Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate
Unrecognized Eastern Orthodox church / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP; Ukrainian: Украї́нська Правосла́вна Це́рква – Ки́ївський Патріарха́т (УПЦ-КП), romanized: Ukrainska Pravoslavna Tserkva — Kyivskyi Patriarkhat (UPTs-KP)) is an Orthodox church in Ukraine, and self-identifies as the successor to the original Kyivan Ruthenian Patriarchate. It came into existence in 1992, and had the largest number of Orthodox Christian followers in all of Ukraine for most of its primary existence.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate | |
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Abbreviation | UOC-KP |
Type | Eastern Orthodox |
Classification | Independent Eastern Orthodox (1992–October 2018) previously canonical Eastern Orthodox (October–December 2018) Independent Eastern Orthodox (2019–Present) |
Primate | Patriarch Filaret |
Language | Ukrainian, Church Slavonic |
Headquarters | Kyiv, Ukraine |
Territory | Ukraine |
Founder | Metropolitan Filaret (Denysenko) |
Independence | 1992 |
Separated from | Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (1992) Orthodox Church of Ukraine (2019) |
Merged into | Orthodox Church of Ukraine (2018) |
Defunct | 15 December 2018 (Reneged and re-established since 2019) |
Members | Reported as 25 percent of religious Ukrainian population by Razumkov Centre (2016); less than 100,000 (2019) |
Official website | Ukrainian Orthodox Church |
After its unilateral declaration of autocephaly in 1992, the patriarchate was not recognised by the other Eastern Orthodox churches, and was considered a "schismatic group" by the Moscow Patriarchate.[1][2] The Ecumenical Patriarchate decided on 11 October 2018 to reintegrate the faithful Christians of Ukraine into the Orthodox Church including the faithful and hierarchs of the UOC-KP and accord to the newly formed church autocephaly. The newly formed church was not recognised as a patriarchate.
St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv is the UOC-KP's patriarchal cathedral. The church's primate was Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko), who was enthroned in 1995. Filaret was excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1997,[3][4] an action not recognized by the UOC-KP synod.[5]
After the 9–11 October 2018 synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Filaret's appeal against the excommunication by the Moscow patriarchate was re-examined, he was reinstated as a bishop, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate decided it would grant autocephaly to a unified church in Ukraine.[6] The Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church accepted the proposal of the ecumenical patriarchate to dissolve and participate to a unification synod in Kyiv. Thus they merged with other Moscow Patriarchate bishops into an independent (autocephalous) Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.[7][8][9][10] The newly founded autocephalous church has been until now recognized by the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople, the autocephalous Church of Greece and the patriarchate of Alexandria,[11][12] and not yet by other autocephalous churches; the Serbian[13][14][15] and Polish[16] have refused to recognise Constantinople's reunification Synod and the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The patriarchate of Moscow had forbidden its clergy from celebrating with clergy of the ecumenical patriarchate.
On 15 December 2018, bishops and delegates from three major[17][18] branches of Orthodoxy in Ukraine (the UOC-KP, the UAOC and some members of the UOC-MP) unified at a council.[19] During the council, Metropolitan Epiphanius I (a former bishop of the Kyiv Patriarchate) was elected Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine and became the primate of the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine.[20]
On 20 June 2019, a few Pro-Filaret UOC (former UOC-KP) members—including Filaret—left the OCU after a local UOC-KP council. The church is not currently recognized by, or in communion with any of the mainstream Orthodox churches.