Zelenskiy bids farewell to patriarch who pushed for independent Ukrainian church

Record ID: 2368311

  • Title: Zelenskiy bids farewell to patriarch who pushed for independent Ukrainian church
  • Date: 21st March 2026
  • Summary: KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - JANUARY 6, 2019) (REUTERS) HONORARY PATRIARCH FILARET, FORMER HEAD OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, HOLDING CHRISTMAS MASS PATRIARCH FILARET BLESSING MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGATION KYIV, UKRAINE (FILE - OCTOBER 11, 2018) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS OF CHURCH SERVICE LED BY HEAD OF UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OF KIEV PATRIARCHATE, PATRIARCH FILARET PATRIAR
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Church Independence Orthodox Patriarch Filaret Russian invasion Ukraine War in Ukraine Zelenskiy
  • Location: KYIV, UKRAINE
  • City: KYIV, UKRAINE
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Europe,Religion/Belief,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA005619521032026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his wife Olena attended a funeral service in Kyiv on Saturday (March 21) for Patriarch Filaret, a towering religious figure who for decades pushed for the creation of an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
    Filaret’s coffin was laid out at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral, where Metropolitan Epifaniy I, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, led the service. Mourners filed past the coffin, many kissing Filaret’s headdress or lighting candles, while portraits of the late patriarch stood beside the altar.
    “He was the first to want us to have our own Ukrainian church, our own autocephaly, our own local church,” said Kateryna, a 70-year-old pensioner attending the funeral. She said Filaret’s efforts eventually led to the granting of the Tomos of autocephaly in 2019, formally recognising the independence of the Ukrainian church from Moscow.
    Filaret emerged as a leading champion of religious independence after Ukraine broke away from the Soviet Union, helping establish the Kyiv Patriarchate in the early 1990s and becoming a symbol of the broader drive to loosen ties with Russia in church and state.
    (Production: Vladyslav Smilianets, Kateryna Besedina, Andrii Pryimachenko)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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