Hearing in Metropolitan Theodosiy’s сase postponed after “victim” no-show

Believers and Metropolitan Theodosiy at the court in Kyiv. Photo: Cherkasy Eparchy

A new hearing in one of the criminal cases against Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv was due to take place on March 6, 2026, at the Kyiv-Sviatoshyn District Court. The case was opened under Article 161 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code. However, the hearing was postponed because the “victim” did not appear, according to the eparchy’s press service.

The case against the hierarch was launched in 2023 with the involvement of the Cherkasy branch of the Security Service of Ukraine. It stemmed from a sermon delivered by Metropolitan Theodosiy on the 100th anniversary of the episcopal consecration of St. Luke of Crimea. In that sermon, the metropolitan quoted the saint’s “Testament” in full and then asked whether, in today’s Ukraine, St. Luke himself could face criminal prosecution for such words. Soon afterward, criminal proceedings were opened against the hierarch.

In October 2023, prosecutors sought to have the metropolitan taken into custody, but the court declined to order his arrest and instead left him under round-the-clock house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet. The sermon that triggered the case was widely circulated online and drew hundreds of thousands of views.

The March 6 hearing was expected to include testimony from the “victim” – OCU cleric Nazariy Zasansky, who, together with his father, suspended cleric Iosif Zasansky, initiated a number of legal complaints against the metropolitan.

They are seeking a prison sentence for the hierarch and substantial financial compensation for what they describe as the “moral suffering” of OCU clerics. Zasansky, however, failed to appear in court, and the hearing was therefore postponed.

Orthodox faithful from Kyiv came to support the hierarch. After the hearing, Metropolitan Theodosiy spoke with the believers, discussing with them the plight of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the need to remain faithful to Christ and to the Church.

As the UOJ previously reported, Metropolitan Theodosiy has spoken publicly about the details of his guilty verdict.

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