On 21 August 2023, the first court hearing on the merits of the case against Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv took place in the Sosnivskyi District Court of Cherkasy. It was informed about by the press service of the Cherkasy Diocese, the Information and Education Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church reports.
The Security Service of Ukraine accuses the hierarch of committing crimes under art. 161 and art. 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of equality of citizens depending on their religious beliefs and justification, recognition as rightful, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants).
In accordance with the procedure, Metropolitan Theodosius made an introductory speech concerning the charges brought against him.
We are publishing Vladyka Theodosius’ speech in full:
‘I respectfully address the Court and the esteemed observers of this trial!
Today, I, a law-abiding citizen of Ukraine, a native Kyivan, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the head of the Cherkasy Eparchy , Metropolitan Theodosius of Cherkasy and Kaniv, have to stand before this Court and answer fabricated charges that have been brought against me. It should be said right away that although the charges have been formulated against an individual, this entire criminal case has been artificially fabricated against me because I am a Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the head of the Cherkasy Eparchy. This criminal proceeding is part of the ongoing persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in our country, and the Cherkasy Eparchy in particular. And as an individual, as a citizen of Ukraine, they are not interested in me personally. In my person, the persecutors are persecuting the Ukrainian Church, and I am now representing The Ukrainian Church in this Court. It is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, that is being unjustly persecuted and discredited today.
That is why the attention of not only Ukrainian citizens but also the international community is fully focused on this trial today. This is especially true with regards to countries with historically existing Orthodox Churches. I am regularly approached by clergymen of the Local Orthodox Churches from around the world as well as by journalists who specialise in legal and religious issues from Greece, Serbia, the United States of America and other countries with words of support and requests for comments on the current situation.
Recently, on July 26, the United Nations Security Council held a session, where, among other things, the Cherkasy issue was raised, both about my imprisonment and the persecution of the Ukrainian Church. I truly hope that this high international tribune, being the UN Security Council session, was indeed heard by people of goodwill around the world. Therefore, all materials of the current trial, with the permission of the Court, will be translated into the languages of international communication and made available to all interested journalists and international human rights defenders.
Of course, I do not recognise and cannot recognise the charges brought against me by the Security Service of Ukraine(SBU), as they have been completely artificially fabricated and falsified. The Security Service of Ukraine has charged me, a Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with two articles of the Criminal Code.
The first and more serious of the two is Article 436/2 (parts 2 and 3) in which I am accused of allegedly giving orders to publish extremist materials on the official website of the Cherkasy Eparchy. I categorically declare that I never gave such orders and never intended to ever do so.
This allegation is completely false and has no basis in fact, and in no way whatsoever corresponds to reality. The prosecution has no facts, no evidence to prove the opposite, and in principle cannot have any facts or evidence to prove the opposite. The charges levelled against me under this article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine are completely fabricated from start to finish.
The second charge against me is under Part 1 of Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. This is (quote): “Intentional actions aimed at inciting national, racial or religious hatred and enmity, humiliation of national honour and dignity, or insulting the feelings of citizens in connection with their religious beliefs, as well as direct or indirect restriction of rights or establishment of direct or indirect privileges of citizens on the basis of race, skin colour, political, religious and other beliefs, gender, disability, ethnic and social origin, property status, place of residence, language or other characteristics.”
This absurd accusation is being brought against us, in all seriousness today, and in an environment where the mere affiliation with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in our society which, by the way, is being whipped up by the owned biased mass media, is already in itself a terrible danger to any person in Ukraine. Everywhere you look there is persecution of our Church on a massive scale, and it is being expressly and utterly discriminated against in the Ukrainian mass media. Our churches are being illegally seized, including in Cherkasy itself as well as in the Cherkasy region. For example, in this room there is a priest, Yevhen Burkatskyi, who three weeks ago, together with the religious community, was illegally expelled from the Church of the Presentation of Jesus, which was built by the Cherkasy Eparchy at its own expense; the church was seized and transferred to the so-called Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). Father Yevhen himself, along with his seven children and wife, were expelled from the parish house by these very people who are now sitting in front of us in military uniforms and pretending to be the “victims.”
At every step, the rights of the faithful of our Church, citizens of Ukraine, are being trampled on, insulted by obscene language and despised by officials of various ranks. City mayors and local deputies are making unconstitutional decisions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in the process humiliating millions of our believers in words and documents. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is preparing several bills to ban the activities of our Church, contrary to the Constitution, contrary to international legal principles, and finally contrary to common sense. Today, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and its faithful, who number many millions of Ukrainian citizens, have become third-class citizens in their own country, the country where they were born and where they live.
Today, in Ukraine, in front of the whole world, Article 35 of the Constitution and Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine have been completely trampled on and violated by the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And at the same time, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Security Service of Ukraine are, in all seriousness, bringing charges under Article 161 against representatives of the persecuted Ukrainian Orthodox Church , including myself. For people with still functional logical thinking, this can only cause cognitive dissonance. And such cognitive dissonance is experienced by people from around the world.
So it is not only me who is standing before the Court today, but it is all Orthodox believers of the Cherkasy region – the Cherkasy Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – in my person. Moreover, the prosecutor’s office and the Security Service of Ukraine are bringing charges against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Cherkasy region today in close cooperation with their faithful assistants “from the religious sphere.” That is, they are doing this with the help of the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU)” represented by its clergy. After all, almost all the so-called “victims” and “witnesses” in this process are “clergy” of the OCU.
We now see these “clergymen” of the OCU in front of us in the courtroom. Today they will accuse me, an Orthodox hierarch under the above articles of the Criminal Code. But at the same time, they really do not want to be publicly identified in the Court as “clergymen”. That is why they are not wearing cassocks today. The clergy of the OCU do not want this “Judas’ sin” of theirs to be perceived as “Judas’ sin” by our society and the entire Orthodox world, which is closely following the process. That is why they do not wear the costumes appropriate to their position in the “OCU” – cassocks and crosses – to court hearings. They come to court hearings in military uniforms, they disguise themselves as chaplains. Why do you need to sit in court in protective, camouflage pants and T-shirts? Are you threatened by a sniper or an enemy bullet? No, there is no threat.
But you really don’t want the baptised world to see that a canonical Orthodox metropolitan was dragged into court by the “clergy” of the OCU. And this is exactly what is happening. And this is happening in the twenty-first century before the eyes of the entire Orthodox world.
Entering into the trial, I would like to draw the attention of the esteemed Court and observers to the fact that this trial is likely to be a show trial , as it is already causing a wide public outcry both in Ukraine and abroad. This process may also become a precedent for modern Ukrainian justice. But it will definitely be another serious test of the impartiality and fairness of our justice system.
After all, the initiators of the criminal case opposite me, although they have brought fabricated charges under specific articles of the Criminal Code, of which I am not guilty of but , by and large, they want to try me not for specific illegal actions (which I obviously did not commit, and the investigators of the SBU and the prosecutor’s office are very well aware of this). They want to obstruct and publicly condemn my very position as a hierarch of the Ukrainian Church:
* The position of defending the canonical structure of the Church;
* The position of rejection of the schism, rejection of political, compromising, non-canonical ways to overcome the schism – without repentance and without true apostolic ordination;
* The position of a supporter of Church unity and the millennial historical truth of our people;
The initiators of this criminal proceeding want me, as an Orthodox hierarch and as a citizen of Ukraine, to simply shut up and say nothing more. They want other faithful of the Church to see this, get scared, and shut up as well. Ideally, the whole Church should remain silent. They want to condemn not only our position, and our statements, but also our thoughts. The beneficiaries of this criminal proceeding aim to condemn our civic attitude to what is happening in the religious sphere of our society. To condemn lawful dissent. And not only mine personally, but also that of millions of people like me, citizens of Ukraine, primarily believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but not only limited to them.
Standing firmly in my canonical and civic position, which I have voiced above, I nevertheless understand perfectly well that today in our country, any uncareful step in publicly defending one’s position can lead to a barrage of slander and savage aggression from opponents, which as a result, will only harm the Church. Therefore, in the trial, we will try not to let the prosecution provoke us to take unnecessary and needless steps. In other words, judge me only for the actual offenses that the SBU is charging me with, not for my thoughts and feelings. My thoughts and feelings are my personal matters . In particular, we will prevent any attempts to turn the discussion into a political one, if there should be any such attempts.
Since the Criminal Code of Ukraine has not yet introduced articles for “dissent” and “thought crimes” (as in the famous novel by George Orwell), our defense team will insist that the prosecution prove the evidence of the offenses that have been brought against me in the Indictment and strictly adhering to such practice only.
Being aware of my responsibility to the diverse flock of our Church, which also suffers from constant attacks against it, I as a hierarch of the Church, reserve the fundamental right not to express my personal point of view on any social issues, ideological issues, and even more so on political issues. If the discussion concerns the position of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on certain socially significant issues, we shall cite only official documents of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, as answers.
I thank you for your kind attention.’
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