Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate

This article should include the material from Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko)
Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko)
Patriarch Filaret is the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate , former Metropolitan bishop of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Filaret (secular name in Ukrainian Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko, in Russian Mikhail Antonovich Denisenko, officially His Holiness, the Patriarch of...

.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate is one of the three major Orthodox churches in Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, alongside the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is an autonomous Church of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine, under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate...

, and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is one of the three major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. Close to ten percent of the Christian population claim to be members of the UAOC. The other Churches are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kiev Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Russophile Orthodox...

. The church is, however, unrecognized by other canonical Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).

The UOC-KP's Mother Church

Mother Church

In Christianity, the term mother church or Mother Church may have one of the following meanings:# The first mission church in an area, or a pioneer cathedral# A basilica or cathedral# The main chapel of a province of a religious order...

is in the St. Volodymyr's Cathedral

St Volodymyr's Cathedral

St Volodymyr's Cathedral is a cathedral in the centre of Kiev. It is one of the city's major landmarks and the mother cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchy, one of two major Ukrainian Orthodox Churches.-History and Description:...

in Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

(Kyiv), the capital of Ukraine. The current head of the church is Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko)

Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko)

Patriarch Filaret is the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate , former Metropolitan bishop of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Filaret (secular name in Ukrainian Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko, in Russian Mikhail Antonovich Denisenko, officially His Holiness, the Patriarch of...

, who was enthroned in 1995. Patriarch Filaret was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

in 1997, but the Synod and Sobor of the UOC-KP do not recognize this action. According to a poll conducted by the Razumkov Centre

Razumkov Centre

Razumkov Centre , or fully the Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies named after Olexander Razumkov , is a Ukrainian non-governmental public policy think tank....

in 2006, 14.9 % of the Ukrainian population responded as belonging to the UOC-KP.

Formation

The church originated in 1992 after as a result of a schism between the Moscow Patriarchate and its former locum tenens, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine Filaret, when he chose to convert his former see (which he was head of for more than two decades) into a Ukrainian autocephalous church. Initially within the legal framework of the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

, but the majority of the Ukrainian bishops refused to support him, and forced him to resign his position. Undeterred, Filaret, with support of the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, initiated a merger with the canonically-unrecognised Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

. With the support of nationalist groups such as UNA-UNSO

UNA-UNSO

The UNA-UNSO , is the most prominent nationalist political organization in Ukraine.-History:...

, the church fought for control over property. In response, almost all Ukrainian bishops called a sobor

Sobor

A sobor is a council of bishops together with other clerical and lay delegates representing the church as a whole in matters of importance...

in Kharkiv

Kharkiv

Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...

, where they refused to follow Filaret, and ruled to defrock and anathemise

Anathema

Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...

him. However the union between the Western Ukrainian and diaspora clergy of the former UAOC and the now defrocked Russian Orthodox clergy who followed Filaret, became very fragile and after the death of Patriarch Mstyslav

Patriarch Mstyslav (Stepan Skrypnyk)

Patriarch Mstyslav, secular name Stepan Ivanovych Skrypnyk , was a Ukrainian Orthodox Church hierarch.Born in Poltava , Stepan Skrypnyk was the nephew of Symon Petlura, a prominent Ukrainian military and political figure...

in the summer of 1993, the union reached a breaking point causing the UAOC to terminate the union. After a brief leadership of Patriarch Volodomyr (Romaniuk)

Patriarch Volodomyr (Romaniuk)

Patriarch Volodymyr was the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchy....

, Filaret assumed the Patriarchal throne in autumn 1995.

History

Orthodoxy (and Christianity in general) in Ukraine date to the Christianization of Kievan Rus by Vladimir the Great as a Metropolitanate of the Patriarch of Constantinople.The sacking of Kiev itself in December 1240 during the Mongol Invasion

Mongol invasion of Rus

The Mongol invasion of Russia was resumed on 21 December 1237 marking the resumption of the Mongol invasion of Europe, during which the Mongols attacked the medieval powers of Poland, Kiev, Hungary, and miscellaneous tribes of less organized peoples...

led to the ultimate collapse of the Rus' state. For many of its residents, the brutality of Mongol attacks sealed the fate of many choosing to find safe haven in the North East. In 1299, the Kievan Metropolitan

Metropolitan bishop

In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...

Chair was moved to Vladimir

Vladimir

Vladimir is a city and the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Klyazma River, to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. Population:...

by Metropolitan Maximus

Maximus, Metropolitan of all Rus

Maximus was the Metropolitan of Kiev who moved the see of Russian metropolitans to Vladimir-on-Kliazma. In spite of the move, the metropolitans were officially known as "Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus'" until the establishment of autocephaly under Jonah in 1448.Maximus was of Greek origin...

, keeping the title of Kiev. As Vladimir-Suzdal, and later the Grand Duchy of Moscow

Grand Duchy of Moscow

The Grand Duchy of Moscow or Grand Principality of Moscow, also known in English simply as Muscovy , was a late medieval Rus' principality centered on Moscow, and the predecessor state of the early modern Tsardom of Russia....

continued to grow unhindered, the Orthodox religious link between them and Kiev remained strong. The fall of Constantinople in 1453, allowed the once daughter church of North East, to become autocephalous, with Kiev remaining part of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. From that moment on, the Churches of Ukraine and Russia went their own separate ways. The latter became central in the growing Russian Tsardom, attaining patriarchate in 1589, whilst the former became subject to repression and Polonization efforts, particularly after the Union of Brest

Union of Brest

Union of Brest or Union of Brześć refers to the 1595-1596 decision of the Church of Rus', the "Metropolia of Kiev-Halych and all Rus'", to break relations with the Patriarch of Constantinople and place themselves under the Pope of Rome. At the time, this church included most Ukrainians and...

in 1596. Eventually the persecution of Orthodox Ukrainians, led to a massive rebellion under Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Bohdan Khmelnytsky

Bohdan Zynoviy Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky was a hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . He led an uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates which resulted in the creation of a Cossack state...

, and united the Ukrainian Hetmanate

Hetmanate

The Ukrainian State or The Hetmanate was a short-lived polity in Ukraine, installed by Ukrainian Cossacks and military organizations under the support of the Central Powers, after disbanding the Central Rada of the Ukrainian National Republic on 28 April 1918.-History:On April 29, 1918 the head...

with the Russian Tsardom, and in 1686, the Kievan Metropolia came under the Moscow Patriarchate. Ukrainian clergy, for their Greek training, held key roles in the Russian Orthodox Church until the end of the 18th century. Examples include Epifany Slavinetsky

Epifany Slavinetsky

Epifany Slavinetsky was an ecclesiastical expert of the Russian Orthodox Church who helped Patriarch Nikon to revise the ancient service-books, thus precipitating the Great Schism of the national church....

, one of the architects of the Patriarch Nikon

Patriarch Nikon

Nikon , born Nikita Minin , was the seventh patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church...

's church reforms in the 17th century. Epifany Slavinetsky

Epifany Slavinetsky

, locum tenens after Patriarch Adrian

Patriarch Adrian

Patriarch Adrian was the last pre-revolutionary Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.Adrian caught the eye of Patriarch Joachim, when he was still an archmandrite at Chudov Monastery. In 1686, Joachim appointed him metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsk. On August 24, 1690, Adrian was chosen to replace...

's death in 1700 and Metropolitan of Moscow, and his successor Feofan Prokopovich

Feofan Prokopovich

thumb|Theophan ProkopovichFeofan/Theophan Prokopovich was an archbishop and statesman in the Russian Empire, of Ukrainian descent. He elaborated and implemented Peter the Great's reform of the Russian Orthodox Church...

, a reformer of Russian Orthodox Church in early 18th century.

Orthodoxy in Ukraine greatly expanded in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly as the boundaries of Russian Empire incorporated the Crimean Khanate, Bessarabia and Right-Bank Ukraine. Only the Western province of Galicia remained outside Russian Orthodox Church (though was claimed as canonical territory, as was in the official Kievan Metropolitan title of Kiev and Galich). During the 20th century, Orthodoxy was brutally persecuted by the Soviet authorities in Soviet Ukraine, and, to lesser extent, by the authorities of the Second Polish Republic in Volhynia.

What historians now see as the reason for the following events was the decision of the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine Filaret

Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko)

to achieve total autocephaly

Autocephaly

Autocephaly , in hierarchical Christian churches and especially Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, is the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop...

(independence) of his metropolitan see with or without the approval of the mother church

Mother Church

required by the canon law

Canon law

Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...

. These events followed Filaret's own unsuccessful attempt to gain a seat of the Moscow Patriarch to himself (1990) and the Ukrainian independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...

in August, 1991. In November 1991, Metropolitan Filaret requested the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

to grant the Ukrainian Orthodox Church autocephalous status. The skeptical hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church called for a full Synodical council (Sobor) where this issue would have been discussed at length. Filaret, using his support from the old friendship ties with the then newly elected President of Ukraine

President of Ukraine

Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...

(Leonid Kravchuk

Leonid Kravchuk

Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk is a Ukrainian politician, the first President of Ukraine serving from December 5, 1991 until his resignation on July 19, 1994, a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine faction.After a...

), convinced him that a new independent government should have its own independent church. Despite the UAOC lacked any significant following outside Galicia, Filaret was able to organise a covert communion with the UAOC in case Moscow Patriarchate refused.

At the synod in March–April 1992, however, most of the clergy of the UOC who initially supported Filaret, openly criticised this move, and put most of the other bishops against him. Questions of his unpopular disregard to monastic vows (having a common-law wife) as well as the allegations of improper financial dealings with the church finances made the council vote for Filaret to retire from his position which was confirmed by a sworn oath.

Upon returning to Kiev

Kiev

Filaret carried out his reserve option revealing that the retirement swore was given under pressure and that he is not resigning. The Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk

Leonid Kravchuk

gave Filaret his support as did the nationalist Paramilitaries

UNA-UNSO

The UNA-UNSO , is the most prominent nationalist political organization in Ukraine.-History:...

, in retaining his rank. In a crisis moment the Hierarchical Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, agreed to another synod

Synod

A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

which met in May 1992. The council was conducted in the eastern city of Kharkiv

Kharkiv

where the majority of the bishops voted to suspend Filaret from his clerical functioning. Simultaneously they elected a new leader Metropolitan Volodymyr (Viktor Sabodan)

Metropolitan Volodymyr (Viktor Sabodan)

Metropolitan Volodymyr is the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church . Metropolitan Volodymyr's official title is : His Beatitude Vladimir, Metropolitan of Kiev and all Ukraine...

, native of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast

Khmelnytskyi Oblast

Khmelnytskyi Oblast is an oblast of western Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Khmelnytskyi.The current estimated population is around 1,401,140 .-Geography:...

and a former Patriarchal Exarch to Western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

.

With only three bishops remaining at his support Filaret initiated the unification with the UAOC, and in June 1992 creating a new Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP) with 94-year-old Patriarch Mstyslav as a leader. While chosen as his assistant, Filaret was de-facto ruling the Church. A few of the Autocephalous bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s and clergy who opposed such situation refused to join the new Church and following the death of Mstyslav a year later. The church was once again ripped apart by a schism and most of the UAOC parishes were regained when the churches re-separated in July 1993.

Canonical status

Since his election as a Patriarch in 1995, Filaret remains very active in both church and state politics. He tried to gather around his Church all groups with a national orientation and all church organizations which did not have canonical recognition. On the other hand, he expressed repentance for his past support of prosecution of Ukrainian national churches, the Autocephalous and the Greek Catholic.

He currently leads the drive for his church to become a single Ukrainian national church. His attempts to gain a canonical recognition for his church remain unsuccessful to this day and a rival Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is an autonomous Church of Eastern Orthodoxy in Ukraine, under the ecclesiastic jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate...

canonically linked to the Moscow Patriarchate remains the only body whose canonical standing is universally recognized by the Eastern Orthodox communion.

Patriarchs of Kiev and All Ukraine

Patriarch Mstyslav
Patriarch Mstyslav (Stepan Skrypnyk)
Patriarch Mstyslav, secular name Stepan Ivanovych Skrypnyk , was a Ukrainian Orthodox Church hierarch.Born in Poltava , Stepan Skrypnyk was the nephew of Symon Petlura, a prominent Ukrainian military and political figure...

(1992–1993)
Patriarch Volodymyr
Patriarch Volodomyr (Romaniuk)
Patriarch Volodymyr was the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchy....

(1993–1995)
Patriarch Filaret (1995–present)

Important institutions

Holy Synod of UOC-KP
- The Synod consists of the Patriarch and its six permanent members, the representatives of Galicia, Volyn, Kiev, Southern Ukraine, Eastern Ukraine, and the Russian bordering region of Bilhorod (locally as Belgorod
  Belgorod
  -Twin towns/sister cities:Belgorod is twinned with: Wakefield, England, United Kingdom Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia Opole, Poland Vyshhorod, Ukraine Kharkiv, Ukraine-External links:...
  
  ). The Synod also has three temporary members that are represented by Eparchial Archbishops. The permanent members are elected by the Archbishop Assembly to which the Synod is responsible. The three temporary members are called upon the Patriarch and the Synod.
Archbishop Assembly (Sobor
Sobor
A sobor is a council of bishops together with other clerical and lay delegates representing the church as a whole in matters of importance...

)
- The assembly takes place at least once in two years and is initiated by the Patriarch and the Holy Synod. The members of assembly consists of all archbishops as well as the members of the Supreme Church Council. An extraordinary session of the assembly can be called upon by either the Patriarch or the 1/3 of all archbishops of UOC-KP. To selected sessions of the assembly may be invited some guests without any voting rights, however. All the declarations obtain their power upon the signatures of the head of assembly, its presidium, and secretary. The official website contains brief overviews of all the twelve assemblies that took place.
The Local Assembly (Pomisny Sobor)
- The highest institution of the Church administration. All of the Church legislative, executive, and legal powers belong to that assembly. The assembly is much bigger than its Archbishop's counterpart and involves various religious representatives as well as some secular.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Formation

History

Canonical status

Patriarchs of Kiev and All Ukraine

Important institutions

See also

External links