Metropolitan Meletiy denies that his attacker was a police officer

Metropolitan Meletiy after the attack. Photo: UOJ

On June 22, 2025, Metropolitan Meletiy of Chernivtsi and Bukovyna delivered a sermon at the Holy Spirit Cathedral of the UOC, during which he commented on the events that occurred on June 17.

He publicly refuted the information spread in the media that a police officer attacked him during the clashes.

In his address to the faithful, the clergyman detailed the incident. According to him, the attack was carried out by one of the participants in the seizure of the church, who was on the cathedral's grounds and speaking loudly in Russian.

“I saw an unfamiliar man and asked, ‘Who are you? Where are you from?’ And he suddenly lunged at me, hit me, threw me down, and ran away,” Metropolitan Meletiy recounted.

The hierarch emphasized that a police officer who happened to be nearby actually tried to assist him after the attack. However, parishioners who saw the officer standing next to the injured metropolitan mistakenly assumed he was the assailant.

“The policeman, a good man who saw what had happened, tried to help me. But our people saw him beside me and accused him,” the archpastor explained.

Metropolitan Meletiy offered a public apology to the innocent police officer and called on bloggers and media outlets to correct the inaccurate information regarding the incident.

He also shared that honest police officers had come to him seeking forgiveness. “I want to thank those honest officers who approached me and said, ‘Forgive us, lift the burden of sin from us for simply standing there,’” said the metropolitan. He stressed that he does not consider the police guilty, as they were simply following orders.

The clergyman also urged the faithful to forgive the police officers, who, in his view, found themselves in a difficult situation while fulfilling their duty.

Earlier, the UOJ mistakenly reported that during the seizure in Chernivtsi, police officers had thrown Metropolitan Meletiy to the ground. We extend our apologies to law enforcement officers.

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