Met Arseniy in court: “I am defending the good that still exists in Ukraine”

Metropolitan Arseniy. Photo: Press Service of the Sviatohirsk Lavra

On October 30, 2025, a hearing was held in the Sobornyi District Court of Dnipro in the case of Metropolitan Arseniy (Yakovenko), abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, reports the Lavra’s official website.

In his address to the court, Metropolitan Arseniy emphasized that he views what is happening not as a personal accusation but as a trial for the entire nation.

“I am not defending myself. I am defending the good that still exists in Ukraine. Right now we are being tested – our humanity, our conscience, and our common sense,” the hierarch said.

He noted that many people in Ukraine and abroad have spoken out in his defense.

“A human rights advocate from London, Peter Crew, came to see me in the detention center and later spoke publicly in my defense. Another advocate, Robert Amsterdam, wrote a letter to Senator James David Vance on my behalf. I have lived and continue to live for the Ukrainian people. I have labored not for some abstract Ukraine, and certainly not for Moscow, but for the people of Ukraine. Yet they have forgotten this – they label me an enemy of the people and demand that I be imprisoned for five or eight years,” Metropolitan Arseniy said.

He stressed that he has never planned to leave Ukraine.

“They say I might flee. Excuse me, but in 2022 I was in the Lavra, sitting under bombardment – twice I was buried under rubble in the basement, and the brethren dug me out. The front line was just 80 meters from the monastery. I had the opportunity to escape, but I stayed,” he reminded the court.

The bishop also responded to the prosecution’s claims about possible destruction of documents and interference with witnesses.

“What documents could I destroy if everything was seized during the search – which, by the way, took place without me or my lawyer? As for the witnesses – they are three SBU officers who, during an open hearing, named exact coordinates of checkpoints allegedly ‘transmitted by me.’ But the sermon for which I am being tried was delivered on the evening of September 23, and they claim to have been in the Lavra on the morning of the 24th. The sermon is publicly available on YouTube – there isn’t a single number in it,” he explained.

“You’ll now strike the gavel and say: ‘In the name of Ukraine.’ But that means – in the name of the Ukrainian people. And the Ukrainian people support the Sviatohirsk Lavra, they pray for me and consider me their metropolitan. Before one of the sessions, a judge told me: ‘I face a dilemma – to act according to God’s will or not to lose my job.’ That is the truth of our times,” Metropolitan Arseniy added.

It is noted that the session of the Sobornyi District Court was interrupted several times – first because Metropolitan Arseniy was absent from the Shevchenkivskyi Court, then due to an air raid alert and shelling of Dnipro. After midnight, the hearing was postponed to October 31.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Sviatohirsk Lavra had announced the re-arrest of Metropolitan Arseniy.

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