UOC cleric given measure of restraint excluding him from Easter service

Archimandrite Theognost celebrating the Liturgy. Photo: Facebook page of the Berezan Deanery

On April 17, 2025, Holy Thursday, police officers handed Archimandrite Theognost (Yurash) a petition to impose a preventive measure in the form of round-the-clock house arrest. This was reported in a video address by the priest's lawyer Nikita Chekman.

It is noteworthy that the petition specifies an address where the cleric does not actually reside and which is located a significant distance from the church where Father Theognost conducts services.

“Despite the fact that after the notification of suspicion an agreement was reached with the investigator and SBU officers that no preventive measure would be imposed until Holy Easter, something went wrong with the law enforcement agencies,” the lawyer noted.

“We understand that the goal of law enforcement is to ensure that Father Feognost is unable to celebrate the Paschal services,” emphasized Nikita Chekman in his address.

As a reminder, earlier the press service of the SBU, together with the National Police, announced the “exposure of one of the UOC clerics in the illegal alienation of one of the churches in the Kyiv region.” Archimandrite Theognost (Yurash Volodymyr Mykolaiovych), the rector of the St. Michael parish of the UOC’s Kyiv Eparchy, has been charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: misappropriation or embezzlement of property through abuse of office, and official forgery. The priest faces up to 12 years in prison.

According to the official statement from the SBU, the archimandrite initially “donated” church buildings to his sister, who then transferred them to a charitable foundation controlled by the archimandrite himself. Law enforcement claims that through this scheme, the cleric allegedly intended to unilaterally dispose of communal property.

However, the law office of Nikita Chekman, representing the interests of the priest, categorically rejects these accusations. The defense emphasizes that the decision to alienate the property was made not unilaterally by the archimandrite, but by the general assembly of the religious community on May 22, 2023, in accordance with the statute and current legislation.

It is important to note that two weeks after the voting of the UOC community, on June 3, 2023, individuals who are not members of it decided to transfer the parish from the UOC to the OCU. This decision is currently being challenged by Archimandrite Theognost at the Economic Court of Kyiv.

The defense believes that the criminal proceedings may be related to a property dispute between religious organizations, as representatives of the OCU had previously approached the Boryspil District Court with a lawsuit to declare the property alienation agreement invalid.

The UOJ continues to monitor the situation's developments.

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