Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine (, secular name: Serhii Petrovych Dumenko, ; born on 3 February 1979) is the primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), holding the title of Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine.
Metropolitan Epiphanius served as the Metropolitan bishop of Pereiaslav and Bila Tserkva, in the former original Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) from 2013 to 2018.
He was a professor of the Department of Biblical and Philological Disciplines of the . He was a member of the and of the International Federation of Journalists.
Early life and education
Serhii Petrovych Dumenko was born on 3 February 1979 in Vovkove, Berezivka Raion, in Ukraine. His childhood and school years were in the village of Stara Zhadova in Storozhynets Raion of Chernivtsi Oblast. In 1996 in Stara Zhadova he graduated from high school of I-III grades.
In 1996 he entered the Kyiv Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1999 with a first class degree. In the same year he entered the Kyiv Theological Academy. He graduated as a doctor of theology in 2003 having successfully defended his PhD thesis on the "Formation of church-canonical collections in the Donician period and their characteristics".
In 2006–2007 he held an internship at the Athens National University in Greece in the Faculty of Philosophy.
On 30 August 2012, following his successful defense of his doctoral dissertation on the topic of the "Doctrine of the Orthodox Church on salvation in the context of the continuity of the Holy Fatherland", he was awarded a degree of Doctor of Theology.
Ministry
From 1 July 2003 to 31 December 2005 he served as the secretary-referent of the Rivne diocesan administration and the personal secretary of the Metropolitan of Rivne and Ostroh. From 26 August 2003 to 31 December 2005 he was a teacher of the Rivne Seminary, and also held the post of senior assistant inspector.
In 2003-2005, he led the "Rivne Pravoslavne" () Internet portal, and was also a member of the editorial board of the religious newspaper Dukhovna Nyva (). In December 2005 he was admitted to the .
Since the academic year 2007, he has been a teacher at the , and was appointed head of the philology department.
On 21 December 2007, with the blessing of Patriarch Filaret, Archbishop Dimitriy of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi made Epiphanius a monk in the Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery. He took the monastic name Epiphanius in honor of Epiphanius of Cyprus. On 20 January 2008 he was ordained hieromonk by Filaret. Later that month (25 January), he was appointed secretary of the Patriarch of Kyiv and All Rus'-Ukraine, Filaret.
In March 2008 he was ordained an archimandrite in St. Volodymyr's Cathedral. Later that month (20 March), he was appointed governor of Vydubychi Monastery in Kyiv. On 30 May 2008, he was appointed manager of the affairs of the Kyivan Patriarchate. On 7 October 2008 he was awarded the title of Associate Professor of the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy.
On 21 October 2009, at the Holy Synod of the UOC-KP he was elected Bishop of Vyshhorod, vicar of the Kyiv diocese. On 15 November 2009, he was ordained a bishop.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of the UOC-KP from 27 July 2010, he was appointed rector of the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy and the governor of the Pereiaslav-Khmelnytsky diocese. On 17 November 2011 he was awarded the title of professor of the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy.
On 23 January 2012, he was promoted to the rank of Archbishop. By the decision of the Bishops' Council of the UOC-KP on 28 June 2013, he was raised to the rank of Metropolitan of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi and Bila Tserkva and was appointed patriarchal governor with the rights of the diocesan bishop. On 13 December 2017 he was named Metropolitan of Pereiaslav and Bila Tserkva.
In April 2019, he spoke in support of the law on the Ukrainian language.
On August 21, 2020, on St. Michael's Square in Kyiv, Metropolitan Epiphanius consecrated the renovated Wall of Remembrance of Heroes. He also consecrated the church on August 20 in honor of St. Nectarios of Aegina in the village of Khutir Yasny in Kyiv region. On August 29, on the Day of Remembrance of Defenders of Ukraine, he honored the fallen Ukrainian servicemen.
Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
On 15 December 2018, at the unification council held in the Cathedral of St. Sophia, he was elected Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, the first primate of the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The official name of the primate the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is "His Beatitude (name), Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine".