Father Sergiy Chertylin, Human Rights Activist

Father Sergiy Chertylin, a priest of the UOC who aided believers and communities in defending their rights and resisting church raids.

 

Arrested and placed in the pre-trial detention center since 12 March 2024. 

Released on bail on August 16, 2024

Father Sergiy's story is that of a man who has suffered from various repressive systems twice. Once from the Russian occupation in his native South Ukraine and then again from the Ukrainian authorities, who inexplicably declared the UOC its enemy, thereby infringing upon the rights of its faithful.

Originally from Mykolaiv, where he was born and raised, Father Sergiy graduated from the Poltava Missionary Theological Seminary and spent the last 12 years in Henichesk, Kherson Oblast. He served as a cleric at the Archangel Michael Church in the village of Novomykhailivka and in other rural churches of the Nova Kakhovka Eparchy. It was here that Fr. Sergiy and his family – wife and daughter – experienced the upheaval of war and occupation firsthand.

Reflecting on those pivotal days, he once said, "I went to bed on February 23 as a person of Russian (I emphasize – not RF’s, but specifically Russian) culture, and on the 24th, I woke up as a full-fledged Ukrainian. The day before, everyone was calling on the phone: 'There will be war, war!..' They showed on TV how to pack an emergency suitcase. But I didn't believe it: how could there be war?"

But war did come, swiftly and unexpectedly, to his town just 20 kilometers from the Crimean border. Despite the occupation, Fr. Sergiy remained loyal to the UOC and to the words of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry, who called Russia's attack a Cain-like sin and blessed the faithful to defend their land.

For his stance and opposition to the occupation, he began receiving threats and was forced to leave with his family to Ukrainian government-controlled territory in August 2022. This brought him to Kyiv, where he now serves at the All Saints Warriors Church of the UOC.

However, what did he encounter here? Here, in the Ukraine he remained faithful to, the Ukraine he risked for? Which fought for freedom and which itself should have been a model of freedom and respect for human rights?

He encountered a wave of discrimination against the UOC, church raids, violence, and endless propaganda of hatred towards his Church; attempts to ban the UOC and confiscate its sanctuaries, such as the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

The UOC was literally labeled as "collaborators' church". Could he not care about such injustice?

No, as a patriot, a citizen, and a Christian faithful to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, he could not stand idly by. He engaged in lawful advocacy work, supporting and advising UOC communities whose temples were seized. He publicly spoke out in support of his Church and participated in prayer vigils near the Lavra in defense of the UOC's right to its sanctuary.

Now, his peaceful struggle for religious rights and the rule of law in Ukraine is being twisted into accusations of "denying Russian aggression", "treason", and "inciting religious enmity". He is falsely accused of things he has nothing to do with. He was merely slandered. His home was searched. He was thrown into the pre-trial detention centre. UAH 200,000, which he had raised for an evacuation vehicle for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was taken from him.

Since March 12, he has been detained despite his poor health. For Father Sergiy Chertylin, a devout priest and a genuine patriot, this is not just slander but a profound personal insult. It is akin to torture, especially considering that his health issues are confirmed by medical analyses, and he requires assistance.

Father Sergiy is undoubtedly not an ordinary priest. He is a talented missionary and an active volunteer who aids the army and afflicted communities.

Awaiting him at home are his wife and daughter, and at his parish – a loving flock. This insanity, his arrest and detention, must be stopped immediately!

 

Friends and loved ones of Father Sergiy