Today, Patriarch Filaret is called differently. A talented priest who made a fast career, or an impostor, whose ambitions caused a split in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
At birth in 1929, he received the name of Mikhail Antonovich Denisenko. The boy’s childhood passed in a small village in the Donbass. From an early age, the child learned the bitterness of losing loved ones. In the famine, his grandfather died, his father died at the front. The death of relatives for the first time made Misha think about his future.
Confessor career
After graduating from school immediately after the war, he became a third-year student in a theological seminary in Odessa. Then he continued his education at the Moscow Theological Academy. In the second year, Michael was tonsured a monk and gave the name Filaret. Now in his personal life there was no greater love than serving the church. In the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the career of a confessor began. At the same time, with the approval of the patriarch, he became a hierodeacon and then a hieromonk. After the academy, the candidate of theology remained in it to teach and at the same time continued to serve in the monastery.
In 1954 he became an assistant professor. The abbot was determined to inspect the seminaries in Saratov, and then in Kiev. After receiving the rank of archimandrite, he headed the seminary in the Ukrainian capital. Filaret had a chance to carry out sacred service in Egyptian Alexandria, Leningrad, Riga and Western Europe.
Since 1964 he served as the rector of the Academy in Moscow. A few years later, as the Metropolitan of Kiev and Galitsky, he became a member of the Holy Synod. During this period, the clergyman made several official foreign trips to European countries, at the Geneva meeting in 1976 he led the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church. For this he was awarded several state awards.
After the death of Pimen, he was one of the candidates for the place of patriarch. They say that he applied for help to the party bodies, the work with which grew into close ties, but there was no help. The Holy Synod made its decision and Metropolitan Alexy became the patriarch.
Autocephaly Supporter
The historical events of the early 90's changed the political views of the priest. Prior to this, he was a supporter of the Soviet regime, believing that only with her, a native of a simple mining family could achieve such heights in his biography. After the creation of an independent state, he became an ardent supporter of the complete independence of the Ukrainian church. When the exarchate approved the decision on its autonomy, Filaret received the title of Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine.
This is not to say that autocephaly received the absolute support of priests and the country's population. The Moscow Cathedral to invite Filaret to resign, but the Metropolitan continued his service and put pressure on his colleagues. The Archaeological Council in Kharkov in May 1992 expressed his distrust and dismissed him. A month later, the Cathedral in Moscow deprived him of all rights and degrees. In 1997, the schismatic was excommunicated and anathematized.
