Archbishop Nykodym of Sumy and Okhtyrka said that he was elected and named Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine. The archbishop has stated this on Facebook, publishing a video.
It is indicated that "the act of election of the Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine as the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate" was proclaimed at an extraordinary meeting of the Bishops' Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate.
Archbishop Nykodym said that the meeting and the vote were attended by the bishops of the UOC-KP both in Ukraine and abroad - the latter participated online.
In addition, Archbishop Nykodym published a joint statement of the UOC-KP bishops on his page. It was signed "on behalf of the bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate by Archbishop Nykodym of Sumy and Okhtyrka, elected and named Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine."
The statement emphasizes that on March 20, it became known about the death of His Holiness Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine, Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate.
"When we, the bishops of the UOC-KP, decided to perform a funeral service for Patriarch Filaret in absentia and hold a meeting of the Council of Bishops to elect a new Patriarch at St. Volodymyr's Patriarchal Cathedral in Kyiv, we were asked to leave the cathedral and threatened with police calls, arrests and the use of force against the bishops," the joint statement reads.
The UOC-KP said that these events "testify to a deep crisis in church life," and the signatories claim that they preserve the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate as an independent spiritual institution, without the intention of joining any other church structures.
On March 20, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine announced the death of Patriarch Emeritus Filaret of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine, who died from the consequences of an exacerbation of chronic illness at the age of 98.
The OCU reported that the funeral service for Filaret would be held at St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv from the evening of March 20 and throughout the day on March 21.
It should be noted that in October 2025, the Patriarch wrote a spiritual testament in which, among other things, he ordered that "the rite of funeral and burial should be performed at the St. Volodymyr's Cathedral of the Patriarchate of Kyiv, by the bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, not the OCU."
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