Court orders return of funds to UOC Metropolitan taken by OCU raiders during seizure of Khmelnytsky Cathedral

A court in Khmelnytsky has ruled to return UAH 1.79 million to the former head of the Khmelnytsky Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and now the vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis, Anthony (Fialko). This significant amount of cash was seized in the summer of 2023 during the seizure of the Holy Protection Cathedral of the UOC in Khmelnytsky by supporters of the OCU.

According to Glavkom, citing the court register, the funds were seized on July 20, 2023, by representatives of the so-called audit commission, which was inventorying the property of the Holy Protection Cathedral after its seizure by the OCU supporters. During the inspection of non-residential premises on the territory of the church, a purple bag with money was noticed, which Metropolitan Anthony tried to take out. When he tried to leave the seized church, the raiders took the money from the bishop, saying that they would transfer it to the needs of the Armed Forces.

An investigative team was called in to find out the origin of the funds, and later the police registered a criminal case over the theft. The seized cash was kept at the Bank as material evidence all this time.

The investigation lasted until December 2023, when the police decided to close the criminal proceedings. The reason for this was the absence of a criminal offense; no one was suspected in this case. The prosecutor also agreed with this decision of the investigation. After the case was closed, Metropolitan Anthony’s lawyer filed a petition with the court for a refund. The court concluded that the further storage of the cash violated the legitimate interests of the owner, Metropolitan Anthony, and ordered him to return the seized amount.

In August 2023, Metropolitan Anthony’s lawyer had already filed an appeal against the seizure of the cash. The defense attorney argued that the court of first instance did not take into account information about the bishop’s pension file, which includes data on his salary since 1963, the amount of his pension since 2007 (increased for special services to Ukraine), and income from the sale of real estate. These facts, according to the appellant, confirmed the legal origin of the funds.

As a reminder, on May 21, 2025, the city authorities of Khmelnytsky disrupted the visit of the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, which was timed to the 35th anniversary of the revival of the Khmelnytsky Diocese of the UOC. According to the announcement, on May 21-22, the Primate of the UOC was to be in Khmelnytsky, where he was to consecrate the local St. Nicholas Cathedral. However, on the initiative of local authorities, special equipment and crowd consisting of radicals and supporters of the OCU were driven to the church. The protesters blocked access to the church, which resulted in the cancellation of Metropolitan Onufriy’s visit.