Metropolitan Longin says he has been forbidden to take orphans under his care
Metropolitan Longin (Zhar). Photo: Bancheny Monastery
On 12 August 2025, following a hearing at the Hertsa District Court in Bukovyna, Metropolitan Longin (Zhar) stated that, while the investigation is ongoing, he is not allowed to take orphans under his care. A video of his address was published on the Bancheny Monastery’s YouTube channel.
According to Metropolitan Longin, the court refuses to grant permission either to him or to the monastery brethren to take children or disabled persons into their care.
“This court in Hertsa does not want to allow giving children under protection. Everyone is refused. Like a criminal, I no longer have the right,” he stressed.
Moreover, the hierarch is effectively deprived of the ability to protect and care for children living in the orphanage. He is not even allowed to accompany them to a medical facility, and any surgical operation requires the signature of the legal guardian.
“Today the time has come when we have no right to live in this state, to have the rights that everyone else has. We must endure a little longer. The Lord will deliver us from our enemies, visible and invisible,” the Bancheny Metropolitan added.
As the UOJ reported, another court hearing was held in Hertsa in the case of Metropolitan Longin.
Read also
Penitential canon read at Zabolottia’s persecuted UOC parish
The Orthodox community of St. Elijah on Bukovyna, deprived of its church in May 2025, is serving the services of Great Lent in a renovated space adapted for prayer.
Prosecutor’s Office demands that UOC hand over to state Staryi Pochaiv church
The Ternopil regional prosecutor’s office is seeking, through the courts, to annul the registration of ownership rights to the 17th-century Holy Protection (Intercession) Church of the UOC in the village of Staryi Pochaiv.
Centuries-old crosses from Serbian graves hauled away as scrap in Croatia
Municipal services in the Croatian town of Vrbovsko removed Orthodox crosses from cemeteries under the pretext of “danger to visitors.”
Reserve replaces Lavra Caves’ saints’ nameplates with Ukrainian-language signs
Online, people have shown what new changes the National Reserve has introduced in the caves of the Kyiv-Pechersk Monastery.
First words and photos after Bishop Arseniy's release published online
The abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, after a year and ten months of imprisonment, offered praise to the Most Holy Theotokos for his release.
In Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi, UOC hierarch reads Great Canon near seized church
Bishop Antony performed the Great Penitential Canon together with believers near a closed church in the Cherkasy Eparchy of the UOC.