
Patriarch Filaret (secular name Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko; 23 January 1929 – 20 March 2026) was the primate and Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate. He was the patriarch from 2019 until his death in 2026. Before, he was the patriarch between 1995 to 2018.
He was the honorary Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine from 2018 to 2019, and the former Metropolitan of Kyiv of the Russian Orthodox Church between 1966 to 1992. He was defrocked and in 1997 excommunicated by the ROC.
In March 2020, during a television interview, Filaret called the coronavirus pandemic a "divine punishment" for same-sex marriage.
On 8 September 2020, Filaret tested positive for COVID-19 and pneumonia.
Denysenko died on 20 March 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine at the age of 97.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)