Met. Longin (Zhar) Forbidden From Taking Orphans Under His Care

Metropolitan Longin. Photo: Banchensky Monastery

BUKOVINA — On August 12, 2025, after a hearing at the Hertsa District Court in Bukovina, Metropolitan Longin (Zhar) said that while the investigation is ongoing, he and the monastery brethren are forbidden from caring or protecting the many orphans and disabled persons under their care in the monastery's orphanage and other facilities. A video of his statement was published by the Bancheny Monastery's YouTube channel. 

“This court in Hertsa does not want to allow children to be placed under protection. They refuse everyone. Like a criminal, I no longer have the right,” he stressed.

The hierarch is not even allowed to accompany them to a medical facility, and any surgery requires the signature of their legal guardian. As Metropolitan Longin can no longer serve that role, this leaves hundreds of orphans without the ability to receive necessary medical care.

This development comes in spite of His Eminence taking in hundreds of children at the orphanage operated by Holy Ascension Monastery over the past 30-plus years, personally adopting them as his own children and even being named a Hero of Ukraine.

“Today has come the time when we do not have the right to live in this country or to have the rights everyone else has. We just need to endure a little longer. The Lord will deliver us from enemies, both visible and invisible,” the Metropolitan of Bancheny added.

The Metropolitan has been a prime target for the regime, which has even targeted his adopted children. Local sources indicate that as many as nine of his adopted sons have been press-ganged into front line service. At least one — dragged out of the monastery by agents of the SBU — has been killed at the front.

Following his last court hearing, the hierarch-confessor stated that, "today, neither the Constitution nor the law protects us, but we are strong, brothers and sisters, because we are with God. And when the time comes to endure for God, we must thank Him for everything." 

Previously, UOJ reported that Metropolitan Longin had denounced the forced mobilization of clergymen into the ongoing conflict, asserting that authorities lack the right to conscript priests.

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