In Cherkasy, prosecutor and OCU cleric demand two-year imprisonment for UOC Metropolitan Theodosius

on January 12, 2026, the Prydniprovsky District Court of Cherkasy held a regular hearing in one of the five criminal cases brought against Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv (Ukrainian Orthodox Church). At this meeting, the prosecutor of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor’s Office, together with the OCU cleric Yosyp Zasansky, demanded that the Metropolitan be sentenced to two years in prison. The accusation is related to a sermon delivered by the bishop in support of the nuns who were previously expelled from their monastery.

According to the press service of the Cherkasy Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, this criminal case was initiated by a former priest of the Cherkasy Diocese, and now a cleric of the OCU, Joseph Zasansky. He filed a complaint with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) against Metropolitan Theodosius’ sermon delivered after the violent seizure of the Nativity of the Virgin Monastery in Cherkasy in the fall of 2023, when the nuns were forcibly expelled from their monastery.

According to the press service, during the seizure of the monastery, people in military uniforms, with the complete inaction of the police and in the presence of SBU officers, injured priests and laymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and smashed phones. After the eviction of the nuns, the invaders in balaclavas «blasphemously posed in the monastic cells, wearing sacred robes and holding firearms.»

It is noteworthy that the «victim» in the criminal case, allegedly fabricated with the support of the SBU, is Joseph Zasansky. He turned out to be the ultimate beneficiary of the event, becoming the new «rector from the OCU» of the seized monastery building. Before these events, Zasansky himself served in this monastery. After he gained control of the monastery’s property, he filed a complaint with the SBU against Metropolitan Theodosius, who visited the expelled nuns in their new temporary home, a small private house near the seized shrine.

The prosecutor’s office declared the word of comfort spoken by the bishop in this house for the nuns as «incitement to religious hatred.» During the court session on January 12, the prosecutor of the Cherkasy Regional Prosecutor’s Office in his speech at the debate demanded that the court imprison Metropolitan Feodosiy for two years for this sermon. Joseph Zasansky and his legal representative fully supported the prosecutor’s demands. Moreover, Joseph Zasansky demanded that Metropolitan Theodosius reimburse him 100,000 hryvnias as compensation for «significant suffering, emotional distress and insomnia» he allegedly experienced from the bishop’s sermon.

The source also notes that both sons of Joseph Zasansky, who are also clerics of the OCU, were directly involved in the preparation of the seizure of the monastery for their father. One of them, OCU cleric Nazariy Zasansky, constantly writes complaints to the SBU against Metropolitan Theodosius and actively acts as a «victim» in the other three lawsuits against the Metropolitan of Cherkasy and Kaniv.

As we reported earlier, on December 26, 2025, the Sosnovsky District Court of Cherkasy decided to extend the preventive measure in the form of a personal commitment to Metropolitan Theodosius (Snigirev) of Cherkasy and Kaniv for another two months.