President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska attended the farewell ceremony for His Holiness Filaret, Honorary Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus-Ukraine.

“He devoted immense effort to ensuring that Ukraine would have its own autocephalous church. Without his perseverance and courage, it is impossible to imagine the history of Ukraine’s independence, our spiritual freedom, and the building of a truly strong state of our own. We remember. We honor. We remain grateful,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olena Zelenska wrote on their social media.

The farewell ceremony took place at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv. The President and the First Lady paid their respects to Patriarch Filaret and expressed their personal condolences to the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, His Beatitude Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine.