April 24 marks one year since the arrest of Metropolitan Arseniy

April 24, 2025, marked one year since the arrest of Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk, a hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He was detained by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) on April 24, 2024, and has remained in custody since. The Lavra’s press service published a detailed account of the arrest and the conditions of the bishop’s imprisonment.

On that day, the SBU conducted a search at the Lavra, presented charges to the Metropolitan, and arrested him. He was taken for questioning in Sloviansk and then transferred to Dnipro for another interrogation and a court hearing in the Zhovtnevyi District Court, which lasted from 5:50 p.m. on April 24 until 1:45 a.m. the next day. The court ordered 60 days of pre-trial detention without bail in the Dnipro detention center (SIZO), and the measure has since been repeatedly extended by the Sloviansk City District Court.

Metropolitan Arseniy is accused under Article 114-2, Part 2 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code, which pertains to the disclosure of information about the movement or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that allows for identification. The charge is based on a September 2023 video posted on the Lavra's YouTube channel, in which the Metropolitan asked the faithful to pray for pilgrims blocked by police from entering the Lavra on the feast of the Synaxis of the Venerable Fathers of Sviatohirsk. Authorities claim the video revealed military checkpoint locations, constituting a violation of wartime security.

The Metropolitan denies all charges. Preparatory hearings are ongoing via videoconference from the detention center, without public broadcast. The court has ruled that once the trial proceeds to substantive review, it will be held entirely behind closed doors.

Following his arrest, the Lavra's brotherhood published a statement calling his detention inhumane, especially given his poor health. UOC Chancellor Metropolitan Anthony publicly supported Arseniy shortly after his arrest. In July, a member of the Ukrainian parliament petitioned the Human Rights Ombudsman to review the legality of his detention. Letters of support have poured in from hierarchs of various Local Orthodox Churches, including Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral (Serbian Church) and Metropolitan Timotheos of Vostra (Jerusalem Patriarchate), as well as from lay believers in Australia, Germany, Greece, Serbia, the U.S., and beyond. Some of these letters have been published on the Lavra's website and submitted as evidence in court.

In autumn 2024, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem expressed his spiritual support for UOC hierarchs, including Metropolitan Arseniy, during a conversation with pilgrims from the Rivne Eparchy.

In October 2024, the British newspaper The Independent published a feature on the Metropolitan’s case.

Before hearings were moved online in September 2024, clergy, monastics, and laypeople from the UOC attended court sessions. Even now, believers continue to come to the Dnipro Court of Appeals in Kryvyi Rih to show their support.

Due to his incarceration, the Metropolitan has missed many major ecclesiastical and monastic celebrations, including the 30th anniversary of his abbacy, which he marked in detention. Life in pre-trial detention has included near-total isolation, washing clothes in a bucket, cooking his own meals, and enduring freezing conditions during heating outages.

He spent his birthday, June 21, in court, in a session that lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. On the 19th anniversary of his episcopal consecration, December 5, 2024, his detention was again extended.

The Metropolitan was transported to and from court hearings in harsh conditions – handcuffed, in a tiny “holding cell” within a prison van designed for short transfers, without food or water, on journeys of at least 600 km round-trip. These transfers took place up to ten times, often in extreme heat, and proved physically damaging due to his chronic illnesses. One such transfer on August 27 left him bedridden for two days. Sometimes hearings were scheduled on consecutive days, leaving him only a few hours for rest.

By September, these transfers became life-threatening, as parts of the route passed through active combat zones. After a series of appeals, the court finally allowed the Metropolitan to attend hearings via videoconference from the detention center.

Eleven members of the Ukrainian parliament have since expressed their willingness to act as guarantors for his release. At each court session, the defense continues to request alternative forms of pre-trial release, including personal surety or bail.

In October 2024, the defense petitioned for the hearings to be publicly broadcast via the Ukrainian judiciary’s official platform and YouTube channel, but the court rejected the request in February 2025.

Since his arrest, the Lavra has maintained continuous prayer for Metropolitan Arseniy. Monks read the Akathist to the Theotokos before the Sviatohirsk Wonderworking Icon day and night. Nuns at other Lavra sketes continuously pray the Akathists to St. Nicholas and Archangel Michael, and the Psalter is read at the St. John Skete in Adamivka. On each court date, a communal moleben is served at the Dormition Cathedral.

Prayers for the Metropolitan are also offered at UOC parishes throughout Ukraine and abroad, as confirmed by letters sent to the Lavra.

“We thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for your prayerful and financial support, and we ask you not to abandon Metropolitan Arseniy and the Lavra brotherhood in your prayers,” reads a statement from the monastery.

The press service concluded by sharing excerpts from the Metropolitan’s court statements:

“I’ve devoted my life to ensuring our Church is a unifying force for our people… Sviatohirsk Lavra is an icon of Ukraine’s unity – we receive aid from Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Rivne, Volyn... Many of our monks come from Western Ukraine, because we’ve never divided people. The Lavra unites the Ukrainian people.”

“I don’t know what kind of person 'concocted' this case. May God forgive him. I’m not saying ‘God is his judge’ – I say may God forgive him. My spiritual father taught me: ‘Live by your conscience.’ The Gospel commands: ‘Judge not, that you be not judged… Forgive, and you will be forgiven’ (cf. Matt. 7:2; Luke 6:37). I have lived this way my whole life, preparing my soul for the Last Judgment. And that’s how I live now. What I say in this court, I will say before the Judgment Seat of Christ.”

“All the charges against me are baseless and leave me bewildered,” he said.

Support for the Lavra’s legal efforts can be provided through donations via the monastery’s website.

As the UOJ previously reported, attorney Robert Amsterdam called the accusations against Metropolitan Arseniy constructed lies. A court has since ruled that the prosecutors assigned to the case were acting unlawfully.