UOC-KP “hierarch”: OCU representatives abducted Patriarch Filaret’s body

The UOC-KP accused the OCU leadership of stealing Filaret's body. Photo: OCU

On March 20, 2026, Nikodim, the “Archbishop of Sumy” of the UOC-KP, published a video address on Facebook, in which he accused the OCU of abducting the body of the late “Patriarch” Filaret Denysenko.

“Today, by way of a raider seizure, representatives of the OCU, having effectively reached an agreement with the relatives of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret, in defiance of rules and canons, abducted the body of our church’s primate and transferred it to St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery,” Nikodim said.

According to Nikodim, the “bishops” of the Kyiv Patriarchate arrived in Kyiv to elect a locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne, but were not allowed into St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. The “bishop” said police had cordoned off the cathedral and were preventing representatives of the UOC-KP from entering.

Nikodim also recalled that on October 22, in the presence of the “episcopate” and “clergy” of the UOC-KP, Filaret Denysenko signed a spiritual testament in which he explicitly stated that the funeral service was to be conducted by “bishops” of the Kyiv Patriarchate specifically, not by the OCU, and that he was to be buried at St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral.

“They are now, against his will and his testament, trying to appropriate the patriarch’s body and perform the funeral rite themselves. From our point of view, this is a direct desecration of the blessed memory of our patriarch,” the UOC-KP representative said.

Nikodim called what happened “clear proof” that the OCU is not seeking genuine unity among the Orthodox confessions in Ukraine. He also said that the Kyiv Patriarchate “has existed, exists, and will continue to exist” as an “independent autocephalous Church subject neither to Moscow nor to Constantinople.”

In effect, the standoff between Filaret’s supporters and the leadership of the OCU, which has continued since 2019, has reached a new level – the sides now cannot even divide the right to bury the “patriarch.”

As previously reported, OCU head Epifaniy Dumenko announced Filaret’s death and said that the farewell service would take place at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral. Regarding Filaret’s testament, in which he allegedly forbade the OCU from conducting his funeral service, the OCU had earlier said the document was a “forgery.”

As the UOJ reported, police have cordoned off St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral and are not allowing UOC-KP supporters inside.

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