BREAKING: Met. Arseniy’s Life in Danger, Defense Warns, Alleging Forced Medical Intervention
Lawyers say detained abbot faces non-consensual surgery and ignored medical evidence amid mounting legal and humanitarian concerns.
DNIPRO — The situation surrounding Metropolitan Arseniy, abbot of the Sviatohirsk Lavra and bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), has reached what his legal team describes as a critical stage. The hierarch, who has been held in a pre-trial detention facility for more than a year, is reportedly facing actions carried out without his consent, despite legal requirements, while court hearings are said to proceed without meaningful consideration of his testimony or the arguments presented by his defense. This was shared in a release from the Sviatohirsk Lavra.
According to his lawyers, Metropolitan Arseniy was scheduled for hospitalization on January 6, Christmas Eve, at a regional medical center in Dnipro, with plans to conduct a complex heart operation on January 7, the Feast of the Nativity of Christ. The hierarch declined the proposed procedure, citing concerns that the facility lacks the specialized expertise required for such an operation and that his current physical condition, weakened by prolonged detention, makes immediate surgery unsafe.
"Presented with this as a fait accompli, Vladyka Arseniy — who had been advised back in September to undergo urgent surgery — refused this 'generous,' but mortally dangerous proposal," the Lavra stated in regard to the surgery that has been offered to the hierarch.
Medical experts consulted by the defense reportedly recommend rehabilitation, comprehensive examinations, and gradual preparation before any surgical intervention. Metropolitan Arseniy has expressed willingness to receive treatment but is seeking court permission to be transferred to the Heart Institute in Kyiv, where he would be treated by specialists with relevant experience.
Defense attorneys state that expert medical assessments confirming these concerns were submitted to the court. However, they claim the court has disregarded this information, with a judge reportedly stating she had no knowledge of the hierarch’s medical condition. Additional concern was raised by the reported resignation of the detention facility’s chief physician and the absence of senior medical officials during the same period.
On January 5, despite his refusal to undergo surgery in Dnipro, blood samples were allegedly taken from Metropolitan Arseniy by force. His legal team also reports plans to remove him from the detention facility on January 6 to an undisclosed location, raising fears of a forced medical procedure or another form of coercive action.
"Vladyka is not refusing medical treatment; he is refusing a threat to his life," the Lavra stated. "He needs care at a specialized institute in Kyiv, not a rushed intervention at a hospital from which he had previously been expelled under pressure. According to an expert opinion from leading medical specialists in the capital, the Dnipro clinic does not possess the necessary level of competence to perform operations of such complexity. Moreover, it is impossible to prepare a body exhausted by one and a half years of detention... for an extremely complex surgical intervention in just one day."
Supporters have called for intensified prayers for Metropolitan Arseniy and for continued attention to his legal and medical situation as developments unfold.
“It is impossible to count on acceptable medical care from the doctors of the hospital from which Vladyka Arseniy was expelled on November 3, 2025, without even concealing external pressure and without having time to destroy material evidence of the planned hospitalization," the Lavra said.
Previously, UOJ reported that the detention of Metropolitan Arseniy had been extended.
