OCU cleric demands 100,000 for “suffering” caused by Met Theodosiy’s sermon
Zasansky, who became the “abbot” of a seized UOC monastery in Cherkasy, together with the prosecutor is seeking two years in prison for Metropolitan Theodosiy and a payment of moral damages.
On January 12, 2026, the Prydniprovskiy District Court of Cherkasy held another hearing in one of the criminal cases opened against Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv. The initiator of the proceedings was the former priest of the Cherkasy eparchy, Iosyf Zasansky, who has been suspended from ministry and is now a cleric of the OCU. This was reported by the Telegram channel Sermons of Metropolitan Theodosiy.
The pretext for the criminal prosecution was a sermon by Metropolitan Theodosiy delivered in support of the nuns of the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery in Cherkasy, who in the autumn of 2023 were forcibly expelled from their convent by men in military uniforms. At that time, it was reported that during the seizure of the monastery, UOC clergy and laypeople were beaten, while the actions of the raiders took place amid police inaction and in the presence of SBU officers.
Despite this, the “injured party” in the case was deemed to be not the affected UOC clergy and believers, but Iosyf Zasansky himself, who after the expulsion of the nuns became a beneficiary of the seizure and gained control of the monastery’s property as the “OCU abbot.”
During the closing arguments, the prosecutor of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor’s Office demanded that Metropolitan Theodosiy be sentenced to two years of imprisonment, classifying the bishop’s words of support for the persecuted nuns as “incitement of religious hatred.” These demands were fully supported by Zasansky and his representative.
In addition, the OCU cleric filed a civil claim, demanding that 100,000 hryvnias in moral compensation be recovered from Metropolitan Theodosiy. According to him, the hierarch’s sermon allegedly caused him “significant emotional suffering, distress, and insomnia.”
As the Cherkasy eparchy notes, both sons of Iosyf Zasansky – also OCU clerics – took an active part in preparing the seizure of the monastery, and one of them regularly files complaints with the SBU and appears in other court proceedings against Metropolitan Theodosiy.
Against the backdrop of these events, the UOC eparchy stresses that such cases clearly demonstrate the real situation of the Church in Ukraine, despite public statements by the authorities that there is no persecution and calls to “unite” with the OCU.
As the UOJ reported, the court did not find any Ukrainophobia with Metropolitan Theodosiy.
