Met Arseniy: In hospital, the doctor was told, “If you admit him, you’re fired”

Metropolitan Arseniy in the hospital. Photo: Sviatohirsk Lavra

On November 3, the Sobornyi District Court ruled to keep Metropolitan Arseniy of Sviatohirsk in custody for 38 days, despite the hierarch’s critical health condition and the willingness of ten members of parliament to stand surety for him. On the fifth day of hearings concerning pre-trial detention, Judge Olha Konoplenko decided that the bishop would remain in custody in the pre-trial detention center until December 10, 2025, without the possibility of bail.

Around 2 p.m. during the court session, Metropolitan Arseniy’s condition sharply worsened. Paramedics recorded a blood pressure of 200 over 110 – a life-threatening level. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

“I had never had such high blood pressure before,” the hierarch later said. “God is my witness – for the sake of my flock who came to support me, I held on as long as I could and tried not to show how bad I felt. Today I felt worse than ever in my life.”

At the hospital, doctors gave him a hot injection, set up an IV drip, and administered a sedative. They recorded his details and told him that he would need to undergo lab tests in the morning – in other words, he was to be hospitalized. However, something unprecedented happened next.

“They told the doctor about me: ‘If you hospitalize him, you’re already fired,’” Metropolitan Arseniy recounted. “He was running down the corridor shouting: ‘Why do I need this? Get him out of here immediately!’”

The hierarch was wheeled out of the hospital on a stretcher to the car door. Despite receiving IV treatment and injections, his blood pressure was still 180 over 100, with a pulse of 128 beats per minute.

“They discharged me as ‘stable,’ and said I should be taken back to court,” the metropolitan noted.

Metropolitan Arseniy was brought to the courtroom at 5 p.m. Faithful and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church came to support him, including Metropolitan Luka of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol.

Before the verdict was announced, the archpastor addressed the judge: “Let me live a little longer with the Ukrainian people, for whose sake I have lived and still live. I am flesh of the flesh and blood of the blood of the Ukrainian people. I, unworthy as I am, have the honor of being the spiritual shepherd of this nation.”

The hierarch pleaded to be released on surety or bail so that he could undergo treatment, saying he would not survive another term in pre-trial detention.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that Metropolitan Arseniy had once again been placed behind bars.

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