Jerusalem Bishop: A Society That Accepts the Killing of Monks Is Defenseless

JERUSALEM — As reported by UOJ-Ukraine, Metr. Timotheos (Margaritis) of Bostra of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem has called for a full investigation into the killing of Monk Varsonofiy at the Sviatohirsk Lavra in Ukraine, saying those responsible should be brought to justice.

The hierarch told the UOJ that the circumstances surrounding the August 23 attack should be established by investigators, while warning against allowing political considerations to influence the case. He said the killing occurred against a broader backdrop of increasingly hostile rhetoric directed toward the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).

Metr. Timotheos said such rhetoric can contribute to an atmosphere in which hostility and intolerance become normalized. He emphasized that he was not claiming the attack was directly caused by public statements, but argued that words can gradually influence what people regard as permissible.

Monk Varsonofiy was killed near the Lavra’s St. Nicholas Church at about 11 a.m. on August 23. Monk Gregory and monastery resident Andriy Kyriienko were also wounded in the attack. Criminal proceedings have been opened, but the identities of the attackers have not been officially established. The slain monk was buried behind the altar of the Dormition Cathedral on August 25 following his funeral service. Metr. Timotheos said the investigation must not fade into silence, warning that failure to bring those responsible to justice could send a dangerous message about the value placed on human life.

Metr. Timotheos's statement to the UOJ-Ukraine reads thus:

I have been following what has been happening to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for years, and I confess that I had hoped it would never come to this. But it has. At the Sviatohirsk Lavra, on a Sunday, outside a church, Monk Varsonofiy was killed, while Monk Gregory and Andriy Kyriienko, who was living at the monastery, apparently survived only because the attackers thought they were dead. I offer my condolences to the monastery brotherhood and the entire Ukrainian Church, and at the Life-Giving Tomb I pray for the repose of the slain monk and the recovery of the wounded.

I am asked how this should be understood. The answer is simple. Father Varsonofiy’s last words, as reported by the Lavra, were: “Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ! I am a monk.” He died without renouncing what he had vowed at his tonsure, and the Church knows such a death and knows how to call it by its proper name: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints" (Ps. 115:6).

Who exactly raised a hand against them is for the investigation to establish, and I will not anticipate its conclusions. But one thing must be said. In recent years, a grave atmosphere has developed around the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: its faithful have often been spoken about publicly in ways one should not speak about fellow citizens and fellow believers, and the harshness of such rhetoric has long ceased to trouble anyone. Yet words never remain merely words. Little by little, they change what people consider permissible, and where hostility becomes commonplace, it grows increasingly difficult to maintain boundaries. I do not presume to say that what happened in Sviatohirsk directly grew out of this – that is for the investigation to determine. But I am convinced that a society in which such words become commonplace leaves itself defenseless in the face of tragedy.

At the root of this lies neither politics nor any political party. The Apostle says plainly: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph. 6:12). The one who sets fellow believers against one another and drives their hostility to the point of murder is a murderer from the beginning, and his aim is always the same – to extinguish love among Christians.

Therefore, I hope – and I believe that any hierarch in my place, indeed anyone who values the rule of law in a democratic country, would hope the same – that the investigation will be pursued to its conclusion and that those who committed this crime will be brought to justice.

The worst outcome would be silence. A case that quietly fades away tells society that a monk’s life was worth little, and once such a message has been sent, it is not forgotten. I therefore hope that the conclusion of this case will serve as a clear warning and that no one else will have to mourn their own.

Previously, the UOJ reported that Sviatohirsk Lavra has a history of tragedy and rebirth.