Patriarch Filaret, who fought for an independent Ukrainian Orthodox church, dies at 97

Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv — who worked for decades to establish an independent Ukrainian Orthodox church that was free from Moscow's religious authority, a schism that foreshadowed the Russia-Ukraine war — died Friday. He was 97.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine announced his death, citing the “exacerbation of chronic diseases.”

Filaret had a more limited role in recent years as the cultural and religious divide between Ukraine and Russia widened into full-scale warfare. But his legacy includes a long and partially successful effort to gain recognition of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox jurisdiction.

“The person and numerous good deeds of the late Patriarch Filaret rightfully occupy a special place in the modern history of both the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Ukraine as a whole,” said Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv, who leads the OCU.

Filaret “did much to preserve church life during the years of Soviet oppression of the Church, during the spiritual revival of Ukraine, and especially during the years of the struggle for the establishment of church autocephaly,” or independence, Epiphanius said. He alluded to the “difficult events” surrounding his past clashes with Filaret but said he “always consistently respected the contribution of Patriarch Filaret.”

Tributes also flowed in from political leaders.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed condolences by phone to Epiphanius, calling Filaret's death “a great loss for Ukrainians.”

“He was a strong personality and one of the most steadfast defenders of the Ukrainian church, independence and statehood,” Zelenskyy said in a statement published on Telegram. “Without the energy, character and courage of Patriarch Filaret, many of Ukraine’s accomplishments simply would not have been possible.”

Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, issued a statement saying Filaret made a significant contribution to preserving church life during Soviet-era repression and afterward.

A monk turned leader in the Soviet-era church

Filaret was born in 1929, named Mykhailo Denysenko, in the village of Blahodatne in Ukraine's Donetsk region. His father's death during World War II influenced his pursuit of the ministry even amid the officially atheistic communist regime of the Soviet Union, according to his obituary on the OCU website.

He became a monk, taking the name Filaret. He studied and served in Russia and Ukraine (both then Soviet republics) and also served abroad. He became a bishop and, starting in the 1960s, became the Russian Orthodox Church's leading official in Ukraine. He was considered a candidate for Moscow patriarch in 1990 but was not elected.

As the Soviet Union was dismantled and Ukraine became independent in 1991, Filaret led a similar independence movement in the church realm. He headed a group that declared a separate Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate.

The Russian Orthodox Church, which considers Ukraine to be under its authority, rejected this move. It defrocked and excommunicated Filaret, which he refused to recognize.

His and another breakaway church merged in 2018, and Filaret received the title of honorary patriarch. The newly merged OCU received official recognition in 2019 by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who also accepted Filaret's appeal to rule his excommunication by Moscow invalid.

A religious dimension to the Ukraine-Russia divide

The ecumenical patriarch is considered the “first among equals” in Eastern Orthodoxy, but he lacks a pope-like authority over other patriarchs' territories. The Moscow Patriarchate rejected the authority of Bartholomew to hear Filaret's appeal or to recognize the newly merged church.

As a result, there are two main rival churches in Ukraine — the OCU and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The Ukrainian government has accused the latter of retaining ties to Moscow, which the church denies.

The recognition of the breakaway church gave a religious dimension to the widening breach between Ukraine and Russia, with Russian political and religious leaders even blaming the United States for having a role in it.

Almost immediately after the OCU's creation, Filaret and Epiphanius clashed over its structure and leadership, and Filaret sought to revive the Kyiv Patriarchate. The OCU synod suspended Filaret's involvement in 2020.

However, the two leaders moved toward reconciliation. They met in late 2025 and prayed together for Ukraine's victory in its war with Russia, according to the news service of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The OCU obituary recognizes Filaret by the title His Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine.

Filaret stirred controversy in other areas, too. In 2020, he attributed the COVID-19 pandemic to God's punishment for human sin. “First of all, I mean same-sex marriage,” he said in a TV interview.

He received numerous church and state honors during his lifetime, including Ukraine’s highest award, the title of Hero of Ukraine, in January 2019.

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AP reporter Hanna Arhirova contributed.