Jonathan (Ionafan) (Yeletskykh)
Date of birth: 30 January 1949
(secular name: Anatolii Yeletskykh)
Jonathan, former Metropolitan of Tulchyn and Bratslav
Former ruling hierarch of the Tulchyn and Bratslav Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Vinnytsia Region).
Metropolitan Jonathan is a well-known spiritual composer, translator of liturgical and theological texts, and the author of numerous church works and arrangements of sacred hymns.
He held the status of a human rights defender working with the United Nations and was a member of the human rights group “Church Against Xenophobia and Discrimination.”
🔴On 11 October 2022, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted searches at Metropolitan Jonathan’s residence.
On the basis of leaflets allegedly found on the hierarch’s computer and among his personal belongings, he was charged with “justifying Russian aggression, inciting interconfessional hatred, and promoting the ‘Russian World.’”
🔴According to media reports, on 28 December 2022 the citizenship of Metropolitan Jonathan (Yeletskykh) was “suspended” by a decree of President Zelenskyy as part of a list of 13 UOC hierarchs.
(Source: UOJ)
🔴On 4 January 2023, the SBU completed its investigative actions against Metropolitan Jonathan.
He was charged under four articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – Articles 436-2, 109, 110, and 161 – including the charge of “encroachment on the territorial integrity of the state.”
The metropolitan was accused of “inciting hostility among citizens of Ukraine on religious grounds, as well as intending to violently change the constitutional order of Ukraine by searching for, producing, reproducing, and storing colored propaganda leaflets with anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian content, allegedly with the intent to distribute them among clergy through the diocesan chancery.”
Metropolitan Jonathan categorically rejected all charges.
He described them as fabricated and stated his intention to present in court video fragments of the SBU searches conducted by officers of the Vinnytsia Regional Directorate of the SBU at the diocesan chancery and at a temporary residence outside the city.
The video footage recorded gross procedural violations during the searches, casting serious doubt on the investigators’ version of how the leaflets allegedly appeared.
(Source: UOJ)
🔴On 10 January 2023, the SBU press service announced that it allegedly possessed “irrefutable evidence” of Metropolitan Jonathan’s guilt.
According to the SBU, the hierarch faced a real prison sentence of up to eight years.
(Source: SBU)
🔴On 5 June 2023, the Vinnytsia City Court began hearing the case of Metropolitan Jonathan. Notably, judges in the city of Tulchyn, where the case was initially to be tried, recused themselves.
During the trial, the metropolitan’s lawyer presented operational video footage recorded by the SBU itself, showing an SBU officer physically bringing the very leaflets for which the hierarch was being prosecuted.
Moreover, the SBU’s own materials showed that electronic versions of the leaflets appeared on the metropolitan’s computer only after it had been seized, as evidenced by the file creation dates.
In other words, the evidence had been planted and falsified. According to the defense attorney, the court completely ignored the defense’s evidence. The prosecutor did not dispute it either.
🔴On 4 August 2023, during a hearing of the Vinnytsia City Court, a newly appointed prosecutor demanded the maximum sentence of six years’ imprisonment for Metropolitan Jonathan.
(Source: UOJ)
🔴On 7 August 2023, despite clear evidence of fabrication, Metropolitan Jonathan was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison with confiscation of property.
He became the second bishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to be sentenced to imprisonment and the first to receive a real custodial sentence rather than a suspended one.
At the time the verdict was handed down, the hierarch was 74 years old. Imprisonment would almost certainly have meant death in custody.
🔴On 18 June 2024, media outlets reported that the convicted Metropolitan Jonathan had refused to be included in a prisoner exchange as a so-called “prisoner of war” for transfer to Russia.
The very proposal was inherently immoral and unlawful.
The hierarch’s lawyer stated that his client had indeed written an application for exchange while undergoing treatment at a cardiac center following a stroke. However, Metropolitan Jonathan does not have prisoner-of-war status, does not admit any guilt, and “wishes to continue working for the good of Ukraine.”
(Source: UOJ)
🔴On 18 June, the Vinnytsia Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the court of first instance, sentencing Metropolitan Jonathan, the ruling hierarch of the Tulchyn Eparchy, to five years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.
The appellate ruling entered into force upon its announcement and could be challenged before the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of Ukraine within three months.
🔴On 22 June 2024, the 75-year-old metropolitan, who required medical care, was unlawfully and without his consent exchanged as a prisoner of war and transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation.
It was reported that Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church petitioned for the exchange.
(Source: UOJ)
🔴On 3 November, it became known that former head of the Tulchyn Eparchy of the UOC, Metropolitan Jonathan, through his lawyer, filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court against the verdict sentencing him to five years’ imprisonment.
(Source: UOJ)
The June 2024 U.S. Department of State report on international religious freedom in Ukraine also mentioned court proceedings against representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
In particular, it referred to the case of Metropolitan Jonathan of Tulchyn and Bratslav, to violations documented by the United Nations during its investigation, as well as to the trial of Metropolitan Ioasaph, former head of the Kirovohrad Eparchy of the UOC, and diocesan secretary Roman Kondratiuk.
(Source: U.S. Department of State)
At present, he is being held in custody in the Dnipro pre-trial detention center (SIZO).
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