that the teenager had been disappearing for days in the church. And what’s even worse, he’s disturbing the rural pioneers with talk about God. The news did not bother Misha himself at all. “I am the son of a soldier who died “for the Motherland, for Stalin.” They won’t do anything to me,” he waved it off. And indeed, after some time he was returned to the list of students.

Student of the Odessa Theological Seminary Mikhail Denisenko, 1946
Soon Mikhail Denisenko will close himself in church for a whole week, spending time in prayer and prostration. And after graduating from school, the 17-year-old boy will travel in a freight train to Odessa to enroll in pastoral and theological courses at a theological seminary. The examiners will be so surprised by how well Michael knows the Gospel and the lives of the saints that he will be immediately enrolled in the third year of seminary.

Mikhail will not return to his native village for the holidays. He will remain working as a candle maker at the monastery. A few years later he will enter the Moscow Theological Academy. And in January 1950 he took monastic vows with the name Filaret.

His Holiness Bishop from Pushkinskaya

The residence of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret is today located on Pushkinskaya Street, 36 in the very center of Kyiv. He has been here since the 1960s, and since then the name Filaret and this address have been inextricably linked. In Kyiv they say: “Go to Pushkinskaya.” Meaning “talk to Filaret.”

After completion, the residence complex turned out to be so successful that the leadership of Soviet Ukraine offered to exchange it for something interesting for the church. Filaret asked to return to the believers the ancient Vydubitsky monastery, which is behind the Lavra on the Dnieper steeps. The exchange was considered unequal, and the deal did not take place.

Now the residence resembles a provincial district party committee with garages in the courtyard and red carpets in the darkened corridors. Those awaiting reception gather in a cramped room. Its walls are decorated with an oil painting of the Vladimir Cathedral and a hand-drawn portrait of Filaret himself.

Filaret’s assistant, a young energetic man in a black monastic cassock, by the way, reminds us that his patron was ordained under Stalin. I nod. His Holiness is 92 years old.

Filaret receives me in the Synodal Hall - the only room decorated with stucco and gilding. He rises from his chair with pointed cheerfulness. Of average height, with a thinning white beard and unblinking gray eyes. Like the assistant, he is dressed in a monastic cassock.

The Patriarch listens attentively to the question, as if not noticing my uncertain handling of church terms. Then he gives a lengthy explanation of why he does not want to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which received a tomos from the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Filaret speaks non-stop for half an hour. Slowly and persistently pronounces every word, sentence by sentence. Sometimes his voice weakens, but the solemn tone excludes the opportunity to ask clarifying questions. Filaret's right hand with his index finger extended is raised at the most important moments.

“I didn’t betray anyone,” he says, sounding like an Old Testament prophet. – An independent state must have an independent church. But only the patriarchate, and not the metropolitanate, can be an independent church. Therefore, since there is a state, there must be a patriarchy.”

Stalinist phenomenon. Before takeoff

Filaret was noticed and nominated by Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky). In 1950, in his second year at the Theological Academy, he was appointed caretaker of the Patriarchal Apartments in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. And already in 1955, the senior assistant to the rector, associate professor Filaret, went with a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church to travel around England.

“Filaret has a phenomenal memory,” says Kiev religious scholar Yuri Chernomorets. “Even at 80-something years old, he could travel around a dozen dioceses in a week and, returning home, dictate who he met with and when, what was discussed and what the agreements were. Moreover, give a detailed psychological portrait of each. Every detail."

Filaret also developed a relationship with Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov). (From June 3, 1971 to May 3, 1990, he was Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.) During Pimen’s enthronement, Filaret, as the Metropolitan of the oldest Kyiv Metropolis, presented him with a kukol - a headdress, a sign of patriarchal dignity. Under Pimen, Filaret was responsible for relations between the Moscow Patriarchate and secular government bodies, in particular the party and the KGB.

“Pimen trusted Filaret so much that he did not sign a single document until Filaret looked at it,” says Doctor of Theological Sciences, art critic Dmitry Stepovik, a close friend and ally of Filaret.

Filaret has a phenomenal memory.
Even in his old age, he retells in detail the events of bygone days. Filaret has also established himself as a capable preacher. He presents complex concepts in simple language, notes Dmitry Stepovik. The beginning and end of his speeches are always tied to specific events. The theme is developed through a spiritual-theological commentary with several climaxes. And the obligatory conclusion leading to the main idea.

“Filaret was formed in the era of late Stalin. And Stalin learned at the seminary that special rhetoric when you ask a question, answer this question yourself and, as it were, move in your thoughts. This style of structuring thoughts, followed by actions, is a striking feature of Filaret,” says Yuri Chernomorets.

The career rise of Mikhail Denisenko was mainly facilitated by the new personnel policy determined by the Russian Orthodox Church. The clergy with a pre-revolutionary past were pushed aside, and in their place responsible positions were occupied by new, “Soviet” priests.

First Kyiv campaign

Archimandrite Filaret is the rector of the Kyiv Theological Academy.
1960 Filaret was first sent to Kiev in 1957 to the position of inspector of the theological seminary, and then - manager of the affairs of the Ukrainian Exarchate (an administrative-territorial unit, viceroyalty outside the metropolitan area).

Filaret remembers Khrushchev's times as the most difficult for the church. In Ukraine, about half of the parishes and 29 of 38 monasteries were closed. Baptism and funeral ceremonies were carried out secretly. On the “recommendation” of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, preparations were being made for the liquidation of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, which by that time occupied a small part of the Kiev-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve.

Later, Filaret’s opponents will blame him for all these troubles.

It was the spring of 1961. In the morning, trucks and police squads pulled up to the monastery. The brothers, not wanting to be evicted, resisted with their feet and hands. Some cried, others rushed to bury icons in the monastery garden. The most desperate walled themselves up in their cells. They were taken out by force.

“Fathers, vacate the premises,” said the young black-bearded exarchate manager Filaret. – Tomorrow we begin a major renovation of the monastery. Then everyone will be returned."

The Lavra elder schema-abbot Valentin addressed Filaret: “For closing the Lavra, God, when the time comes, will not give you a normal death.”

View of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
Filaret had a hand in closing the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery in 1961. With his participation, the monastery was restored in 1988 - during the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia. On the third day after the monastery was closed, a quarry embankment burst through in the area of ​​Babyn Yar. A mud stream rushed down the slopes to Kurenevka, where it swallowed about half a thousand people alive. Pious townspeople connected these events.

Filaret was also remembered by the students of the theological seminary. On Good Friday, May 1, he forced the seminarians to sing Soviet songs.

“You are ungrateful, the Soviet government teaches you... Under whose sky do you live? Whose bread are you eating? I, the son of a miner, became an archimandrite and rector. Under what other government could this happen? – seminarian Pavel Adelgeim, later a famous church publicist, recalled Filaret’s words.

Soon after the events described, in mid-1961, Filaret was sent to serve as rector of the Russian Orthodox Church metochion under the Patriarchate of Alexandria in the United Arab Republic. Then he will be Bishop of Vienna and Austria, rector of the Moscow Theological Academy. He will return to Ukraine in five years to stay here for life.

Socialism and communism. "Let's live with God"

37-year-old Filaret arrived at the Kyiv department in the spring of 1966. In the same year, Dynamo Kiev achieved the golden double for the first time, winning the USSR Championship and the USSR Football Cup. A metro line was built across the Dnieper. They began to build up residential areas on the left bank. Kyiv was one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

The young exarch of Ukraine and member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church settled in the peripheral district of Solomenka, where they planned to move the cathedral church.

“A KGB colonel, who still served in the NKVD, called me and said: “The end has come for you,” recalls Filaret. - Look, your clergy are all old. He will die, but there are no young people. And there will be no one to serve. And secondly, in 1980 we entered communism. You won’t exist under communism.” And I answer him: we live under socialism, we will live under communism.”

Filaret
is
Archbishop of Kiev and Galicia, Exarch of Ukraine, permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church.
1966 The Ukrainian Exarchate included a dozen and a half dioceses. There were not enough rulers, and the authorities “cut down” the proposed candidates, Filaret complains.

Nevertheless, the attitude of the authorities towards the church gradually softened. In 1968, Filaret managed to resume publication of the journal “Orthodox Bulletin”. Abandoned churches were brought back to life. In the Kyiv diocese alone, the number of parishes increased from 200 to 600. At the same time, in 1968, Philaret was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.

“Filaret has the training of a Soviet bureaucrat: if a problem is identified, it needs to be solved. He clearly defines the ways to achieve the goal and looks for hidden reserves. For example, more translations of theological literature are needed. He asks: “How much do we pay the academy teachers? How much do competitors pay? How much can we pay? How much does one translation cost? How many translations can we make per year? This is very different from the management style of other religious leaders, who allowed something to “grow” by itself, and then praised themselves,” says Yuri Chernomorets.

Filaret’s abilities came in handy for the new mission of the Russian Orthodox Church - the USSR envoy in the global peacekeeping movement. As part of various delegations, he visited about 60 countries, in particular the USA, Australia, countries of North, East and West Africa.

Among his meetings with state leaders, Filaret highlights his acquaintance with Indira Gandhi. He considers its policy of a “third way” between East and West to be the most correct.

Filaret with Pope John Paul II. Filaret welcomed the pope's arrival in Ukraine in 2001, while the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was categorically against the visit

Revealed, but not convicted

In the early 1980s, Evgenia Rodionova came to the Trinity Convent in Korts, Rivne region, as the sister of Metropolitan Philaret with three children. The guests were accommodated in the monastery hotel and provided with a car.

They planned to spend the whole summer in the monastery. But due to visits from strangers to the guests, the abbess asked them to behave more modestly. Evgenia Rodionova was indignant and left without saying goodbye.

Some time later, the governor of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, Jonathan (Eletskikh), submitted a report to the Moscow Patriarch about Philaret’s unworthy behavior. Allegedly, the Metropolitan has his own family, the cleric wrote, referring to Filaret’s close relationship with Rodionova. And this contradicts the monastic vow. And although Jonathan later repented, inconvenient facts became public.

Filaret met Evgenia Rodionova while studying in Odessa, says journalist and publicist Vasily Anisimov, who headed the press service of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate and an ardent critic of Filaret. Her father was a high-ranking official, and according to another version, an intelligence officer. Filaret did not lose touch with this woman, being the Bishop of Riga, and then the Bishop of Vienna and Austria.

“To the amazement of the local clergy, Filaret and Evgenia Petrovna arrived in Kyiv with three “adopted” children - Andrei, Lyubov and Vera. Moreover, Evgenia Petrovna acquired the status of “sister”... These ingenious manipulations allowed the Kyiv Exarch to resolve housing problems, and most importantly, to live legally with the whole family (the canons of the church allow a monk to live only with his own mother and sister),” writes Vasily Anisimov in the book incriminating Philaret “ Shackled by one lie."

Filaret and his “sister” moved to a spacious apartment in an old house on Pushkinskaya not far from the residence. Anisimov writes that Evgenia Petrovna maintained relations with the families of the first secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine Vladimir Shcherbitsky and the curator of church issues from the Communist Party of Ukraine, and then the President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk. With the latter, Filaret is godfather, writes Vasily Anisimov.

Rodionova had a serious influence on financial issues and personnel changes in the church. Ordinary priests and even bishops kissed her hand when they met. In a half-whisper they called her “the mistress of all Ukraine.”

“During my consecration (initiation - NV) to the rank of bishop in the Vladimir Cathedral, Evgenia Petrovna unexpectedly said: “Do you see how great the mercy of the exarch? There will be more,” recalls Bishop Jonathan, who now serves as Metropolitan of Tulchin and Bratslav. - But know that the ruler cruelly deals with everyone who does not obey him. I nominated him to be a bishop, and I can strip him down to his underpants.”

Filaret extremely rarely comments on inconvenient facts of his biography. He prefers to speak evasively, with hints and in the third person: “The Primate of the UOC, Metropolitan Filaret, was not exposed in sin by a legal court...”

Evgenia Petrovna died in the late 1990s, never having achieved the removal of the abbess of the Koretsky Monastery, who “insulted” her. After that unsuccessful visit of Rodionova with her children to Korets, the Patriarch of Moscow granted the monastery independence from the Kyiv Metropolis.

The power of faith. The Legend of Five Rubles

If you want to see the correct service of the liturgy, go to Kyiv to the Vladimir Cathedral, they said in the Ukrainian capital during the time of Filaret’s service there, recalls his comrade-in-arms Dmitry Stepovik. Metropolitan Philaret diligently prepared for each service, pacing around his office for hours and singing selected passages.

Kiev journalist and publicist Alexander Mikhailyuta recalls how in the eighties, at the risk of being expelled from the university, he ran to the cathedral to listen to Filaret.

“He had an unusually clear and strong voice. As they say, “radium” - confidentially perceived by people, writes Mikhailiuta in the book “Light of the Patriarch”. – Vladimir Cathedral was always crowded. People came from all over the Union.”

Filaret was called one of the best liturgists of the USSR.
As a rule, the assessment of Filaret is approached from extreme positions. One camp consists of admirers. The other is made up of haters. Although even his enemies do not question the sincerity of his faith. They say that God replaced Filareta’s own father.

“When my father was going to the front, he called me and said: “Pray for me.” But I was in the spirit of atheism... But he repeated: “Pray,” Alexander Mikhailyut quotes Filaret as saying. – When we received the funeral, I was faced with the question: does he continue to exist or not? If he does not exist, as the Soviet school teaches, that there is no God, and after death a person’s existence ceases, then who do I love? There is no God, but love for my father is alive in me! Is it possible to love something that doesn't exist? You cannot love something that does not exist. Therefore, if I love, then he exists. There is eternal life. This means there is a God.”

In every moment of life, Filaret finds the divine presence.

“After my first year at the Moscow Academy, I stood at the window and wondered which path to take. If I become a family priest, then when I am arrested - and these were Stalinist times - my loved ones will suffer. No, I think I’ll stay in the monastery for the holidays and become a monk. I had not yet left the audience, a monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra took me by the hand and said that the governor was inviting me to stay in the monastery for the holidays. The Lord showed that I had chosen the right path.”

Filaret also had long discussions about faith with one of his three brothers.

“One day my brother was walking down the street,” recalls Filaret, visibly perked up. He clearly likes past events more than current affairs. “And the brother says to himself: “Lord, if you exist, make sure that I find five rubles.” Do it in this way". He walked a short distance and saw: five rubles lying on the road. And then he says: “I believed that God exists. I asked for five and found five. Not 10, not three, not 100. What God asked for, God gave. So he exists."

KGB and compromising collector Antonov

There is a legend in Kyiv that in the 1990s, when a meeting of secret service veterans was held on the occasion of another holiday, Filaret, dressed in a suit, entered the hall. Those present recognized him and immediately stood up. The rank of the person entering was obligatory.

In the KGB reports on work with agents - employees of the Moscow Patriarchate, published by the dissident and priest, deputy of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR Gleb Yakunin, Filaret appears under the pseudonym Antonov. Mention is made of his numerous business trips abroad, where he voiced the position of the USSR. For example, about “US aggressive actions in Vietnam.”

Filaret and the President of Ukraine 1991-1994.
Leonid Kravchuk. In Soviet times, Kravchuk was the head of the ideological department, and then the secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine. They say that Filaret and Kravchuk are
godfathers
. Filaret perceives accusations of collaboration with the special services without much emotion. “The bishop had no right to appoint a priest to a parish without the consent of the KGB,” he explains.

Contacts with the special services allegedly made Filaret an avid collector of compromising evidence, which is why, in fact, he had no friends. Information about the clergy flowed to him from various sources: complaints from believers, information from government agencies, KGB data.

“In Filaret’s mind, a person was identified with a “personal matter,” read, compromising evidence. Moreover, the latter often bore a semi-fictional, or even mythological character, writes Archpriest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Bogdan Gulyamov. – Knowing that Filaret was a “collector”, they took advantage of this. For Filaret, almost all bishops turned into secret sinners.”

Filaret says that although the KGB repeatedly demanded that he violate the secrecy of the people who confessed to him, he refused each time. “The office doesn’t forgive this,” says Filaret. “That’s why I was not elected Patriarch of Moscow.”

Filaret’s “wealth” is also linked to the patronage of the KGB. His zealous critic, publicist Vasily Anisimov, in particular, writes about them. They say that by going into “schism,” Filaret took the money of the entire Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Moreover, he grabbed part of the funds of the Communist Party of Ukraine, transferred by Leonid Kravchuk for the restoration of the Assumption Cathedral of the Lavra.

In the early 2000s, President Leonid Kuchma, suspecting Filaret of financing opposition actions “Ukraine without Kuchma,” allegedly ordered a search for his treasures, says religious scholar Yuri Chernomorets. But they didn't find anything interesting.

Return of the Lavra. From Khrushchev to Gorbachev

In 1981, the Kiev Intercession Monastery was severely damaged by fire. The abbess decided to correct the consequences herself. The premises were renovated and the main temple was re-painted. “Arbitrariness” caused indignation of the authorities. Nevertheless, Filaret refused to punish the abbess. By that time, the positions of Filaret and the church had noticeably strengthened.

Even more serious changes occurred with the beginning of perestroika. The weakening state needed the support of believers, which made it possible to achieve a large-scale celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'.

“At that time, analysts worked well in the Kremlin. The leadership of the Union made concessions to us,” says Filaret.

Due to the state of health of Patriarch Pimen, Filaret actually headed the Commission for preparing the celebrations. On the eve of the celebration, Mikhail Gorbachev received members of the Holy Synod in the Kremlin.

“The meeting took place on our initiative and took a long time to coordinate. The conversation was pleasant. No tough questions. Mikhail Sergeevich knew what we would talk about, and we knew what we could count on,” Filaret said in an interview with the online publication ASD.

Filaret looks at a photograph of Communist Party Secretary Leonid Kravchuk and CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev.
Filaret communicated with Gorbachev in the 1980s during preparations for the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia. As a result of difficult negotiations, the church achieved the transfer of the ancient Moscow Danilovsky Monastery, which housed a detention center for juvenile delinquents. The Russian Orthodox Church spent 100 million rubles on the restoration of the shrine. In particular, a new residence of the patriarch was built in the monastery. But they didn’t give up the Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv.

“All members of the Politburo, headed by Gorbachev, agreed. But Shcherbitsky and Grishin (first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU - NV) were categorically against it. Both are adamant atheists,” recalls Filaret. – When the festive Local Council was already taking place, I was informed that I urgently needed to fly to Kyiv. The Bishop of Canterbury flew with me. And in Kyiv, Vitaly Masol (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR - NV) handed me the act of transferring the Lavra. Not all of them, but only the Far Caves. I still have this document.”

After the death of Pimen, Filaret was elected locum tenens of the Moscow Patriarchal throne.

“I led the church. Those were joyful days, solemn, bright,” he admits.

Church vertical of Philaret

In the summer of 1988, Bishop of Zhitomir and Ovruch Ioann (Bondarchuk), who suffered from kidney disease, asked in writing Filaret and the Patriarch of Moscow to transfer him to a see in Transcarpathia, closer to the healing waters. “My health is deteriorating. Don’t let me die,” he wrote.

Nevertheless, John was refused: “Dioceses are not given to maintain health.” The bishop considered that the leading member of the Holy Synod, Filaret, had offended him, and “went into schism,” heading the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.

Filaret has always acted according to the principle “the church is me,” notes the author of the book “Orthodoxy in Post-Totalitarian Ukraine” Alexander Drabinko. “He prefers the forceful methods of Stalin’s times,” writes Drabinko. “He “humbled” dissatisfied bishops through administrative transfers, blackmail and threats.”

Filaret's church vertical has been compared to an army. He demanded complete submission.

“The Lord did not promise anyone heaven on earth,” the bishop once noted. “The hardest thing in the pulpit is to see that the clergy and episcopate are not diligently fulfilling their duties.”

Most of all, the clergy were oppressed by Filaret’s trait of “harassing” his subordinates. Thus, on every occasion, he reminded his closest associate in the Kyiv Patriarchate, Metropolitan Andrey (Horak) of Lvov, about the “surrender” of the Cathedral of St. George in Lvov to the Greek Catholics. Gorak was so dejected that he considered returning to the Moscow Patriarchate.

“Filaret is a maximalist. He is a man from Donbass, and that says it all,” says Dmitry Stepovik. “He’s like a child at times.” When we were in New York in the 2000s, the Patriarch was delighted by Orthodox Ethiopian taxi drivers who asked for his blessing. Sometimes they drove us for free.”

“The anathema did not bother me.” Filaret and the patriarchal rank

On June 7, 1990, the local council of the Russian Orthodox Church elected Alexy II (Ridiger) as Moscow Patriarch. According to the voting results, Filaret was only third among the contenders.

Filaret explains the failure by the Kremlin’s reluctance to see a Ukrainian as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The priest and publicist Yakov Krotov notes that, according to the tradition of the secular nomenklatura, the leaders of the national outskirts did not receive power “at the level of the empire.” Critics of Filaret cite a number of other reasons: the clergy were frightened by his authoritarian ways, connections with the KGB, and even the possible move of his powerful “sister” Evgenia Rodionova to Moscow.

An equally severe blow awaited Filaret in 1992, when the Ukrainian episcopate, consisting of Filaret’s nominees, did not support him in the fight for autocephaly of the UOC. At the semi-legal Kharkov Council, the clergy voted to remove the once all-powerful Metropolitan of Kyiv. Then the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church deprived Filaret of his rank.

Filaret's response was lightning fast. With the remnants of his followers, he united with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church into the Kiev Patriarchate. But Filaret lost the coveted doll in October 1995, after the death, one after another, of two elderly patriarchs - Mstislav (Skripnik) and Vladimir (Romanyuk).

Enthronement of Patriarch of Kyiv and all Rus'-Ukraine Filaret on October 22, 1995.
The ceremony took place in the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev. Filaret undertook to build the unrecognized Kiev Patriarchate with his characteristic organizational zeal. And although the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine was significantly ahead of the Kiev Patriarchate in terms of the number of parishes, public opinion was inclined to support Philaret’s church.

The anathema imposed on Filaret in 1997 for “schismaticism” became a completely natural reaction of Moscow to his growing influence.

In Greek, Φιλάρετος means “loving virtue.” Looking at 91-year-old Filaret today, it is difficult to read his emotions. Only when the hierarch comments on the anathema imposed on him in 1997 does the corners of his mouth turn down in contempt. The mention of Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev), whom Filaret ordained as bishop 44 years ago, evokes something like a slight smile.

“The anathema did not bother me. I didn't do anything for which I should be punished. I adhered to the Orthodox faith. “I didn’t become a heretic,” Filaret pauses, as if collecting his thoughts. - Canons. I adhere to the canons. I didn't break any rules. Therefore, there were no grounds for imposing an anathema. Therefore, Kirill, then not yet a patriarch, said: “The anathema did not work.” The Kiev Patriarchate not only did not cease to exist, but, on the contrary, began to grow. In '91 we were a small church. And they became the largest Orthodox Church in Ukraine.”

“The idea of ​​an independent church lay within the tectonic movement “Away from Moscow,” Katerina Shchetkina, the author of the book “Chronicles of Tomos,” characterizes the mood of Ukrainian society in the late 1990s.

After Filaret’s decision to build the unrecognized Kyiv Patriarchate, a postcard arrived at the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Moscow Patriarchate in Kiev Podol. The unrecognized Patriarch Filaret congratulated Father Nicholas on his birthday, whom he had once deprived of his parish. At the bottom, Filaret added with his own hand: “Come to me.” Other priests also received such “letters.” Filaret, building a new church, did not forget anyone.

Memory of the Patriarch

The Vladimir Cathedral is still crowded. The choir sounds amazing. The altar image of the Virgin Mary by Viktor Vasnetsov is impressive. The flock, bowing their heads, greets Philaret at the royal gates.

Those around him call Filaret “grandfather.” Just a couple of decades ago, he could be seen chopping wood with his own hands at his dacha in the village of Plyuty near Kiev. He allowed himself “three times a hundred” of good cognac. I stayed at work past midnight. Nowadays the patriarch is more restrained.

At the request of doctors, Filaret adheres to a strict diet and daily routine. He twice had miniature electric “pumps” implanted in his heart to help pump blood. The operations were performed by the famous Austrian surgeon of Ukrainian origin Igor Guk, for which he was awarded the Patriarch of the Order of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir the Great.

“Don’t worry about my health,” Filaret besieges those interested in his well-being. They especially insistently remind that Filaret’s own mother lived to be 104 years old.

At the end of 2018, the majority of the bishops of the Kyiv Patriarchate, all nominated by Filaret, joined the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The Ecumenical Patriarch lifted the anathema from Philaret, suggesting that he would help the construction of the Kyiv Metropolis under the omophorion of Constantinople. But, on reflection, Filaret refused to dissolve the Kiev Patriarchate and began to ordain new bishops. Candidates, say critics of the holy rebel, are recruited almost from the street.

“There will be patriarchy,” Filaret nods his head affirmatively before another pause. – There will be no Filaret, someone else will be elected, and the patriarchy will expand. Why? Because the people will support an independent church. God gave us a Ukrainian state. And no one can go against God.”

“How did you feel when your own students left you again?” - I ask.

“Why did Judas betray? Why? The Gospel says: “I carried the ark to collect money.” That is, he was money-loving. So are these,” answers Filaret. “I don’t hold any grudges against them.” As with the Moscow bishops, I have no hatred against them. God has the power to forgive. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t sin.”

Philaret was left behind the residence and the Vladimir Cathedral, which brings him small income. The patriarch sold his luxurious apartment on Pushkinskaya. Using the proceeds, he built a temple of the Kyiv Patriarchate in his native village in Donbass (now under the control of separatists). He himself lives in two small rooms of the residence. Filaret does not have a cell attendant or bodyguard, and never has had one.

“If God wants me to be killed, it turns out that He called me to Himself. One must not seek death, but also not be afraid of it,” he explains.

Filaret presents the church medal “For sacrifice and love for Ukraine” to Georgian volunteers who are fighting in the anti-terrorist operation zone in Donbass.
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was present at the award ceremony. Kiev, February 8, 2015 Filaret set out to provide priests conducting services in Ukrainian with all the necessary literature. Under his leadership, more than 100 volumes of the works of the holy fathers were translated. The translation of 40 volumes of liturgical books is close to completion.

“I re-read them all, and more than once, delved into them, corrected them. They all influence my soul. This is where my strength comes from,” says the patriarch.

Patriarch Filaret leads a rather modest lifestyle.
The only thing he is demanding about is the quality of food. Recently, Filaret has been remembered for several statements that raised a serious storm in the media. He called on the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate to merge with the Kyiv Patriarchate, forming the second largest Orthodox Church in the world. He also attributed the COVID-19 pandemic to the spread of gay culture. However, in early September, Filaret himself was hospitalized with coronavirus, but successfully recovered from it in 12 days.

“Living only in the memory of humanity does not make any sense,” says Filaret. “And the memory is only of a few, but millions pass away without leaving a noticeable trace.”

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• Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia Philaret, Exarch of All Ukraine: Biography // ZhMP. 1990. No. 7. P. 5-6.

Filaret Denisenko (Ukrainian religious figure)

Born on January 23, 1929 in the village of Blagodatnoye, Amvrosievsky district, Donetsk region, Ukrainian SSR (now the territory of the proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic) in a miner's family.

In 1948 he graduated from the Odessa Theological Seminary, in 1952 - the Moscow Theological Academy (MDA) with a candidate of theology degree.

In 1979 he received a doctorate of theology honoris causa from the Budapest Reformed Theological Academy (Hungary), and in 1980 he received a similar diploma from the Presov Theological University (Czechoslovakia, now Slovakia).

In 1950, while studying in the 2nd year of the MDA, he was tonsured a monk and given the name Filaret. In the same year he was ordained a hierodeacon, and in 1952 a hieromonk. Since 1952, he taught at the Moscow Theological Seminary, at the same time he was dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (Zagorsk, now Sergiev Posad, Moscow region). In 1954-1956. - Associate Professor, Senior Assistant Inspector of the MDA. In 1956, he was appointed inspector of the Saratov Theological Seminary and elevated to the rank of abbot. From 1957 to 1960 – inspector of the Kyiv Theological Seminary. In 1958 he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite. In 1960-1961 - Manager of the affairs of the Ukrainian Exarchate (ecclesiastical region) of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). From May 1961 to January 1962 - rector of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alexandria (United Arab Republic, now Egypt). In February 1962 he was elevated to the rank of bishop, in February - June 1962 - Bishop of Luga, vicar of the Leningrad diocese and administrator of the Riga diocese. From June to October 1962, he temporarily ruled the Central European Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church (an ecclesiastical region that existed in 1960-1990 and united dioceses and parishes in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic and Austria). In 1962-1964. - Bishop of Vienna and Austria. From December 1964 to May 1966 - Bishop of Dmitrov, vicar of the Moscow diocese and rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary. In 1966-1990 - Exarch of Ukraine, permanent member of the Holy Synod. Since 1966 - Archbishop, since 1968 - Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia. He repeatedly made sharp denunciations of supporters of the creation of an autocephalous Ukrainian church and Ukrainian nationalism. After the death of Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov) of Moscow and All Rus' on May 3, 1990, Metropolitan Philaret was elected locum tenens of the patriarchal throne. On June 6, 1990, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church nominated him as one of three candidates for the patriarchate. The other two contenders were Metropolitan Alexy (Ridiger) of Leningrad and Novgorod and Metropolitan Vladimir (Sabodan) of Rostov and Novocherkassk, manager of the affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate. On June 7, 1990, at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Alexy (in 1990-2009 - Patriarch Alexy II) was elected the new Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'. 139 votes were cast for him, and 107 for Metropolitan Vladimir. Filaret (Denisenko) received 66 votes. On October 27, 1990, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church established a self-governing Ukrainian Orthodox Church with broad autonomy rights within the Moscow Patriarchate. October 1990 - May 1992 it was headed by Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Filaret (Denisenko). On June 3, 1991, Bishop Jonathan (Eletskikh) of Pereyaslavl, having learned about Philaret’s violation of his monastic vows (he had a common-law partner and children), submitted a corresponding report to the Moscow Patriarchate. In September 1991, under pressure from Metropolitan Filaret, the Synod of the UOC defrocked Bishop Jonathan (in 1992, after Filaret’s removal, this decision was reversed). In 1991, a number of media outlets published information about Denisenko’s connections with the State Security Committee (KGB) of the USSR. In the 2010s. in an interview, he confirmed the fact of his cooperation with the KGB, while stating that “he never went against his conscience.” After the declaration of independence of Ukraine in August 1991, Metropolitan Filaret began to actively demand that the Ukrainian Church be granted autocephaly (i.e., complete independence). He was supported by the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR (since December 1991 - President of Ukraine) Leonid Kravchuk. At the beginning of November 1991, the cathedral of the UOC in Kyiv sent an appeal to the Moscow Patriarchate with a request to grant the Ukrainian church autocephaly. However, later the majority of Ukrainian bishops withdrew their signatures from the document, explaining their vote by threats and pressure from Metropolitan Philaret. The most active opponents of autocephaly, in particular Bishop of Chernivtsi and Bukovina Onuphry (Berezovsky; now the head of the UOC), were removed by Filaret from their sees. In April 1992, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church invited Filaret to leave the post of Primate of the UOC. He “before the cross and the Gospel” promised to resign and hold elections for a new head of the Ukrainian church. However, on April 7, 1992, having returned to Kyiv, Filaret announced his refusal to obey the Moscow Patriarchate, and then declared that his oaths were forced and therefore invalid. On May 27, 1992, a council of the UOC met in Kharkov, which removed Metropolitan Philaret from the post of head of the church, deprived him of the Kyiv see and expelled him from the state with a ban on priestly service “until the decision of the Bishops’ Council of the Mother Church.” On June 11, 1992, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church decided “to expel Metropolitan Philaret (Denisenko) from his existing rank, depriving him of all degrees of the priesthood and all rights associated with being in the clergy <...> for a cruel and arrogant attitude towards the subordinate clergy, dictatorship and blackmail, introducing temptation among believers through his behavior and personal life, perjury, causing a schism in the Church,” etc. Filaret himself did not recognize this decision. He was supported by the Ukrainian authorities; the Kiev police, together with members of the Ukrainian nationalist organization UNA-UNSO (banned in the Russian Federation), did not allow the delegation of the UOC, which came to take over the affairs of the deposed metropolitan, into the metropolitan residence. With the support of Ukrainian nationalists, Denisenko retained control of the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv. President Leonid Kravchuk and the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine declared the decisions of the Kharkov Council of the UOC illegal. In June 1992, to legitimize his own status, Mikhail Denisenko held the so-called. All-Ukrainian Orthodox Council, at which it was announced the unification of its supporters from the non-canonical Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) into the “Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate” (UOC-KP). Denisenko became the deputy head of the new organization, which was declared to be Symon Petliura’s nephew, “patriarch” of the UAOC, Mstyslav Skrypnyk, who is in the United States. However, a real de facto unification did not happen: at the end of 1992, “patriarch” Mstislav changed his attitude towards the UOC-KP and refused to recognize the unification of jurisdictions. However, these acts of the “Patriarch of Kyiv” who was in the United States were not made public in Ukraine. In June 1993, after Skrypnyk’s death, most representatives of the UAOC left the “Kiev Patriarchate”. In 1992, during a trip to Istanbul (Turkey), Mikhail Denisenko unsuccessfully tried to negotiate recognition of the church by the Patriarchate of Constantinople. However, in July 1993, Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople (Archondonis) officially stated that he recognizes only the canonical Metropolitan of Kyiv - the head of the UOC Vladimir (Sabodan). From October 1992 to October 1995, Mikhail Denisenko was “deputy to the Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus'-Ukraine” Vladimir Romanyuk. In 1995, Romanyuk tried to initiate a comprehensive audit of Denisenko’s financial and economic activities. For this purpose, the “Kiev Patriarch” turned to the Kyiv Department of Internal Affairs for assistance. In April 1995, Romanyuk asked law enforcement agencies to provide him with security, saying that he was receiving threats from Denisenko and his entourage. On July 14, 1995, Vladimir Romanyuk died suddenly. On July 18, 1995, on the initiative of Mikhail Denisenko, supporters of the “Kyiv Patriarchate”, with the support of members of the paramilitary organization of Ukrainian nationalists UNA-UNSO, tried, ignoring the government ban, to bury the body of the “Kyiv Patriarchate” in St. Sophia Cathedral. As a result of clashes with the police on Sophia Square in Kyiv, several dozen people were injured. From October 20, 1995 to December 15, 2022, Mikhail Denisenko was the “Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus'-Ukraine.” Throughout the 1990-2010s. representatives of the “Kyiv Patriarchate” repeatedly seized churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by force. In 2014-2016 they occupied 40 churches. In 2017-2018 about 30 UOC churches were attacked. One of the latest cases occurred on September 28, 2018, when Ukrainian nationalists from the Right Sector organization (banned in the Russian Federation) seized the Holy Trinity Church in the village of Bogorodchany, Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine. On February 21, 1997, at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, Mikhail Denisenko (former Metropolitan Philaret) was excommunicated and anathematized because he “did not heed the call to repentance addressed to him on behalf of the Mother Church and continued ... schismatic activities.” In June 2014, Denisenko, commenting on the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Donbass, said that it was necessary to close the border and “eliminate all terrorists.” In November 2016, he said that the population of Donbass “must atone with suffering and blood” for their sin against Ukraine. On November 16, 2022, Denisenko addressed a letter to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill (Gundyaev) and the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church. It proposed to “put an end to the existing confrontation” and all “bans and excommunications.” On December 1, 2022, at a press conference in Kyiv, Mikhail Denisenko announced that the goal of his negotiations with the Russian Orthodox Church is the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church. At the same time, according to him, he continues to negotiate autocephaly with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In addition, Denisenko stated the need to adopt amendments to the already existing law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”, the purpose of which is to limit the rights of the UOC. On August 2, 2022, the head of the self-proclaimed “Kyiv Patriarchate” in an interview with the “Direct” TV channel stated that after the recognition of the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Kiev Pechersk and Pochaev Lavras (now containing monasteries of the UOC) will be transferred to it. On October 11, 2022, the Patriarchate of Constantinople announced the decision to lift the anathema from Mikhail Denisenko. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church, regarded this decision as a violation of the canons, since the anathema can only be lifted by the church that imposed it. On December 15, a “council” of the “Kyiv Patriarchate” and the “Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church” took place in Kyiv, with the participation of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. As a result of the event, it was announced the creation of a new church structure - the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (OCU). It received the status of an autocephalous “church” within the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Filaret Denisenko was included in the “synod” of the OCU and was declared “honorary patriarch for life” of this organization.

Hero of Ukraine (2019; “for his outstanding historical role in the formation of the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, activities aimed at reviving the spirituality of the Ukrainian people, raising the authority of Orthodoxy, establishing the ideals of mercy and interfaith harmony”). Awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1979, USSR), Red Banner of Labor (1988, USSR), Freedom (2009, Ukraine), as well as the Cross of Ivan Mazepa (2010, Ukraine) - “for outstanding personal contribution to the spiritual enrichment of the Ukrainian people, many years of fruitful church activities." He is a full holder of the Ukrainian Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise: I degree (2008), II (2006), III (2004), IV (2002). Awarded a Certificate of Honor from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (2010).

Honorary citizen of Kyiv (2008).

According to media reports, Denisenko was in a civil marriage with Evgenia Petrovna Rodionova (died in 1998), in which three children were born - Vera, Lyubov and Andrei.

Filaret has been a Hero of Ukraine for three years: every country has its “heroes”

In the first ten days of January 2022, the head of the schismatic “Kyiv Patriarchate” Filaret (Denisenko) became a Hero of Ukraine. “What a country, so are its heroes,” says Ukrainian political analyst Vladimir Boyko, a former SBU officer, ironically.

Filaret is the confessor of UNA-UNSO (an organization banned in the Russian Federation), the godfather of the Ukrainian pseudo-Orthodox mafia, and an odious ideologist of Ukrainian neo-Nazism. While studying at the Odessa Theological Seminary, the future “patriarch” Mikhail Denisenko was recruited by the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR. Until the collapse of the USSR, Filaret wrote intelligence reports to the Main Directorate of the KGB of Ukraine, which was engaged in the fight against anti-Sovietism and religious propaganda. The KGB of the Ukrainian SSR assigned Denisenko the agent pseudonym Antonov - after his father.

Denisenko’s rapid church career in the Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church was accompanied by persecution of church life in the Ukrainian SSR, recalls Vladimir Boyko. In 1958, Archimandrite Filaret (Denisenko) became the rector of the Kyiv Theological Seminary - two years later the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR closed the seminary, and Filaret approved this. Boyko recalled how at the Kyiv Seminary Filaret created an atmosphere of denunciation and fear among students and teachers. In 1960, Archimandrite Philaret became the manager of the affairs of the Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, in 1966 - the head of the Ukrainian Exarchate, and in 1968 he was given the rank of metropolitan. The newly appointed Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia, Philaret, was then only 39 years old.

Filaret remained in the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv and Galicia until the collapse of the USSR and Ukraine gained independence. Under Filaret, more than one hundred Ukrainian Orthodox parishes were closed. With his sanction, the system of church self-government of the laity was mercilessly destroyed. As a monk, Filaret lived openly in his metropolitan residence with his partner Evgenia Rodionova and her children.

“Evgenia Rodionova brought fear to all Ukrainian priests and bishops. Through Filaret, she could drive any priest into a poor parish - “to the swan”, remove any bishop from the pulpit,” writes Boyko.

The former SSB officer recalled how one of Filaret’s sons reported to Moscow about his father’s atrocities. Filaret filed a police report against his son, accusing him of robbing Filaret’s office apartment on Pushkinskaya Street in Kyiv. Filaret's son eventually ended up in prison, where, according to some sources, he died. Under Filaret, believers were afraid to go to the St. Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv - there, right during church services, people accused of anti-Soviet activities were arrested. The priests of the Vladimir Cathedral served as informants for the security officers and divulged the secret of confession.

Filaret learned Ukrainian after becoming “Patriarch of Kyiv.” Before this, Boyko writes, in the entire Ukrainian Orthodox clergy it was difficult to find a greater Ukrainophobe than Filaret. Under the USSR, Filaret communicated only in Russian and forbade those around him to speak Ukrainian in front of him.

“And in general, the Ukrainian language does not exist!” - Filaret shouted in response to the proposal of the regent of the choir of the Vladimir Cathedral to allow the choir to perform church hymns in Ukrainian by Nikolai Leontovich .

“Do not desecrate the streets of Kyiv with Petliurist banners!” - Filaret called on the then Ukrainian authorities in connection with the first celebration of the Day of Unification in Kyiv on January 21, 1990, when the authorities wanted to allow the procession of columns with yellow-blue flags through Kyiv.

“There is no Soviet power there anymore. They need to be crushed there with tanks!” - Filaret said to his business manager, arriving one day from Lvov,” Boyko points out.

Of course, Metropolitan Filaret gave intelligence information to the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR about the state of religious affairs in Ukraine. Vladimir Boyko published on his website photocopies of Filaret’s reports to his curator, Major (later Colonel) of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR Kalashnikov .

With the help of his chief curator Evgeny Marchuk - later the first head of the SBU - Filaret achieved significant innovations in the management system of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1988, a provision was adopted according to which, after the death of the Patriarch of Moscow, the Metropolitan of Kiev becomes the locum tenens of the patriarchal throne (acting patriarch). In 1988, Patriarch Pimen . Filaret expected to become patriarch after Pimen's death.

Patriarch Pimen died in May 1990. Filaret became “I. O. Patriarch of Moscow" until the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church elects the next patriarch.

“The fact that Pimen’s successor would be Filaret was decided by the CPSU Central Committee back in 1988, when the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Filaret the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. After Pimen's death, Filaret moved to Moscow with his wife and children. Shortly before the Council of Bishops, Filaret asked the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Anatoly Lukyanov to petition Mikhail Gorbachev regarding the election of Filaret as Patriarch of Moscow. Filaret’s curators in the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR informed Filaret that all metropolitans and bishops who were participants in the Council of Bishops had been recruited or properly processed by Lubyanka. Filaret is accustomed to believing that the candidacies of patriarchs and key metropolitans are also approved at Lubyanka. It’s not hard to imagine how outraged Filaret was when Lukyanov told him that the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee had decided not to interfere in the elections of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus',” writes Boyko.

Alexy ( Ridiger of Leningrad was elected Patriarch of Moscow , despite all the intrigues of the patriarchal locum tenens Philaret. In the victory of a man who will go down in Russian history as Patriarch Alexy II , Filaret saw the betrayal of the KGB of the USSR towards himself, writes Boyko. Alexy II was previously on special lists of the security officers, since his father served as a priest in Nazi-occupied Estonia and, with the permission of the occupiers, visited concentration camps and prisoner of war camps. The mentor and leader of the future Patriarch Alexy II for many years was Nikodim ( Rotov ), ​​Archbishop of Yaroslavl, later Metropolitan of Leningrad, head of the so-called Westernizing party in the episcopate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Filaret belonged to the “protective party” in the Russian Orthodox Church that opposed the “Westerners”; he knew that the “Westerners” were never welcome at Lubyanka.

A native of the Donetsk region, the son of a Donbass miner, Filaret has an idiosyncrasy towards the Uniates and, in general, all natives of Western Ukraine. At the same time, Filaret resisted with all his might such a policy of the Ukrainian Orthodox hierarchs as the establishment of a self-governing Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The transformation of the Ukrainian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church into a virtually independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church was conceived by the hierarchs as an effective opposition to the expansion of Uniates and schismatics driven by the Ukrainian national idea. An active supporter of Ukrainian ecclesiastical independence at that time was the current Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Onufriy ( Berezovsky ), who served in Orthodox Bukovina, besieged by the Uniates, in the late 1980s. Having suffered a fiasco with the patriarchate, Filaret relied on himself as the head of the Ukrainian Church.

“On October 28, 1990, Patriarch Alexy II, who arrived in Kiev in Sofia of Kyiv, presented Filaret with a tomos granting the Ukrainian Church actual independence, and bestowed on Filaret the title of His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine. Filaret had to make his way into the cathedral through garbage cans. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians surrounded Sofia of Kyiv in a protest rally. Deputies of the Supreme Council of Ukraine, led by the leader of the “People's Movement” Vyacheslav Chornovil, lay along the route of the car with Filaret to the cathedral. At that time, the cry of the protesters addressed to Filaret thundered over Kiev: “Get rid of the Moscow priest!”,” Boyko recalls.

Having become the head of the UOC, Filaret set about separating Orthodox Ukraine from Russia and forming the “Kyiv Patriarchate.” In this he was assisted by the President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk , hated by Ukrainian nationalists for his hypocrisy, the head of the SBU Yevgeny Marchuk, UNA-UNSO (an organization banned in the Russian Federation), which did not care who to serve as long as they paid money.

In May 1992, bishops and priests of Ukraine opposed to Philaret gathered in Kharkov, where they declared Philaret deposed.

“It is not difficult to understand these clergymen. Since 1966, Filaret has been drinking their blood, extorting money, intimidating and humiliating them. One can only guess how the history of Ukraine and Russia would have developed if in June 1990 Filaret had been elected Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus',” points out Vladimir Boyko.

When in the 2000s, Orthodox journalists in Ukraine made a film about the atrocities of Philaret, the main consultant of the film was Metropolitan Alexander ( Drabinko ), personal secretary of Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine Vladimir ( Sabodan ), later the de facto leader of the UOC-MP during the serious illness of Metropolitan Vladimir. For the film, Drabinko did not spare the morally destroying texture of Filaret.

However, in terms of human qualities, Drabinko is similar to Filaret. He also loves luxury and big money; he surpassed Philaret in violating monastic vows of chastity. Filaret is a typical heterosexual, Drabinko, according to some data, prefers glamorous men.

Alexander (Drabinko). Illustration: “VKontakte”

About ten years ago, Drabinko announced through the Ukrainian and Russian media that he would be the Metropolitan of Kiev after the death of Metropolitan Vladimir, and Bishop Vladimir himself was about to die... Drabinko spread deliberately false information in the Ukrainian and Russian press, which was supposed to serve as a seed for another "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine. In 2014, after the death of Vladimir (Sabodan), the head of the Chernivtsi diocese, Onufry (Berezovsky), was elected Metropolitan of Kiev at the Council of Bishops in Kyiv, which put an end to Drabinko’s political ambitions. In 2022, the whistleblower of Filaret and Filaret himself found themselves in the same camp, having entered the “clergy” of the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.”

In 2029, Filaret (Denisenko) will be exactly one hundred years old. The “patriarch” of the schismatics outlived many of his ill-wishers. Now he feels quite well for his advanced age, he intends to continue the fight for his “patriarchate”, he wants to bring his pupil, the head of the “OCU” Epiphany ( Dumenko ), to the grave.

Russian Orthodox Church

Feodor Nikitich Romanov-Yuryev was born around 1553-1554, belonged to one of the prominent boyar families, and was the nephew of the first wife of Ivan the Terrible (his father Nikita Zakharyin-Yuryev is the brother of the Tsar’s wife Anastasia Romanovna). Brought up in a court environment, he was widely educated, loved by the people, and took part in state affairs.

The rank books indicate that in February 1586 the future Patriarch had the rank of boyar and served as the Nizhny Novgorod governor. In 1593-1594. mentioned as the Pskov governor. By the end of the reign of Theodore Ioannovich, he had the rank of chief court governor and was considered one of the three leaders of the nearby royal duma.

After the death of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, as his closest relative, he became one of the legitimate contenders for the Russian throne. Subjected to disgrace under Boris Godunov in 1600, he was tonsured a monk with the name Filaret and sent to the monastery of St. Anthony of Siy in the Arkhangelsk province. His wife Ksenia Shestova was also forcibly tonsured into monasticism with the name Martha.

After the death of Boris Godunov in 1606, he was appointed Metropolitan of Rostov, and in the same year he participated in the glorification of the holy Tsarevich Demetrius and the transfer of his relics to the capital.

During the Time of Troubles, the impostor False Dmitry II, having captured Metropolitan Philaret, named him Patriarch of Moscow. In 1610 he was released from Tushino captivity and subsequently appointed to the post of spiritual head of the Russian embassy under Sigismund III. For refusing to write to Smolensk about the surrender of the city to the Poles, Metropolitan Filaret was taken into custody and remained in captivity for almost nine years.

In 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Mikhail Romanov to the Russian kingdom, and the title of “nominated Patriarch” was approved for his father. On June 1, 1619, he was released as a prisoner exchange in accordance with the terms of the Deulin Truce of 1618 and was solemnly greeted by his son. Arrived in Moscow on June 14, 1619.

On June 24, 1619, the enthronement of the first Patriarch of Moscow was performed by Patriarch Theophan III of Jerusalem, who was in Moscow at that time.

Patriarch Filaret became the closest adviser and de facto co-ruler of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov. In government decrees, the name of the Patriarch stood next to the name of the Tsar; he bore the title “Great Sovereign, His Holiness Patriarch Filaret Nikitich.” In fact, it was under Patriarch Filaret that the relationship of power between the Tsar and the Patriarch took shape, which later began to be perceived as the ideal rule of the “Wise Two” for the Orthodox state. The years of his Patriarchate were marked by a number of significant church and state reforms.

Patriarch Filaret made a lot of efforts to restore statehood in the country after the period of Troubles. He achieved a land census, thanks to which taxes were fairly distributed, which increased treasury revenues while easing the tax burden of the common people. With the help of the church court, the Patriarch strengthened discipline in the state. Economic and cultural relations with foreign countries were resumed. The reform of the army began, new factories were built.

The activities of the new Patriarch consisted of protecting the purity of Orthodoxy, persecuting religious freethinking and moral laxity, and reforming church administration. Patriarch Filaret paid special attention to foreign policy.

Filaret sought to organize the management of the Patriarchal Court on the model of the sovereign's court. A new class of patriarchal nobles and boyar children was created, who received local salaries for their service. On May 20, 1625, Filaret, as a sovereign, issued a royal decree, according to which the Patriarch received the right to judge the clergy and peasant population of the Patriarchal region in all matters except theft and robbery. Thus, under Filaret, the Patriarchal Region was finally formed.

The Patriarch took care of the organization of schools and called on archbishops to establish schools at their bishops' houses. With his blessing, a Greco-Latin school was opened at the Chudov Monastery in Moscow.

The High Hierarch paid a lot of attention to printing and correcting liturgical books. During the period of his primacy, the Moscow printing house, expanded by decree of Patriarch Philaret, published many publications, including a full range of liturgical books. The books were sent to monasteries and churches at the price it cost to print them, without profit, and to Siberia - free of charge.

In 1620, with the blessing of the Patriarch, the Tobolsk diocese was established, which was of great importance for the spread of Christianity among the peoples of Siberia.

Under Patriarch Filaret, relations between Moscow and the Eastern Churches, interrupted during the Time of Troubles, were resumed, and numerous representatives of the clergy of these Churches came to Moscow for alms.

During the reign of Patriarch Philaret, an official view of the events of the Time of Troubles was formed, which was based on the idea of ​​​​the need to preserve the faith of our ancestors; Moscow was recognized as the only guardian of ancient piety. The experience gained in Polish captivity convinced Patriarch Philaret of the inadmissibility of union for the Russian Church, and, occupying the Patriarchal throne, he made every effort to protect Russia from Western religious influences.

During the Patriarchate of Philaret, Macarius of Unzhensky (1619) and Abraham, Bishop of Galicia (1621) were canonized. In 1625, the ambassador of the Persian Shah presented the Patriarch with a golden ark containing part of the Lord's robe. The shrine was placed in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, and a celebration was established in its honor on March 27. Currently, the shrine is located in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

Patriarch Filaret died on October 1, 1633. His Holiness himself designated a successor for himself - Archbishop Joasaph of Pskov. Patriarch Filaret was buried in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

Head of the Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret. Curriculum Vitae

Novinsky knows how Filaret can wash away the sin of schism
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Facebook, Vadim Novinsky
The father of the future hierarch died during the Great Patriotic War, his grandfather died during the famine that swept through a number of territories of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine, in the early 1930s.
After graduating from high school in 1946, Denisenko decided to devote himself to serving the church, for which he entered the Odessa Theological Seminary. He completed his studies here two years later, moving to the Moscow Theological Academy, which at that time was located on the premises of the Novodevichy Convent.

During his studies, he became a monk with the name Filaret and received an appointment to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he took the position of caretaker of the patriarchal chambers.

After this, the rapid career rise of the future leader of the Ukrainian schismatics began. In January 1950, while still a student at the Theological Academy, he was ordained as hierodeacon personally by Patriarch Alexy I (Simansky) . Within a few years after his ordination, he successively became a hieromonk, abbot, and then an archimandrite, i.e. reaches one of the highest ranks in the monastic hierarchy of the Russian Church.

In parallel with this, Filaret received the academic title of associate professor and headed the Kyiv Theological Seminary, which he led until its closure in 1960. Later, former seminarians and teachers who personally knew Denisenko in those years recalled that at that moment Filaret did not hide his sympathies for the Soviet regime, noting that his receipt of clergy and academic degrees became possible thanks to the Bolsheviks, who created the conditions under which the miner the son managed to reach such heights.

In 1960, Filaret was appointed manager of the Ukrainian Exarchate, and in May 1961 he went for a short time to Egypt, where he became rector of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Alexandrian Orthodox Church.

In less than a year, a new stage in Filaret’s spiritual career begins. Within three years, he received an appointment in Europe (vicar of the Central European Exarchate, Bishop of Vienna and Austria), then in the Soviet Union (vicar of the Leningrad diocese, bishop of Dmitrov, vicar of the Moscow diocese and, finally, rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary).

In 1966, Filaret returned to his small homeland as Archbishop of Kyiv and Galicia, Exarch of Ukraine. Then he was introduced into the permanent composition of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. It is noteworthy that there Filaret was assigned to oversee issues of Christian unity and interchurch relations.

In 1968, Filaret was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.

In 1976, he was entrusted with leading the delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate at the first Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox meeting in Geneva.

The pinnacle of Filaret's ecclesiastical career within the Russian Orthodox Church came in 1990, when, after the death of Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov), he was appointed by the Synod as locum tenens of the patriarchal throne.

It is known that that year Filaret condemned schismatic tendencies in the Western Ukrainian dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, where nationalist and anti-Russian sentiments, which were gaining strength at the end of perestroika, were popular.

On June 6, 1990, at the Council of Bishops in the St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow, Filaret took third place in the secret ballot in the election of the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. With 66 votes of delegates, he lost to the future head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, Vladimir (Sabodan) Alexy (Ridiger) of Leningrad and Novgorod, who eventually became the head of the Russian Orthodox Church , who enlisted the support of 139 hierarchs.

Even before Ukraine gained independence, Denisenko led an intra-church movement for granting greater independence to the Ukrainian Exarchate within the framework of the Russian Orthodox Church. By the decision of the highest church authorities, this exarchate was soon transformed into the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, whose primate, with the title of His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, became Philaret.

After the country’s sovereignty was proclaimed in Kyiv, Denisenko began to demand that the Russian Orthodox Church recognize Ukrainian autocephaly, which had previously been arbitrarily declared by the Council of Bishops of the UOC. In turn, at the Council in Moscow in April 1992, testimonies of Ukrainian hierarchs were read out, who stated the pressure and threats that Filaret used to get them to support his schismatic plans.

Filaret was also accused of immoral behavior and lifestyle. Thus, it turned out that, contrary to the monastic rules and vows, Denisenko started a secret family in which he had three children.

Metropolitan Anthony: Only the Russian Orthodox Church can lift the anathema from Philaret

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RIA Novosti, Alexander Maksimenko / Go to photobank
Under pressure from the Council, Filaret admitted the validity of the charges and promised to resign as Metropolitan of Kiev.
However, this promise was not fulfilled. Returning from Moscow to Kyiv, Denisenko held negotiations with a number of bishops who were inclined to sever relations with Moscow, as well as with nationalist politicians and, having secured their support, continued the line of confrontation with the Russian Orthodox Church. At the end of May 1992, the Council of Bishops of the UOC met in Kharkov, which decided to terminate Philaret’s powers as the head of the Ukrainian Church and ban his ministry until the final decision of Moscow, which confirmed this verdict and simultaneously expelled him from the rank of metropolitan. The main accusations against Filaret were perjury and attempts to split the united Orthodox Church.

Denisenko did not recognize these decisions and announced the creation of a new religious jurisdiction - the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP). It was headed with the title of Patriarch of Kiev and All Ukraine by Mstislav (Skripnik) , who became a symbolic figure due to his relationship with the famous nationalist of the first quarter of the 20th century, Symon Petliura .

After Mstislav's death in 1993, Filaret became deputy to his successor, Vladimir (Romanyuk) . It was noted that the new head of the schismatics more than once reproached his deputy for trying to take his position; there were accusations of Filaret’s connections with crime and attempts to appropriate the financial resources of the Kyiv Patriarchate.

In October 1995, after the mysterious death of Metropolitan Vladimir, Denisenko became the head of the UOC-KP.

In 1997, the Russian Orthodox Church anathematized the self-proclaimed patriarch of Kyiv, calling the structure he headed uncanonical and illegal.

During the coup in Kyiv in 2014, Denisenko expressed unequivocal support for the victorious Euromaidan. He repeatedly criticized the Russian authorities and the Russian Orthodox Church, approved the conduct of military operations against the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, calling for “the elimination of all terrorists.”

In November 2022, Filaret made an attempt to find a path to reconciliation with the Russian Orthodox Church, to which he addressed in a special message with a request to lift his excommunication. However, a year later, Filaret began to actively support the plans of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to create an autocephalous Orthodox Church in the country. For this purpose, an appeal was prepared to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew with a request to provide Ukraine with a tomos.

On October 11, the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople lifted the anathema from Philaret, invalidating the act of 1686 on the transfer of the Kyiv Metropolis to the Moscow Patriarchate. These decisions actually opened the way to the creation of an independent local church in Ukraine.

After the unification council of the "new church", when the unrecognized Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church united and elected their common primate, "Metropolitan Epiphanius " ( Sergei Dumenko ), bears the title of "honorary patriarch".