Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with Metropolitan Jonathan (Yeletskikh) of Tulchinsk and Bratslav, who was previously convicted in Ukraine, who arrived in Moscow. This was reported by the press service of the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC).
Earlier, the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate reported that Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchinsk and Bratslav, who was sentenced to five years in prison in Ukraine, was released at the request of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
"At the request of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Jonathan (Yeletskikh) of Tulchinsky and Bratslav was released from prison by the Ukrainian authorities. Today, at the patriarchal residence in the Danilov Monastery, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill awarded Metropolitan Jonathan with the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh, I degree," the message reads.
At a meeting at the Danilovoye Monastery, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church stressed that Metropolitan Jonathan was repressed in Ukraine for his loyalty to the canonical Orthodoxy of the Russian Orthodox Church. "I am very sincerely glad to see Vladyka Jonathan here. As you know, for his loyalty to the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, for his unwillingness to compromise bordering on betrayal, Vladyka suffered significant tribulations, and <...> for me it was not only the duty of the patriarch, but also a personal duty to intervene in the situation in order to simply pull Vladyka out of these formidable and unpredictable according to the consequences of the circumstances," he said.
The Patriarch noted that he had known Vladyka for decades. "As rector of the academy, he was my student and the most wonderful choir director," said the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
"I realized that anything could be done to this man, because his expression of loyalty to the Russian Orthodox Church, to which he took his episcopal oath, was too uncompromising, honest and principled," the patriarch stressed.
He thanked Jonathan for his labors and exploits.
Jonathan was sentenced on August 7, 2023, to five years in prison for justifying Russia's actions in Ukraine and encroaching on the territorial integrity of the country. According to the version of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the hierarch distributed propaganda leaflets among believers, in which he called for the seizure of power and the change of the state border of Ukraine. The convict's lawyers insisted that the leaflets were planted during the search by SBU officers.
On August 9, 2023, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church sent an appeal in connection with the condemnation of Metropolitan Jonathan to the primates of the local Orthodox churches, a number of religious figures and representatives of international organizations.
While the appeal was being considered, Bishop Jonathan was under house arrest. In March of this year, the Tulchinsk diocese of the UOC reported that the metropolitan had suffered a stroke. On June 18, the Vinnytsia Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of Metropolitan Tulchinsky and Bratslavsky.
According to the materials of TASS and the Patriarchate