Patriarch Filaret: champion of independent Ukrainian church Ukraine's Patriarch Filaret was one of the top leaders in the Soviet era Russian Orthodox Church. But after the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991 and he began a campaign to give his native Ukraine an independent church he was defrocked and excommunicated by Moscow. Today the 89-year-old is arguably Ukraine's most powerful cleric. He hopes to unite all of the country's churches under his leadership to Moscow's fury. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES.