Trial of Metropolitan Arseniy to be held in Sloviansk

Metropolitan Arseniy is in the courthouse. Photo: the Sviatohirsk Lavra

On August 9 at 1:00 PM, a hearing will take place in the Sloviansk City District Court of the Donetsk region regarding the case of Metropolitan Arseniy (Yakovenko), the abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra.

The hearing was initially scheduled for August 8. However, the schedule was not coordinated with the defence, and since the lawyers were involved in other court cases on that day, they had to request that the hearing be postponed to August 9 at 1:00 PM.

Information about the hearing was published by the Council of Judges of Ukraine.

The previous court session was scheduled for July 9, during which the defence requested the recusal of the judge. Despite the intense heat in the courtroom, the judge did not allow Metropolitan Arseniy to leave the glass enclosure and sit next to his lawyer.

The two-month period of custody ended on June 22, but Metropolitan Arseniy was sent back to the Dnipro pre-trial detention centre as the issue of his detention has not yet been resolved.

As reported by the UOJ, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Lubinets, ordered an investigation into the illegal detention of the abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, Metropolitan Arseniy, in the pre-trial detention centre.

Read also

Greek priest: Sad to see Orthodox Christians fighting each other in Ukraine

Fr. Georgios Katsaounis recalled the historical ties between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples and criticized the Greek Prime Minister’s statement about a “war with Russia.”

Anglican Archbishop: Ban on women's priesthood in RCC is an injustice

After her visit to the pontiff, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally touched on the topic of women's priesthood in the RCC in an interview and called the ban on it "an injustice."

Greek priest on Pope's visit to Phanar: faith must not be sold

Archpriest Georgios Katsaounis warned that in the modern ecumenical dialogue there are serious risks of diluting Orthodox dogmas.

Greek priest: The principle of papal supremacy in Catholicism is a disease

Archpriest Georgios Katsaounis stated that Western Christianity suffers from the principle of one person's supremacy, and called this a spiritual illness.

In Egypt, Coptic blogger sentenced to 5 years for videos about Christianity

A Coptic blogger was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor under a blasphemy law for publishing a video about Christianity.

Patriarchate of Georgia denies ROC influence on election of patriarch

Archpriest Andria Jagmaidze stated that rumors about pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church on Patriarch Ilia regarding the selection of a locum tenens are false.