KIEV -- The inevitable question came soon after the jewel-studded crown was placed on the head of newly elected Patriarch Filaret of the Orthodox Church of Kiev and All-Ukraine in a resplendent service.


Journalists wanted to know if Filaret planned to meet Patriarch Alexy II of the Russian Orthodox Church to discuss the widening rift between their churches.


"I don't mind meeting him, the question is if he will meet me," said Filaret, wearing a flowing garment in the blue and yellow Ukrainian national colors at Sunday's ceremony. "But in no way would his agreement or disagreement affect the consolidation of Ukrainian Orthodoxy."


The remark may well have been a taste of religious politics to come. Filaret has always been unabashedly political, unlike his predecessor Patriarch Volodymyr, who collapsed and died unexpectedly July 14.


The Russian Orthodox Church, which maintains a large following in Ukraine, refuses to recognize the Orthodox Church of Kiev and All-Ukraine, which was founded in 1992. Soon after Patriarch Volodymyr died, Metropolitan Vladimir Sabodan, the head of the Ukrainian Department of the Russian church, appeared on national television asking Ukrainian believers to "return to the bosom of the true church."


What happened at that time has already become part of Ukrainian political lore. President Leonid Kuchma refused to allow Volodymyr to be buried inside the grounds of the 11th-century St. Sofia's Cathedral in Kiev, which is run by the state but claimed by both the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox churches.


Infuriated mourners buried the patriarch under a sidewalk outside the cathedral gate, where he remains.


The extent of support for the Kiev and All-Ukraine Church was indicated by some 25 Ukrainian Orthodox archbishops and metropolitans from Ukraine, Russia, Canada, the United States and Western Europe who attended Filaret's crowning.


Archbishop Evloghios of Milan, who is also metropolitan for Canada and Western Europe, was unequivocal in his support for Filaret. "I think in our lifetimes we will see the capital of Orthodoxy move from Moscow to Kiev."


There are no reliable statistics on which churches Ukrainian believers support. But Filaret had trouble even with the leadership of his church, suffering six senior defections before the 160-14 vote for his patriarchy at a synod of church elders on Oct. 20.