Court sentences priest who called OCU synod decision “heresy”

Statue of Themis. Photo: protothema.gr

A court case in Kyiv has concluded against a clergyman accused of “justifying armed aggression” because of theological posts he published on Facebook. According to the June 10 verdict, the priest was found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison. However, the court exempted him from serving the sentence and placed him on probation for a period of three years. This was reported by Judicial Reporter.

The main grounds for the criminal prosecution were posts he published in 2022 and 2024. In those texts, the clergyman, who holds a higher theological education degree, criticized the decision of the OCU Synod that the killing of occupiers is allegedly not a sin and does not require repentance.

The priest described this position of Dumenko’s structure as “heresy,” “blasphemy,” and “false teaching” that directly contradicts biblical commandments and Church dogmas. In his view, war is a consequence of society’s spiritual condition, and its end requires sincere repentance from all sides rather than the justification of violations of divine law.

During the hearings, the priest pleaded not guilty, insisting that his activities were directed exclusively toward defending the faith and combating heresies in the information sphere.

“In the religious information space, a heresy has appeared in recent years, and I was obliged to respond to it,” he told the court.

The clergyman also stated that he initially attempted to reach the OCU leadership through personal letters. After receiving no response, he decided to address a broader audience online in order to protect people from what he called “spiritual destruction.”

The defense presented testimony from theological specialists, including an active chaplain of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who confirmed that the posts were reflections on faith rather than political propaganda.

Defense attorneys argued that investigators and expert witnesses had taken quotations out of context and completely ignored their sermonic and theological nature. In the same publications, the priest described the military actions as “genocide” and referred to Russia as a “terrorist state,” which, according to the defense, demonstrated that he had no intention of justifying aggression.

Nevertheless, the court sided with the prosecution, relying on conclusions from Security Service experts who found criminal elements in the priest’s calls for repentance. The court reasoned that the posts had been published on a public page rather than in a specialized group for professional theologians and therefore could have been “misunderstood” by ordinary readers.

As the UOJ previously reported, a UOC priest in Odesa was sentenced to five years in prison for “justifying Russian aggression.”

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