When conscience of nation is put on pause, or why the righteous must suffer
When the first Christians were dying in the arenas of Roman circuses, many among the spectators became believers. For, as Tertullian wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
In the past few days, we have witnessed scenes that will undoubtedly enter Church history. We all became witnesses to a grotesque trial of a man whose only “crime” is that he loves God, His Church, and His people. The trial of Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk is, without question, a historical milestone – one that exposes with absolute clarity that our country is gravely ill.
Not long ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that Ukraine’s Constitution had been “put on pause.” He meant, of course, that the nation’s leadership was working without rest. But today’s reality has given his words an entirely different meaning.
In fact, what has been “paused” are the moral qualities of countless of our fellow citizens. Conscience itself has been put on pause. How else can we explain the utterly inhuman treatment of Metropolitan Arseniy that we have witnessed for a year and a half?
Can anyone seriously claim that all this is merely the routine result of judicial procedure? No – it stems from that same moral paralysis afflicting prosecutors, judges, security agents, and all those who give them orders. We do not condemn these people – we pity them. For to live without conscience is like living without eyes, without the ability to see the light or to distinguish good from evil.
But another question arises: Why does God allow all this to happen? Why does the innocent suffer, and why does the Almighty not intervene? Let us try to answer this below.
On November 3, the court ruled to place Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk under arrest for 38 days. Pay attention to that moment when the judge was reading the decision: beside her stood two young court employees who could not bring themselves to look into the eyes of the metropolitan or the people behind him. These two women understood perfectly that what they were witnessing was administrative lawlessness – and they seemed to sense that before their eyes, not merely a man’s fate, but the conscience of an entire society was being broken.
Many may think that all this is just another legal episode, another political show trial, another chapter in the endless struggle of the godless against the faithful. But for the Church, this is a moment of truth – a moment when it is not enough to prove one’s innocence before human justice, but also necessary to remain a Christian before God.
To everything that has happened, Metropolitan Arseniy responded simply: “We have remained with God and with a clear conscience. That is our greatest victory.”
Yes, to some his words might seem too plain, not as strong as one might wish. But in this simple phrase, the hierarch expressed the very formula of Christian freedom: outwardly we may seem to lose, but inwardly we are completely free. The Church knows this state well, for it appears whenever human logic collapses before the logic of God.
The court that feared its own conscience
Let us recall: on October 28, 2025, the authorities released Metropolitan Arseniy on bail, and immediately – arrested him again. On October 30, a new court process began to choose a preventive measure in the new case.
Videos from the hearings show only about thirty people standing with the metropolitan. On November 3, Metropolitan Luka of Zaporizhzhia joined them, along with several priests and monks. Their faces were tired but without despair. Metropolitan Arseniy, despite his condition and the circumstances, smiled, encouraged everyone, and did not lose heart. No one carried posters or shouted slogans. Everyone understood perfectly what was really happening.
In court, the metropolitan said: “Do you know how painful it is to hear that you are an enemy of the Ukrainian people – from representatives of that very people? I have lived and still live for the sake of the Ukrainian people.”
Indeed, witnesses attest that since 2015, the Sviatohirsk Lavra, where he serves as abbot, has fed and sheltered thousands of refugees and displaced persons – giving them food, shelter, medical and financial help. In other words, he has done for these people what the state has not done. Truly, he has lived for the Ukrainian people. Were it otherwise, he could have long since left Ukraine – the opportunity existed. But he remained when it would have been easy to go. And now, when he is accused of being able to flee – though he physically cannot because of heart problems, and the country itself is surrounded by barbed wire, drones, and checkpoints – the whole situation looks absurdly cynical.
The hierarch pointed out to the court the absurdity of the charges: “They say I could destroy documents – but everything has long been seized. The witnesses are security agents who even confused the dates of my sermons.”
This is not a comedy – it is a theater of the absurd.
Late that evening, the metropolitan felt unwell. His blood pressure was 170 over 110. Paramedics were called; he was given an injection and returned to the courtroom.
The next day, his pressure rose to 200 over 110. He was taken to the hospital – they could not do otherwise, since he might have died right in the courtroom. One would think that at least some compassion might have been shown toward a man in such a state. One would think so – but not by those whose conscience is on pause.
From the courthouse itself, the metropolitan’s lawyer reported that SBU officers demanded “to do whatever it takes, but get him back on his feet and return him to the courtroom.”
The hierarch was literally expelled from the hospital and brought back in a wheelchair, since he could no longer walk on his own.
“God is my witness – for the sake of my flock who came to support me, I endured as long as I could and tried not to show how bad I felt. Today I felt worse than ever in my life. They brought me on a stretcher to the hospital bed. I was given a hot injection, an IV, and a sedative. They took my details and said, ‘In the morning you’ll do tests.’ But then someone told the doctor: ‘If you admit him, you’ll be fired.’ He ran down the corridor shouting, ‘Why do I need this? Take him away immediately!’ They wheeled me out on the stretcher to the car door. The stretcher went back inside, and I was placed in the car. Despite the IV and injections, my blood pressure was 180 over 100 and my pulse 128. In that ‘stable’ condition they discharged me and said to bring me back to court,” Metropolitan Arseniy recounted.
Not a word of complaint. Not a word of anger toward the doctors, the SBU officers, or the judges.
The court continued – not only by day but through the night. Metropolitan Arseniy was defending not only his own honor, but our collective conscience. “I am not defending myself,” he said. “I am defending the good that still exists in Ukraine.”
During the hearings, he sketched in a notebook a church, a monk, an angel – symbols of the truth that even if the body is in prison, the human spirit and faith remain free.
When the judge pronounced the words “taken into custody,” someone among the faithful could not restrain himself and cried out: “Shame! The bishop’s blood is on your hands!”
But the metropolitan remained calm. He thanked the people. He comforted those who should have been comforting him. And when the police approached to escort him away, he looked at them kindly and said with a gentle smile: “Well then, let’s go, lads.”
To others he gave a blessing: “God help you, lads.”
Some of them stood with lowered heads. Why? Because they understood – this man is innocent. They, more than anyone, could see when a criminal suffers and when a righteous man does. And deep within each of them lives something that pierces through all the noise of propaganda: conscience. It is simply “on pause.”
Christians who “lose”
So why does God not intervene? To answer this, we must remember that the world has always believed that strength means the power to oppress, to strike, to imprison, to condemn. But Christianity stands on a different logic – the logic already expressed above: outwardly losing, Christians always win.
When the first Christians died in the arenas of Rome, many spectators became believers. The blood of the martyrs – as Tertullian said – is the seed of the Church. It was not defeat, but proclamation.
When the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste stood naked in the frozen lake, one of the guards, seeing their steadfastness, removed his armor and joined them. The one who a moment before had been their torturer became a confessor.
Pagans came to Christians in prisons – and through their suffering, they came to Christ. The martyr Basiliscus, on his way to execution, comforted the soldiers so they would not fear what they would see. Many martyrs urged their executioners to carry out their orders – and the executioners themselves became Christians. Even the persecutor Diocletian admitted the paradox he could not comprehend: that killing Christians only produced more Christians.
Today history repeats itself. True, no one is throwing Metropolitan Arseniy to the beasts or forcing him to stand on a frozen lake. Yet his suffering is no less significant. For many people, seeing that the Church refuses to silence its conscience, refuses to put it “on pause,” will one day be led to God.
Perhaps one of them will be a policeman who lowered his eyes.
Perhaps the young clerk in the courtroom.
Perhaps the doctor from the ambulance.
Perhaps a cellmate.
We do not know.
But we do know this: confession of faith does not always require blood – yet it always requires faith.
