Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

Philaret (russian: Митрополит Филарет, be, Мітрапаліт Філарэт, born Kirill Varfolomeyevich Vakhromeev, russian: Кирилл Варфоломеевич Вахромеев; 21 March 1935 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

– 12 January 2021 in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

) was the emeritus Metropolitan of

and Slutsk, the Patriarchal Exarch of All

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

and the leader of the

Belarusian Orthodox Church The Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC; be, Беларуская праваслаўная царква, russian: Белорусская православная церковь) is the official name of the Belarusian Exarchate ( be, Беларуск� ...

that is an autonomous part of the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

. He resigned on 25 December 2013, and was succeeded by Metropolitan Pavel .

Biography

Born in 1935 in

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

, Kirill attended the Moscow Theological Academy in 1954 after spending a year in the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

. During the course of his studies, he chose the name Filaret when he received the monastic tonsure in 1959. Two years later, he graduated from the academy with a doctorate in theology. After serving in Minsk,

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

and Moscow, Filaret was appointed Metropolitan of Minsk and the entire

Belarusian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

in 1978. In 1989, as the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

was imminent, Filaret was appointed to become the patriarchal exarch of the new country of Belarus. He also served a short term in the Supreme Council of

as a people's deputy. In 2006, for his work in the Russian Orthodox Church he was awarded the title

Hero of Belarus Hero of Belarus ( be, Герой Беларусі, Łacinka ''Hieroj Biełarusi''; russian: Герой Беларуси, Geroj Belarusi) is the highest title that can be bestowed on a citizen of Belarus. The title is awarded to those "who perfor ...

by President Alexander Lukashenko. The

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

recruited Filaret as an agent some time before 1969, assigning him the code name Ostrovsky. He died on 12 January 2021, after being hospitalized with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus. Cardinal

Kurt Koch , alt = , caption = Koch pictured in December 2016. , church = Roman Catholic Church , archdiocese = , province = , metropolis = , diocese = , see = , appointed = 1 July 2010 , ended = , predecessor = Walter Kasper , successor = , ...

of the Catholic Church sent a letter of condolences to Patriarchal Exarch

Metropolitan Veniamin Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

. Koch said that Philaret had made a significant imprint on the church of Belarus, such as "the rebirth of ecclesial life, ... the renewal and construction of new churches and monasteries, and ... the development of religious instruction and educational programs". Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Minsk,

Tadevuš Kandrusievič Tadevuš Kandrusievič ( be, Тадэвуш Кандрусевіч; pl, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz; born 3 January 1946) is a Belarusian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Minsk–Mohilev from 2007 to 2021. He has been a bish ...

, has pledged to celebrate a

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

in honor of Philaret. On May 3, 2022, a monument to Metropolitan Filaret has been unveiled near the Holy Spirit Cathedral in

. Attending the ceremony was Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.Lukashenko unveils monument to Metropolitan Filaret
/ref>

References

1935 births 2021 deaths Clergy from Moscow Clergy from Minsk Bishops of the Belarusian Orthodox Church Belarusian people of Russian descent Eastern Orthodox Christians from Belarus Christian Peace Conference members National Heroes of Belarus Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Belarus {{Belarus-bio-stub