Yuliya Tymoshenko, leader of the All-Ukrainian Union Batkivschyna party, attended a ceremonial liturgy at St. Volodymyr's Church in Kyiv on the occasion of the 90th birthday anniversary of Honorary Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Filaret and congratulated him in person, the party said in a statement on Wednesday, January 22.

"Our Most Holy Patriarch Filaret is 90 years old! This has been an entire epoch. A whole story. And a big decent honest life. The path of dignity and God's humility, the path of struggle and the path of victory," Tymoshenko wrote on her Facebook page.

Batkivschyna's leader said that it is thanks to Filaret that we have a united local church in Ukraine today. "First of all, thanks to him, we have got the Tomos. It was thanks to the work of His Holiness that from its very origins, the Ukrainian church became the spiritual foundation of the Ukrainian state. Patriarch Filaret is the spiritual leader of our nation, and such leaders are born once in a century. Ukraine is lucky," the politician said.

"I sincerely congratulate you, great and wise Father! Thank you very much! Thank you for your struggle, for your courage, for all the good and great things you have done for our nation, for our country, and for our Church. Thanks for fighting and withstanding all the pressures, and for not yielding even a single step or a single principle in the Ukrainian case," Tymoshenko said.