> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://uoj.news/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Met. Arseny to Exchange Proposal: My People Are in Ukraine
- URL: https://uoj.news/news/85563-met-arseny-to-exchange-proposal-my-people-are-in-ukraine/
- Published: 2025-11-05T10:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-23T07:23:23.000Z
- Description: The Metropolitan of Sviatohirsk declared in court that he refuses to leave the country where he has served for 33 years.
- Author: Aaron Hickman
- Tags: #Category: News, Metropolitan Arseny (Yakovenko), UOC, Persecution of the Church, Church and State

**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](https://svlavra.church.ua/ru/2025/11/05/zaklyuchitelnoe-slovo-mitropolita-svyatogorskogo-arseniya-na-sude-3-noyabrya-2025-g/).

“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.

[![](https://uoj.news/content/images/2026/09/85563-met-arseny-to-exchange-proposal-my-people-are-in-ukraine-image.jpg)On this topicBREAKING: Met. Arseny Hospitalized After Falling Ill During Court Hearing](https://uoj.news/news/85544-breaking-met-arseny-hospitalized-after-falling-ill-during-court-hearing/)

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](https://uoj.news/news/85323-met-arseniy-needs-urgent-heart-surgery/) in Kyiv.

Previously, [UOJ reported](https://uoj.news/news/85553-authorities-to-ukrainian-doctor-if-you-admit-met-arseny-youre-fired/) that authorities told a Ukrainian doctor that, if he admitted Met. Arseny to the hospital, he would be fired.