Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate
| Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate | |
|---|---|
| | |
| 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 |
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP; Ukrainian: Украї́нська Правосла́вна Це́рква – Ки́ївський Патріарха́т (УПЦ-КП), romanized: Ukrainska Pravoslavna Tserkva — Kyivskyi Patriarkhat (UPTs-KP)) was an Orthodox church in Ukraine, in existence from 1992 to 2018. Its patriarchal cathedral was St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv.
After its unilateral declaration of autocephaly in 1992, the UOC-KP was not recognised by the other Eastern Orthodox churches, and was considered a "schismatic group" by the Moscow Patriarchate and Ecumenical Patriarchate. Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko) was enthroned in 1995 and excommunicated by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1997, an action not recognized by the UOC-KP synod. In 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople moved unilaterally, and against canonical norms to facilitate a "unification council," in contradiction to his previous statement "recognizing the fullness of the Russian Orthodox Church’s exclusive competence on this issue." The canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church rejected these overtures, noting it's universal recognition as sole canonical authority on the territory of Ukraine and the political nature of the proposed council. Constantinople ignored this, "reinstated" Filaret as a bishop and facilitated the convening of a unification council. In December 2018, the unification council of the Eastern Orthodox churches of Ukraine decided to unite the UOC-KP with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC), creating the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) which was subsequently granted autocephaly by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in January 2019.
A conflict between Filaret and Epiphanius, the Metropolitan of the OCU following the December 2018 unification council, erupted and resulted in Filaret claiming continuation of the UOC-KP on 20 June 2019. The UOC-KP is not currently recognized by, or in communion with any of the mainstream Orthodox churches that are members of Eastern Orthodoxy. The OCU is recognized by only 3 of the 14 universally recognized autocephalous churches.