Metropolitan Longin announces the threat of his imprisonment and new persecution of the Bancheny Monastery

The hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Longin of Bancheny, said that a new criminal proceeding is being prepared against him, which could result in a 12-year prison sentence. In addition, the bishop pointed out that the government is preparing new repressive measures against the Ascension Monastery of the UOC of Bancheny. The hierarch said this during a sermon he delivered in Bancheny on October 20.

“They are now preparing another suspicion against me and a raid on our monastery, and they are preparing 12 years in prison for me personally. But this is even very good, because even the saints were sinners, and we are even more so. They are trying to accuse me, but I was defending my children, orphans who were treated unjustly. I am sick and no longer able to help them personally, so I asked people to intercede for them so that they would not suffer,” — said Metropolitan Longin.

We recall that on October 19, 2024, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine came to the hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv, with a document demanding that the house arrest of the bishop be tightened from night to round-the-clock. The department made this demand despite the fact that the hierarch was hospitalized with a concussion and burns to the eyes and respiratory tract, which he received as a result of pepper spraying during a clash with radicals near the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy, which was seized by supporters of the OCU on October 17.