Filaret Denyssenko

Philaret 2014

Filaret ( Ukrainian Філарет Filaret , secular name Михайло Антонович Денисенко Mychajlo Antonowytsch Denyssenko ; Russian Михаил Антонович Денисенко Mikhail Antonovich Denisenko * 23. January 1929 in Blahodatne , Amvrosiivka Raion , Donetsk Oblast , Ukrainian SSR ) is Bishop and honor Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine . From 1995 to 2018 he was patriarch of the "Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate".

Life

Training and first spiritual offices

He comes from a working-class family in Donbass . After graduating from high school in 1946, he attended the spiritual seminary in Odessa , which he graduated with honors. He then studied at the Spiritual Academy in Moscow . He took his monastic vows on January 1, 1950 and took the spiritual name Philaret . On January 15, he was appointed Archdeacon of Patriarch I. Alexius consecrated. He was ordained an arch monk on June 18, 1950 .

After completing his studies, Philaret taught at various religious colleges and seminars. In 1953 he became a teacher at the Moscow Spiritual Academy . 1953–1954 he was a lecturer at this academy. In 1956 he became a hegumen and worked as an inspector at the Spiritual Academy in Saratov. In 1957 Philaret became an inspector at the Spiritual Academy in Kiev and on July 12 he became Archimandrite in a monastery.

Leading spiritual offices

In 1960 Philaret became executive director of the Ukrainian exarchate. He was also head of the Kiev Volodymyr .

In June 1961 Philaret was appointed head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria . In 1962 he was ordained bishop for the new eparchy for Vienna and Austria . On May 14, 1966 Philaret was appointed Archbishop of Kiev and Halych and on February 26, 1967, was appointed Metropolitan of Kiev .

Archbishop Philaret worked in the international Christian Peace Conference (CFK) and was a participant of its V. and VI. All-Christian Peace Meetings 1978 and 1985 in Prague . He was a member of their governing bodies and, since 1985, one of their vice-presidents .

Since 1990

In 1990, after the death of Patriarch Pimen, Philaret was briefly acting head of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the subsequent election of the new patriarch, however, he was not elected. Philaret was then appointed head of the Exarchate Ukraine as Metropolitan of Kiev and Ukraine . He welcomed the independence of Ukraine and was very committed to the independence of the Ukrainian Church.

In 1992, Philaret left the Russian Orthodox Church and founded the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate . He became the deputy of Patriarch Mstislav and in 1993 deputy of Patriarch Vladimir.

In 1995 Philaret was elected Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate . In 1997 he was awarded the account of his actions from the Moscow Patriarchate excommunication occupied.

Patriarch Philaret at the Euromaidan 2014

In 2014, Patriarch Philaret supported the Euromaidan movement and repeatedly condemned the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian units.

Patriarch Philaret tried to get the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate) recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In early September 2018, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I appointed two exarchs in Ukraine (Archbishop Daniel of Pamphilon (United States) and Bishop Ilarion of Edmonton (Canada)) as part of the preparations for the granting of autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The excommunication imposed in 1997 was declared invalid on October 11, 2018 by Patriach Bartholomeos. This step has not yet been recognized by the other Orthodox churches, which also do not recognize the newly founded Orthodox Church of Ukraine as a whole.

In January 2019, Philaret was awarded the highest Ukrainian state award with the title " Hero of Ukraine ".

A few months after Constantinople granted autocephaly, Filaret turned against both the head of the new church, the mitropolitan Epiphanius , and Bartholomeos I's granting of autocephaly. He criticized their conditions, which establish a dependence on the Patriarch of Constantinople, and claimed that the previous Kiev patriarchate continued.

In the course of the corona crisis , he said: “The cause of the coronavirus is the sinfulness of humanity. People do not defend good, they defend evil. Evil is spreading. I especially mean gay marriage. She is the cause of the coronavirus and not just her. Children are encouraged to choose their gender. Is that the good thing ?! That's bad. ”The Ukrainian LGBTI organization Insight criticized the patriarch for spreading false information and sued him in a Kiev court (according to Reuters , this will be the first such civil law suit in an ex-Soviet republic). Even Amnesty International criticized Denyssenkos statements as harmful because they u. a. could lead to an increase in the acceptance of violence against certain groups.

Web links

Commons : Filaret Denyssenko  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate (Russian)
2. ↑ Ukraine remains on the way to Europe , kath.net, 2001
3. ↑ The Orthodox world fears a schism. In: Vatican news. July 11, 2018, accessed October 11, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Ecumenical Patriarch appoints two exarchs for Ukraine. Vatican news, September 9, 2018, accessed October 11, 2018 . 
5. ^ Synod of Ecumenical Patriarchate reinstates Ukraine's patriarch Filaret . In: Unian. October 11, 2018, accessed October 11, 2018 . 
6. ↑ The Moscow Patriarchate breaks with Constantinople , NZZ , October 17, 2018, page 6, title of the print edition
7. ↑ Патріарх Філарет про Зеленського, Порошенка, «термос», суди та Великдень , RFE / RL, April 27, 2019 (Ukrainian)
8. ↑ Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 3/2019 of January 8, 2019 (Ukrainian)
9. ↑ Patriarch Filaret refuses to accept tomos of Orthodox Church's autocephaly , UNIAN, June 11, 2019 (English)
10. ↑ https://www.n-tv.de/der_tag/Ukrainischer-Bischof-Homo-Ehe-schuld-an-Coronavirus-article21674856.html
11. ↑ Dennis Klein: Ukraine: LGBTI organization sues homophobic patriarchs. In: queer . April 15, 2020, accessed June 1, 2020 . 
12. ↑ Steve Hinkle: Ukrainian Religious Group Sued Over Blaming Gay Marriage for Coronavirus. In: Instinct Magazine . April 14, 2020, accessed June 1, 2020 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Sergius (Korolev)	Bishop of Vienna and Austria 1962–1964	Bartholomew (Gondarowski)

predecessor	Office	successor
Ioasaf II	Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and All of Ukraine 1966–1992	Volodymyr