Met. Arseny to Exchange Proposal: My People Are in Ukraine

Met. Arseny among refugees at the Sviatohirsk Lavra. Photo: Lavra Press Service

DNIPRO — On Nov. 3, 2025, in his closing statement at the court hearing in Dnipro, Met. Arseny of Sviatohirsk made an important declaration, stating that security officials were pressuring him to agree to an exchange. This was reported by the Sviatohirsk Lavra.

“They came to me and said, ‘Sign the agreement — we’ll exchange you.’ I don’t want that. I want to stay here. My flock is here. My brethren are here. My sisters, my spiritual children are here. My boys from the Armed Forces of Ukraine are here — they have never renounced me, and I will never renounce them, because they are mine,” the hierarch said.

The Metropolitan emphasized that for him, the Ukrainian people are his many-million-strong flock, stretching from West to East, from whom he has never turned away. “For the sake of the people of Ukraine I have lived and still live; for their sake I want to remain here and serve. I do not want to run anywhere,” he said.

Vladyka Arseny recalled that he has been a clergyman in Ukraine for 33 years, 30 of which he has served as abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra. “I came to Ukraine in 1992 and was ordained here — as a deacon, as a priest, and as a bishop — and was elevated here to the rank of metropolitan,” he noted.

“The people who need me are here, in Ukraine. Whatever they may offer me, whatever agreements they may ask me to sign for an exchange…” the Metropolitan stressed.

In his address, the hierarch also refuted accusations that he intended to flee the country: “I never planned to run away and I am not going to. Where could I run in my condition, especially since I don’t even have any documents on me?”

Met. Arseny appealed to the court to allow him to remain in Ukraine and receive necessary medical treatment. According to him, he needs heart surgery in Kyiv.

Previously, UOJ reported that authorities told a Ukrainian doctor that, if he admitted Met. Arseny to the hospital, he would be fired.

Read also