President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone call with the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epiphanius, and expressed his condolences to him and to all Orthodox Christians on the passing of the Honorary Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine, Filaret.
“This is a great loss for Ukrainians. He was a strong personality and one of the most steadfast defenders of the Ukrainian Church, independence, and statehood. The Ukrainian people will always honor his contribution to building an autocephalous Church. And without the energy, character, and courage of Patriarch Filaret, many of Ukraine’s achievements simply would not have been possible. We also remember how Patriarch Filaret taught us to unite around the idea of a strong and independent Ukraine,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Patriarch Filaret made a significant contribution to the development of the Church. In particular, following the restoration of Ukraine’s independence, he initiated the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and was one of the founders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. Later, in 2018, thanks to his persistence, it became possible to organizationally establish the unified autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine and to receive the Tomos in 2019. In the same year, he was awarded the highest state honor – the title of Hero of Ukraine – and during his lifetime he also received many other distinctions.