At the annual Diocesan meeting of Moscow, which took place on December 16, 2025 in the Cathedral Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the metropolitan clergy prayed for believers suffering persecution in Ukraine.
"Let us prayerfully remember the archpastors, pastors, monastics and laypeople of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who are undergoing real persecution, even to the point of being in bonds and prisons, and first of all let us pray for Metropolitan Arseniy of Svyatogorsk, who, despite his grave health condition, was re—imprisoned," the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church called during the meeting. Churches.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill also recalled that according to recent statements by the persecutors themselves, 40 clergymen of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have been sentenced to various terms of imprisonment over the past four years. In total, 208 criminal proceedings have been initiated against clerics of the canonical Church, and 19 clergymen, including His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufry of Kiev and All Ukraine, have been deprived of Ukrainian citizenship and the right to reside in Ukraine.
At the call of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, the participants of the meeting sang "many summers" to all the brothers and sisters who are suffering persecution for their faith and truth.