Appellate court upholds guilty verdict against Metropolitan Theodosiy

Metropolitan Theodosiy. Photo: Cherkasy Eparchy

Metropolitan Theodosiy of Cherkasy and Kaniv, head of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), lost his appeal: the court left his conviction unchanged, reports the Cherkasy Prosecutor's Office on May 8.

In February 2026, the Prydniprovsky District Court of Cherkasy found Metropolitan Theodosiy (secular name – Denys Snigirev) guilty of inciting religious hatred under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The basis for the accusation was a video address by the hierarch posted in open access on the internet: according to the Prosecutor's Office version, it allegedly contained calls for religious hatred. The court imposed a fine of 500 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens.

Metropolitan Theodosiy claims that the criminal case was initiated after his sermon about the seizure of the Nativity of the Mother of God Convent by representatives of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The hierarch insists on the fabricated nature of the accusations and regards the persecution as pressure on the Church. This case became the first of four criminal proceedings against the hierarch to end with a conviction.

As the UOJ reported, the court issued a conviction to Metropolitan Theodosiy in February 2026. In addition to this, several other criminal proceedings have been initiated against the Cherkasy Metropolitan on charges of justifying Russian aggression and inciting interfaith hatred.

Read also