Archimandrite Benedict
(Secular name: Vitaly Khromey)
Date of birth: 1983
Abbot of the Monastery of All Saints of the Carpathian Rus of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the village of Bila Tserkva, Zakarpattia Oblast.
Rusyn, participant in the Rusyn movement.
🔴On September 7, 2023, the SBU Directorate in Zakarpattia Oblast reported that "the SBU exposed a priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) for promoting the communist regime..."
Security service operatives stated that on his social media page, the priest "promoted the communist regime" and "distributed Soviet symbols banned in Ukraine."
This was confirmed by a forensic art examination initiated in the case.
As it soon turns out, "propaganda of the communist regime" refers to Archimandrite Benedict's posting of an image of the "75th Anniversary of Victory in the World War II" medal on his Facebook account back in 2020 (!).
More precisely, he posted a frame for his Facebook avatar with a Victory Day greeting.
"The rector of the church has been notified of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 436-1 (dissemination of communist symbols and propaganda of the communist totalitarian regime) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine," the SBU reports.
During interrogation, the priest justified his actions by saying that his grandfather had fought in World War II, and the image of the "75 Years of Victory" Order posted on social media was a memorial to his relative who had served in the war.
🔴It's significant that already in this first SBU report, they accuse Father Benedict of "trying to prevent the community from converting to the OCU," which is clearly irrelevant and does not constitute an offense.
The SBU, obviously, believes otherwise and considers it their duty to facilitate "conversions to the OCU."
We quote:
"As the head of a territorial deanery, which was one of the first to leave the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the cleric tried in every way to prevent the community from switching to the OCU."
The SBU also reported that they confiscated the monk's computer equipment and that during the search, they allegedly found "a large quantity of propaganda materials by Russian authors and brochures of a separatist nature."
"Among the items discovered by law enforcement officers are books that disparage the religious feelings of citizens of other faiths and foster hostile sentiments toward them."
Interestingly, the photographs provided by the SBU seem to confirm that the literature found about the monk is legal, harmless, and does not contain calls for any illegal actions.
Although the authors of the SBU publication clearly hoped to discredit the UOC cleric by putting it on display. This speaks volumes about the atmosphere of nationalist hysteria that has developed in Ukraine.
The SBU also mentions a number of other allegedly objectionable finds in its report, including song lyrics that mention Russia, or texts from old prayer books that (in accordance with canonical order and the traditions of the Church of the past) mention Russia or the name of Patriarch Kirill. Despite the fact that there is no criminal element in these findings, nor can there be, all of this is cited as "evidence of the monk's guilt" and to incite hatred towards the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The fact that nothing illegal was ultimately found during the search of Father Benedict will soon become clear from the court rulings issued in his case.
These findings do not indicate any guilt for the alleged "separatist and pro-Russian materials" found by the SBU.
🔴What law enforcement will actually be focusing on in the future is the alleged land use violations during the construction of the church, which were discovered by SBU and police officers.
This will lead to the opening of another case for unauthorized construction under Article 197-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
"Furthermore, during the investigative process, it was established that the church rector illegally occupied the land on which the church was built. A criminal case has been opened under Article 197-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (unauthorized occupation of a land plot and unauthorized construction)," the SBU wrote.
🔴It is important to note that the media joined the campaign of harassment against the archimandrite following the searches.
Not only did they uncritically quote the SBU, but they also began to add unverified, and most importantly, innocuous, information to the news story, claiming that Father Benedict is "Oksana Marchenko's godfather."
It should be clarified that Oksana Marchenko is the wife of opposition politician Viktor Medvedchuk, whom the SBU and the Zelenskyy government accused of treason and who has been demonized in the media, grant-funded NGOs, and nationalist circles. During the war, Ukrainian citizen Viktor Medvedchuk was exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war (in violation of Ukrainian law).
Thus, the aforementioned attempt to link Father Benedikt to Medvedchuk and his family through some kind of family relationship is nothing more than a way to incite hatred and create an enemy image.
🔴On November 24, 2023, the Rakhiv District Court of the Zakarpattia Region sentenced Archimandrite Benedikt for allegedly "propaganda of the communist regime."
By a court decision, Archimandrite Benedict was sentenced to three years in prison for his congratulations on Victory Day over Nazi Germany, posted on Facebook. His property was confiscated, but he was released from prison on probation for one year.
He was ordered to have the confiscated books and equipment returned.
(Source: Registry of Court Decisions)
Anti-church media outlets reported this event with phrases expressing regret that the clergyman "avoided prison."
(Source: "Glavkom") "Oksana Marchenko's godfather priest, who promoted communism, escaped prison."
(Source: Zaxid.net) A priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate escaped punishment for promoting communism in Transcarpathia. Vitaliy Khromey is the godfather of Viktor Medvedchuk's wife, Oksana Marchenko.
🔴On March 14, 2024, the archimandrite received a fine in a second case for allegedly "unauthorized occupation of a land plot and unauthorized construction" of a church.
Following searches on September 7, 2023, the National Police opened a case under Art. 197-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, claiming that the monastery's fraternal building, which the monks were building, "crossed the line."
The Rakhiv District Court of the Zakarpattia Oblast found Archimandrite Benedict guilty in the criminal case.
The court fined the abbot 60,000 hryvnias.
On June 12, 2025, it was announced that the court had ruled to release Archimandrite Benedict (Khromey) of the Khust Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church from punishment in the criminal case for "disseminating communist symbols."
The clergyman published the court's ruling on his Facebook page.
By this time, a year and a half had passed since the verdict, and the archimandrite had survived a year of probation without any recorded "violations," and was therefore exempted from further punishment.
Tellingly, the court in Rakhov delayed the proceedings for five hearings and then denied the service's request. Father Benedict's lawyer filed an appeal, and the priest was ultimately exempted from punishment.
At present, he is being held in custody in the Dnipro pre-trial detention center (SIZO).
The first UOC priest officially killed on the frontline as a result of the unlawful mobilization.
The court imposed a preventive measure on Fr. Feognost in the form of night-time house arrest.
