Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kiev Patriarchate

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The material from this article should be included in History of Christianity in Ukraine.

This article should include the material from Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko).

For other uses, see Ukrainian Orthodox Church disambiguation.

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Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchy) (Ukrainian: Українська Православна Церква Київського Патрiархату; Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate or UOC-KP) is one of the two major Orthodox churches in Ukraine, however viewed uncanonical by the Eastern Orthodox communion.

The Church begins its modern history in August, 1989, when the parish of the Church of Sts. Peter & Paul in Lviv announced their breach with the Russian Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of Moscow.

In June, 1990, Metropolitan Mstyslav was elected in absentia as the church's head under the title of the Patriarch of Kiev & All Rus' - Ukraine. Patriarch Mstyslav was the last surviving hierarch of the founders of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. He was enthroned in November at St. Sophia Cathedral.

Patriarch Mstyslav (Skrypnyk) reposed in June, 1993 and was succeeded in October by Patriarch Volodomyr (Romaniuk).

Patriarch Volodomyr (Romaniuk) reposed in July, 1995. His funeral near the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev was marked by a clash between the funeral procession and the law-enforcement forces.

Current head of the Church, Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko), was enthroned in October, 1995. This led to yet another split: four more bishops left the Church with their parishes.

Since his election as a Patriarch, Filaret remains very active in both church and state politics. He tried to gather around his Church all groups with a nationalist 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.