Trial of Metropolitan Theodosius postponed due to absence of "victim"

The next court hearing in the criminal case against the head of the Cherkasy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv, scheduled for March 6, 2026, in the Kyiv-Svyatoshinsky District Court, did not take place and was postponed. The reason for this was the absence of the so-called «victim» — OCU cleric Nazariy Zasansky. This was reported by the press service of the Cherkasy Diocese of the UOC.

The case against the bishop, initiated under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, was opened in 2023 with the assistance of the Cherkasy Department of the Security Service of Ukraine. The reason for the prosecution was a sermon by Metropolitan Theodosius, delivered on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of St. Luke of Crimea. In this sermon, the bishop quoted the saint’s Testament in full, and then asked whether St. Luke could be prosecuted for these words in modern Ukraine. Shortly afterward, a criminal case was opened against the bishop.

In October 2023, the prosecutor’s office demanded that the metropolitan be taken into custody, but the court refused to arrest him and left the bishop under round-the-clock house arrest with an electronic bracelet. The bishop’s sermon, which became the reason for the persecution, was widely disseminated on the Internet and received hundreds of thousands of views.

At the meeting on March 6, the «victim» was to be interrogated — the OCU cleric Nazariy Zasansky, who, together with his father, Joseph Zasansky, who was banned from the priesthood, initiated a number of lawsuits against the metropolitan. They demand that the hierarch be imprisoned in a colony and that he be paid a substantial sum of money for the «moral suffering» of the OCU clergy. However, Zasansky himself did not appear in court, which led to the postponement of the hearing.

Orthodox Kyiv residents came to support the bishop. After the meeting, Metropolitan Theodosius spoke with the faithful, discussing with them the situation of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the need to remain faithful to Christ and the Church.

Earlier we reported that Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv was found guilty of inciting sectarian strife. The guilty verdict under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine was handed down by the Prydniprovsky District Court of Cherkasy on February 6, 2026. This is the first of four trials against the bishop that resulted in a guilty verdict, and the defense intends to appeal the decision in all courts.