Archimandrite Zachariah (Voitenok)
Archimandrite Zachariah
(Secular name: Anatoly Fedosovich Voitenok)
Date of birth: 1946.
Monk of the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, having great spiritual authority among Kyiv's Orthodox Christians.
One of the first Ukrainian citizens to suffer from the organized wave of repression against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the Zelensky regime.
The provocation against him and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in November 2022 became a symbolic, unique signal and justification for the beginning of persecution – a pretext to search for a "Russian trace" in the UOC, its monasteries, and churches.
On November 12, 2022, Mikhai Omelyan, a cleric of the OCU religious organization responsible for media work within the OCU, published a video on his Facebook page allegedly filmed in one of the churches of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – the Church of All the Venerable Fathers of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
In the video, which shows signs of editing, unidentified individuals in the church, apparently before or after the service, mostly parishioners filmed from behind, allegedly chanted the words "...the bells float, float over Russia, Mother Rus' awakens."
Based on this video, Omelyan accused the UOC of "praying for Russia on the 262nd day of the full-scale Russian invasion."
The song itself was not a prayer, was not performed during a service, and did not "glorify aggression." Its performance was not initiated by the clergy, much less the Lavra's leadership, but could have been the initiative of some of the parishioners themselves.
Furthermore, the authenticity of the video itself was and remains in doubt.
Despite all this, the video immediately became a scandal and suspiciously quickly spread across all media outlets, including governmental ones.
The events bore all the hallmarks of an orchestrated campaign, which was soon confirmed.
On November 13, 2022, a number of commentators declared the video a fake and pointed out traces of forgery. Among them was the public organization "MIRYANE."
It's worth noting that the song featured in the video glorifies the Mother of God, does exist, and is called "The Song of the Most Holy Theotokos."
The song, written by Nina Borodai, first appeared in 2004 and has long been traditionally sung by believers in the Russian-speaking world since pre-war times.
However, it is not a liturgical or church hymn; it is a spiritual song for the laity.
It glorifies the Mother of God and the Orthodox Church, and lists various cities of historical Rus' known for their miraculous icons of the Mother of God.
It also lists the regions of modern and historical Russia where churches in Her honor are being dedicated.
Moreover, the line "...the ringing floats, floats over Russia, Mother Rus' awakens" also exists in another version, without the word "Russia": "the ringing floats, floats into the blue sky, Mother Rus' awakens."
Even if we believe the authenticity of the video by the OCU cleric inciting hatred against the UOC, and that this song was sung by the laity in the Lavra after the service, then:
1. This song does not and cannot constitute a crime;
2. The UOC, the monastery, or even the monk or priest conducting the service cannot be held responsible for it, because it was an initiative of the laity outside of the service.
The greatest sin of this song is that songs mentioning Russia in a church during a war with it seem inappropriate.
Nevertheless, this event became the trigger for a planned campaign to discredit the UOC and repress its clergy and faithful.
On November 13, 2022, the day after the video was published, the SBU and the Ministry of Culture responded to the event.
The SBU reported that they and Ukrainian police have launched an investigation into a video "of chants about Russia in Russian in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra."
On November 14, 2022, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra commented on the situation.
The monastery's spiritual leadership stated its position, announcing that a meeting would be held regarding the person responsible for services at the Church of All the Venerable Fathers of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra on the day where the video was allegedly filmed, and that Father Zechariah had been suspended from conducting services at that time.
The Lavra's abbot, Metropolitan Pavel, stated that the priest had already been banned from celebrating the Divine Liturgy and serving prayer services.
"I am certain that Father Zachariah himself did not sing these songs. We do not sing secular songs in church; only glorifications of saints are sung in church, not glorifications of anyone. <…> In church, we must pray for one thing—for peace, for a speedy end to the war," the UOC hierarch declared.
Archimandrite Polycarp (Linenko), the Lavra's statute-master, explained that this occurred during a prayer service before the icon of the Mother of God "The Queen of All," which always attracts a large crowd.
"This prayer service is always celebrated by one priest, and it is sung by the people who gather. After the service, the people receive anointing from the priest with holy oil from the icon, and since many people gather, a group of activists sings various spiritual hymns during the veneration of the icon," Father Polycarp said.
The archimandrite added that Hieromonk Zakharia, who was conducting the service, was busy at the time: performing the anointing and communicating with parishioners.
On November 16, 2022, the State Service for Ethnopolicy and Freedom of Conscience of Ukraine issued a statement in connection with the "song scandal."
According to the State Service for Ethnopolicy and Freedom of Conscience of Ukraine, "every bishop of the UOC must ensure that the parishes of their diocese do not commemorate Patriarch Kirill, do not distribute pro-Kremlin literature, and do not reproduce narratives of the 'Russian world.'"
This entire situation coincided surprisingly well with Zelenskyy's press conference on November 16, 2022.
During the event, journalist and editor-in-chief of Radio NV Oleksiy Tarasov publicly called the UOC an "internal enemy" (a statement Zelenskyy did not object to) and effectively demanded that Zelenskyy fight for the UOC, asking, "What's stopping this?"
The question had obviously been prepared and agreed upon.
It was at this press conference that Zelenskyy's statements were made about the government's intention to take some kind of restrictive measures against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
To give the repressions a civilized appearance, the government chose someone to lead this effort: Viktor Yelensky, a longtime opponent of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and former MP (soon appointed head of the State Service for Ethnopolicy and Freedom of Conscience of Ukraine).
On December 1, 2022, officers from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) served notice of suspicion to Archimandrite Zacharias, in whose presence a song mentioning "Russia" was performed.
According to the SBU, this was "glorification of the Russian world."
The SBU stated that during the pre-trial investigation, "illegal actions by the hieromonk were established, which was confirmed by relevant expert examinations."
"The individuals in question are suspected of committing crimes under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 1 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justification, recognition of the legality, denial of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants, committed by a group of persons)," the statement reads.
On December 2, 2022, the Solomensky District Court of Kyiv ordered Father Zakhariah to be remanded in custody until January 29, 2023.
On April 7, 2023, the Pechersk Court of Kyiv refused to hear Father Zachariah's case due to the obvious lack of corpus delicti and the monk's involvement in it.
The court returned the indictment to prosecutors.
This is evidenced by the court's ruling of April 7, 2023. In his ruling, the judge noted that the indictment "significantly fails to comply" with the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine:
"The circumstances listed by the court unconditionally demonstrate the absence of a full (specific) procedural statement in the indictment, and therefore, its appointment for trial would be contrary to the provisions of Part 3 of Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms."
After examining the indictment, the court was also unable to determine the precise method by which Archimandrite Zakharia "committed the crime." The judge also emphasized that it was unclear to him whether the church premises were a means or an instrument at the time the song was performed.
On September 8, 2023, the Kyiv Court of Appeal upheld the prosecutor's appeal and ordered a new trial in the case of a Lavra monk who allowed the singing of the "Song of the Most Holy Theotokos" in the Warm Church of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
Under pressure from the authorities, who cannot admit the futility of their accusations, the absurd case of Archimandrite Zachariah is not being closed.
Effectively, having lost its legal basis back in the spring of 2023, it remains a pure act of intimidation and pressure by security forces against a monk of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
КУ ст. 35 (свобода вероисповедания) · ЕСПЧ ст. 9 · Нормы ООН