Metropolitan Longin of Bancheny called to stand up in defense of the Vicar of Sviatogorsk Lavra

On January 13, 2025, Metropolitan Longin of Banchensk appealed to Ukrainians to stand up for the vicar of the Sviatogorsk Lavra, Vladyka Arseniy. The latter has already been imprisoned for 20 months. About it reports the Telegram-channel of the Banchen monastery of the UOC.

It is reported that the bishop expressed deep concern about the fate of Vladyka Arseny and called the faithful to solidarity. «Dear brothers and sisters! It is time to defend Metropolitan Arseniy, dear to the hearts and souls of the faithful. I ask that all of Orthodox Ukraine stand up in defense of Metropolitan Arseniy. We can no longer tolerate the abuse of our shepherd, which has been going on for almost two years, » said Metropolitan Longin.

In his address, Metropolitan Longin emphasized that prolonged imprisonment and alleged «abuse» of the shepherd is unacceptable, calling on the whole Orthodox Ukraine to take active actions in support of Metropolitan Arseniy and his release as soon as possible.

Recall, earlier we reported that the Chechelovsky district court of the city of Dnipro on December 6, 2025 extended the period of detention of the vicar of the Sviatogorsk Lavra Metropolitan Arseniy for another 60 days, until February 3, 2026. This decision was made against the backdrop of numerous procedural violations, including the non-admission of lawyers and people’s deputies, as well as ignoring the statements of nine deputies of the Verkhovna Rada about their willingness to take the vicar on bail or post bail.