The Archangel Michael Zvirynets men’s monastery in Kyiv was the site of the glorification among the saints of the venerable confessor Filaret (Kochubei), hegumen of Zvirynets, the Information and Education Department of the UOC reports. According to the department, the Divine Liturgy and the rite of glorification on 6 April 2025, the fifth Sunday of Great Lent and the day of commemoration of the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of Zvirynets, were led by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, who was joined by Metropolitan Antoniy of Boryspil and Brovary, Metropolitan Klyment of Nizhyn and Pryluky, five more hierarchs, the monastery’s clergy and guests in holy orders.
The department says that before the rite of glorification a final memorial litiya was served for Archimandrite Filaret, after which Metropolitan Klyment read out the decision of the Holy Synod on establishing the veneration of the new saint. According to the same report, his life was read, the troparion, kontakion and megalynarion were sung, and his icon was venerated.
The website of the Zvirynets monastery reports that on 23 October 2024 the Holy Synod of the UOC, chaired by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy, counted Archimandrite Filaret (Kochubei), hegumen of Zvirynets, among the saints in the rank of venerable confessors. According to the Information and Education Department of the UOC, on 30 July 2024 the Commission for the Canonization of Saints under the Holy Synod of the UOC had examined materials on him together with other ascetics and referred them to the Synod.
In the department’s account, after the reading of the Holy Gospel the Primate addressed the faithful with a sermon; according to a separate report by the department dated 7 April 2025, he spoke in it, among other things, about the commemoration of the venerable fathers of Zvirynets and about the life and labours of Filaret (Kochubei).
The department reports that prayers at the Liturgy were offered for peace on Ukrainian soil and for deliverance from the enemy, and that in the prayer after the augmented litany the Primate asked God, among other things, to strengthen the soldiers with courage, to free captives and to heal the sick. It adds that the Primate ordained a deacon, a cleric of the Zvirynets community, to the priesthood.
After the Liturgy, the department says, the clergy led by the Primate performed the rite of praise, and His Beatitude greeted the monastery’s brethren and the faithful on the feast and invoked God’s blessing on all. According to the same report, after the service the Primate visited the caves where the venerable fathers had practised asceticism and bowed before the shrines of the monastery.
According to the monastery’s website, Filaret (Kochubei) headed the Kyiv Zvirynets skete at the ancient caves in 1918–1931 and was arrested in January 1931; the website gives 1 / 14 December as the saint’s day of memory.
Sources: Information and Education Department of the UOC, 6 April 2025; report on the sermon, Information and Education Department of the UOC, 7 April 2025; session of the Commission for the Canonization of Saints, Information and Education Department of the UOC, 30 July 2024; website of the Zvirynets monastery, 2 November 2024.
