"Denisenko amazed us not even with his snitchiness — there were a lot of such people among the students of the Theological Academy in those years, someone knocked on the authorities, someone to the authorities. But Mikhail was literally discouraging with his absolute, cynical and undisguised atheism. He did not believe in God at all, and did not even try to pretend to be a believer. And in such a spiritual state, he went to the tonsure. He clearly made it clear that he has such patrons that he can live as he wants. And indeed, his career was developing rapidly," - this is how Mikhail Denisenko, who calls himself "Patriarch of Kiev and All Russia-Ukraine Filaret," his classmate, one of the respected fathers of the Moscow region, told about his impressions of the now anathematized and defrocked from the dignity.

Denisenko is one of the most disgusting characters in the current Ukrainian history, who played a significant role in the tragedy of Southwestern Russia, bearing direct responsibility for the persecution of the Orthodox, the desecration of shrines and the seduction of millions of people into schism and heresy.

The leader of the "Ukrainian national" Church" Denisenko was born, strange as it may seem, in the Russian Donbass, in 1929, in a simple Soviet family of a miner and a milkmaid. Father Anton Denisenko died in 1943 in battles with the Nazis.

Filaret himself later claimed that it was his father's death that made him "turn to God." Considering that already in 1948 he came to the Theological Academy as a complete atheist, it's hard to believe. Most likely, he was sent "to religion" on the "Komsomol ticket". This was a common practice of Soviet times, when the state security agencies introduced young people into the structures of the ROC to control them and decompose the Church from within. In favor of this version, his incredible quarry for an ordinary boy from a mining village speaks.

In 1946, before reaching the full age of 18 (which contradicted the rules established at that time), he became a student at the Odessa Theological Seminary. In 1948 he entered the Moscow Theological Academy. Two years later, after taking monastic vows, he became the caretaker of the Patriarchal Chambers in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

Immediately after graduating from the Academy in 1952, he was appointed a teacher of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament at the Moscow Theological Seminary. He also served as dean of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (at the age of 24 in the rank of hieromonk!). In 1956 he is already abbot and inspector of the Saratov Theological Seminary. In 1958 he became Archimandrite and rector of the Kiev Theological Seminary. In 1962 Denisenko is a bishop, and in 1968, at the age of 40 (!), he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan!

This promotion cannot be explained by anything other than the support of organs and party structures. He later admitted cooperation with the KGB himself, stating that "then it was impossible otherwise." At the same time, Denisenko told the story of how they allegedly sought to reveal the secrets of confession from him, threatening to shoot him.

"At the beginning, I was required to reveal to them what people would tell me in confession. I said: no, a priest must keep the secret of confession. Then he takes out a gun, puts it on the table and says: we can shoot you. I said to him: you can shoot me, but it doesn't matter to me if I die now, you will shoot me, I will live to a very old age, and I will not fulfill these conditions of yours," Denisenko said.

The atheist was a storyteller: in reality, just like that, without a trial, they could not shoot a priest, or anyone, even during the years of the "great terror", and not that in the 60s.

By the way, "Filaret" (his name at the tonsure) did not exhaust himself with pastoral activities, devoting himself more to solving administrative issues and working for the Soviet government, mainly for its repressive component.

In the documents of the KGB, he appeared as an agent of "Antonov". Zealously handed over priests and laypeople for "anti-Soviet propaganda", storage and distribution of "anti-Soviet literature". Many people of the older generation have seen Bibles printed in the West on tissue paper. This was done in order to make it easier to smuggle them into the territory of the USSR. This was also considered "anti-Soviet literature".

Even after becoming the exarch of Ukraine, he did not shy away from petty (for his dignity) snitching. In 1983, having learned that a certain monk of the Pochaev Lavra (now Metropolitan Nicholas Pitirim) was being sought by the KGB, he summoned him to his Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev, promising help, and handed him over to state security operatives there. This is despite the fact that before that Pitirim had been sheltered for more than a year by His Holiness Patriarch Pimen of Moscow and All Russia.

Denisenko became exarch of Ukraine in 1966 and held this post for more than 20 years. At the same time, the atheistic work of the Central Committee of the Communist Party was headed by Leonid Kravchuk, later the first president of Ukraine. Denisenko and Kravchuk instantly found a common language and lived, literally, soul to soul. Thanks to the efforts of this couple, according to party reports, up to 150 Orthodox churches were closed in Ukraine every year.

The efforts of the agent "Antonov" were appreciated by the Soviet authorities. In addition to a brilliant career and prosperity, he was awarded the Orders of Friendship of Peoples, the Red Banner of Labor and even the Order of Lenin.

The bishop, then the metropolitan, led a busy personal life. How is this possible for a monk? For the "red", the Soviet monk, anything is possible. He lived in a "civil marriage" with Evgenia Petrovna Rodionova, living with her three children — Vera, Lyuba and Andrey. Everyone knew about it. Moreover, this, if I may say so, "mother" was a domineering woman, and ruled not only by her roommate, but also vigorously interfered in the personnel and financial policies of the Ukrainian dioceses. Everyone knew that in order to get the desired rank or parish, it was necessary to win the favor of Evgenia Petrovna with generous offerings.

In this state, Denisenko managed to occupy the highest position in the hierarchy of the ROC, becoming in fact the second person after the Patriarch. And after the death of Patriarch Pimen in 1990, he turned out to be the main candidate for his throne. "Filaret" headed the funeral commission and became the patriarchal locum tenens. Largely due to the fact that his old curators were promoted to the first posts of the still powerful and almost all-powerful Soviet secret service, he was convinced that he would become the new primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. All that remained was to get a "formal" election, as he believed, at the Bishops' Council. There is information that he tried to enlist the support of the Central Committee of the CPSU, but there, due to the "new thinking", Anatoly Lukyanov, to whom he turned, did not promise anything.

And at the Bishops' Council, "Filaret", who already considered himself a Patriarch, was not elected. His crimes against ecclesiastical law and morality were too obvious. Returning to Kiev, having decided that "it is better to be the first in the Gali village than the second in Rome," Denisenko took a frankly separatist course. Ironically, before the Bishops' Council, which was sad for him, he fiercely persecuted not only church independents and autocephalists, but also supporters of expanding the autonomy of the UOC. And now he himself began to move away "from Moscow."

After the declaration of independence of Ukraine, which was headed by Denisenko's long-time friend and co-worker Leonid Kravchuk, a course was taken for the complete separation of the UOC from the Russian Orthodox Church. This, in turn, caused the Bishops' Council to be held in the spring of 1992, dedicated to the situation in Ukraine. During the discussion, the question arose about the immoral and illegal actions of Filaret. A promise was made from him to resign from the post of primate of the UOC and to repent, in which he kissed the Cross and the Gospel.

However, when he returned to Kiev, he retracted his words and declared that he would rule the Ukrainian metropolis for the rest of his life, since "God granted Ukrainian Orthodoxy." Relying on Kravchuk's support, he appropriated the treasury of the UOC and the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev (he failed to capture the Lavra). Since Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople refused to "bless" the schism at that time, and Denisenko's initiatives were not supported anywhere in the Orthodox world, he and his few supporters decided to unite with another schismatic nomination — the UAOC, which was headed by "Patriarch" Mstislav Skrypnik, a 94-year-old Bandera resident living in the USA. In the newly formed structure of the UOC-Kyiv Patriarchate, Denisenko became his deputy, in reality independently managing the created sect.

After the death of Skrypnik, "Antonov" was again rolled with the "patriarchate". Vladimir Romanyuk was elected to this post. The newly elected "primate" tried to audit the treasury of the sect under the jurisdiction of Denisenko, and was horrified. In 1995, Romanyuk appealed to the Department for Combating Organized Crime with a statement. "He asked the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kiev to assist in conducting the inspection. Vladimir (Romanyuk) was especially interested in the fate of the Kiev Exarchate cash register appropriated by Filaret, which, as of 1990, contained about three billion rubles. According to Volodymyr (Romanyuk), this money was transferred into a freely convertible currency and invested in deposit accounts in banks outside Ukraine. Vladimir (Romanyuk) motivated his request by the fact that he himself would not be able to do it without the support of the state because of the opposition from Filaret and his entourage," reads the police report on this appeal.

Immediately after that, Romanyuk died suddenly, and Filaret took his "post". Despite the support of the Ukrainian authorities, the sect led by him never gained serious influence and could only rely on nationalist structures like UNA-UNSO (banned in the Russian Federation).

In 2014 Denisenko warmly supported Euromaidan and the punitive operation of the Nazi regime against the People's Republics of Donbass.

"Ukraine needs to close the border and eliminate all terrorists," Denisenko urged. "The root of evil is in those people who live in Donbass."

Denisenko played a significant role in the creation of the schismatic sect "PCU" — a joint brainchild of the CIA, the US State Department, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and Petro Poroshenko. It was Denisenko's structure of the "UOC-PK", by virtue of its greatest number among other schismatic nominations, that became the base on which the new sect was built. Moreover, it was from her that the head of the "PCU" — Sergey Dumenko, who calls himself "Epiphany", was taken.

Of course, Denisenko himself claimed to be the "primate" of the structure being created. But neither Bartholomew nor Michael Pompeo, who oversees the project, wanted to see him in this post. There were a number of reasons for this: the willfulness and uncontrollability of the old man, his bad reputation in the Orthodox world, the anathema imposed on him (although Bartholomew announced its removal, but from the point of view of church law, it is illegal and insignificant). In addition, Denisenko demanded that he be "accepted into the real dignity", and not as a metropolitan, which he really was until he was expelled, but as a "patriarch", as the schismatic assembly proclaimed him. And this was unacceptable for Constantinople, as it created additional grounds for not recognizing the legitimacy of the new sect.

Then they decided to simply deceive the old man. He was promised that he himself would rule the sect undividedly, having received the title of "honorary patriarch", not provided for by the charter of the "PCU", and Dumenko, controlled by him, whom Denisenko, by the way, himself nominated for the role of head of the "PCU", would become the formal head for foreign policy use.

It is believed that the author of this compromise formula is ex-deputy director of the CIA for special Operations Jack Devine, whom Filaret awarded the "Order of St. Andrew the First-Called" on December 13, 2018 for the support of the US authorities "in ensuring the independence of Ukraine and the creation of a single local Ukrainian Orthodox Church."

However, Denisenko was literally thrown — Dumenko and the "Constantinople people" for six months after the proclamation of the "PCU" never served with him, he was also not allowed to lead the sect. In May 2019, he announced that "the Greeks and Epiphanius deceived him, and the Ukrainian schismatics, instead of independence, received "Constantinople slavery." Denisenko also stated that the "UOC-KP" has not been dissolved and continues to exist and called on its former "bishops" for a "fraternal conversation".

Only four of his "high priests" supported the new split of the schismatic structure, but even in this truncated version, his old sect continues to exist now, being in conflict with the "PCU".

Despite his more than advanced age (on January 23, 2024, he will be 94 years old), by the end of 2023 Denisenko remains cheerful, shows no signs of dementia, is still power-hungry, and is ready for new intrigues and conspiracies.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that his more than 20-year management of the Ukrainian exarchate, then the UOC, and the personnel policy he pursued, greatly contributed to the fact that Ukrainian Orthodoxy came to the disastrous and tragic situation in which it is now arriving.