Svyatogorsk, Donetsk Province, Ukraine, April 25, 2024
Photo: news.church.ua
Another hierarch and abbot of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church is in the state Security Service’s crosshairs.
The abbot of the Kiev Caves Lavra, His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel of Vyshgorod, has already spent more than a year under house arrest and in a detention center, and now the abbot of the Svyatogorsk Lavra, His Eminence Metropolitan Arseny of Svyatgorsk has also been detained.
Security Service (SBU) employees blocked and searched the monastery yesterday morning. A source told the Union of Orthodox Journalists that His Eminence was taken to Slavyansk for interrogation, to then be transported to Dnieper for court.
The SBU later issued a statement claiming Met. Arseny had somehow secretly revealed the position of Ukrainian soldiers to Russians while celebrating the Divine Liturgy, a video of which was later published online. He is also accused of “expressing pro-Kremlin narratives about the war in Ukraine even before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.”
His Eminence faces up to 8 years in prison.
This morning, sentenced the Metropolitan to 60 days of detention without the right to post bail.
The Svyatogorsk Lavra has been housing and feeding hundreds of refugees for a decade now. Unfortunately, the Lavra and its sketes have repeatedly come under attack during the war since February 2022, suffering considerable damage.
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