Ukrainian church leader dies at 97

Patriarch Emeritus Filaret, one of the leaders of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, has passed away, Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the church, said on March 20, the Kyiv Independent reported.

"Today there is deep sorrow and grief in my heart, as in the hearts of many Ukrainians, for today the earthly journey of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret has come to an end," Epiphanius wrote on Facebook. "We will always remember Patriarch Filaret’s guidance on the importance of preserving the unity of the Ukrainian Church around the Kyiv See."

Filaret Denysenko's health had deteriorated in recent years but he had occasionally conducted services at Kyiv's St Volodymyr Cathedral until 2025. He was hospitalized on March 9.

Filaret was the metropolitan of Kyiv and leader of the Ukrainian church as part of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1966 to 1992, as well as the locum tenens, or provisional leader, of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990.