Quick Facts
Biography
Metropolitan Philaret (Russian: Митрополит Филарет, Belarusian: Мітрапаліт Філарэт, born Kirill Varfolomeyevich Vakhromeev, Russian: Кирилл Варфоломеевич Вахромеев; born 21 March 1935 in Moscow) was the emeritus Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk, the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus and the leader of the Belarusian Orthodox Church that is an autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church. He resigned on 25 December 2013, and was succeed by Metropolitan Pavel .
Born in 1935 in Moscow, RSFSR, Kirill attended the Moscow Theological Academy in 1954 after spending a year in the seminary. 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 and Moscow, Filaret was appointed Metropolitan of Minsk and the entire Belarusian SSR in 1978.
In 1989, as the collapse of the Soviet Union 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 Belarusian SSR as a people's deputy.
In 2006, for his work in the Russian Orthodox Church he was awarded the title Hero of Belarus by President Alexander Lukashenko.