Filaret (Denysenko)

Patriarch Filaret (secular name Mykhailo Antonovych Denysenko, born 23 January 1929) is the primate and Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate. He has been the patriarch since 2019. 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.

References

Category:1929 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Kyiv
Category:Ukrainian Christian clergy