Metropolitan Longin calls mobilization of priests disgrace and lawlessness

Metropolitan Longin (Zhar). Photo: a video screenshot of the Bancheny Monastery

Metropolitan Longin (Zhar) during his sermon on August 9, 2025, in the Bukovinian village of Lomachyntsi stated that the authorities who mobilize clergymen have no right to do so.

"I am not against my state, I myself wanted to go to war if I had such a will. I would tell the brethren of the monastery: 'I want to be there where my people are, where my children are'," said the Bancheny Metropolitan.

However, he emphasized, a priest has no right to take up arms, shoot, or kill.

"Today they are taking our priests to war. They have no right to do this because we have no right to then raise our hands to God, they will be in blood," noted Bishop Longin.

The UOC hierarch added that clergymen should not be taken away from their flock, and then "detained" and "abused".

"This is a disgrace – a great disgrace – not to the state of Ukraine, but to those people who commit such lawlessness," he concluded.

As reported by the UOJ, in Kharkiv, the TRC deceitfully detained two priests.

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