Patriarch Emeritus of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) Filaret has died. He was 97 years old.
The death was reported to OCU.
Filaret has led the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (KP) since 1995. After the creation of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018, he received the title of honorary patriarch, and the church was led by Metropolitan Epiphany.
But later Filaret and the remnants of the UOC KP claimed that the council at which the decision to dissolve the UOC KP was made was not valid. Filaret accused Epiphanius and then-President Petro Poroshenko of failing to fulfill the agreements, liquidating the Kyiv Patriarchate, and said that although Epiphanius was to become the primate, it was Filaret who was to lead the church.
The case reached court — then the Supreme Court refused to allow Filaret to declare the Local Council, during which the OCU was formed, invalid.
- In 1990, Filaret temporarily headed the Russian Orthodox Church after the death of Patriarch Pimen. He had a good chance of taking the patriarchal throne, but he lost the election and began to fight for the Ukrainian church. Read more about this in Babelʼs text about the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
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