A Year Since the Arrest of Metropolitan Arseniy: Clergyman Remains Behind Bars on Fabricated Charges
April 24, 2025, marks one year since the arrest of Metropolitan Arseniy (Yakovenko), abbot of the Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra. The hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and remains in custody to this day. According to the monastery’s press service, preparatory hearings in the Sloviansk City-District Court of Donetsk Region are being held via video conference without public broadcast. Once the main hearings begin, the proceedings will transition to a fully closed format, meaning all further court decisions will be kept secret.
On April 21, 2025, the Dnipro Court of Appeal rejected defense motions arguing that pre-trial detention was an excessively harsh measure for the elderly clergyman. The court sided with the prosecutor, who failed to present any evidence justifying Metropolitan Arseniy’s continued imprisonment.
Meanwhile, his detention conditions appear deliberately punitive. Last year, during court hearings, the metropolitan was transported three days in a row from Dnipro Detention Center to Sloviansk in a cramped 50 cm × 70 cm × 150 cm (20 in × 28 in × 59 in) metal cage—a journey lasting at least 15 hours round trip, during which he was deprived of food and water. Despite requests to attend hearings via video link or avoid consecutive court dates, the judge denied his appeal.
The prosecutor insisted on extending his detention, alleging that the metropolitan might flee or influence witnesses. In response, Metropolitan Arseniy stated:“If I spent 30 years in this monastery, even under shelling, why would I flee now? When Russian troops were 80 meters away, I stayed with the brethren and refugees. I have no intention of running”.
The grueling transfers in 35°C (95°F) heat severely impacted his health. Last winter, heating was cut off in his cell, further worsening his condition.
The Sviatohirsk Lavra brotherhood has condemned his arrest as “inhumane treatment of an elderly and ailing clergyman”: “Metropolitan Arseniy suffers from serious illnesses requiring constant medical supervision—something impossible in detention. His arrest is a blatant violation of human rights”.
He is accused of "disclosing Ukrainian military positions" over a September 2023 YouTube sermon in which he asked believers to pray for pilgrims denied passage by police. The prosecution claims he “revealed military checkpoint locations”—yet Judge Tetiana Khaustova refused to even watch the video in question.
The Lavra has received letters of support from hierarchs of various Orthodox Churches, including Metropolitan Ioannikios of Montenegro and the Coastlands (Serbian Orthodox Church), Metropolitan Timotheos of Vostra (Jerusalem Patriarchate).
Faithful from Australia, Germany, Greece, Serbia, the U.S., and other countries have also expressed solidarity. Around 10 Ukrainian MPs from different parties offered to vouch for him—yet the courts ignored them.
Robert Amsterdam, a U.S.-Canadian human rights lawyer who has worked in Ukraine, recently told Tucker Carlson that the U.S. State Department and USAID have been funding the suppression of the UOC, supporting the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), forcible seizures of UOC churches, arrests of priests, systematic persecution of Orthodox believers.
Metropolitan Arseniy’s case is a glaring example of religious persecution in Ukraine. Despite no credible evidence, deteriorating health, and numerous appeals for his release, the courts continue to detain him—confirming the state’s campaign to weaken the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
