In May, the bishops of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine will discuss a calendar reform, as a result of which the celebration of Christmas may be officially postponed to December 25.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine intends to consider the issue of calendar reform during the Council of Bishops in May. This was announced on Monday, February 6, by the Deputy Head of the OCU Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Yevstraty Zorya of Bila Tserkva on Facebook.
“The issue of a general calendar reform has been submitted for consideration by the Council of Bishops, which will meet in May,” Zorya wrote, commenting on the UGCC’s decision to switch to the New Julian calendar from September 1.
He noted that OCU still has time for a similar move.
“There is still time until September 1, when the new church year begins. In my opinion, as one of the members of the Council of Bishops, there are all the arguments and grounds for making a positive decision, while at the same time provides an opportunity for communities that want it to preserve the past tradition in the calendar,” said Zorya.
The metropolitan also explained that such reforms in the past caused problems where they were implemented “at once”, “from above”, without preparation and without the possibility of an alternative for those who are not ready to accept the new .
“Until now, our Church has acted in the opposite spirit: gradualism, considering all the arguments, providing an alternative,” the hierarch summed up, adding that he considers this method the best.
Recall, on Monday it became known that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) will switch to the New Julian calendar (the so-called “new style”) from September 1, 2023.
Earlier, the OCU Synod authorized Christmas services on December 25, where there were pastoral circumstances for it and the desire of the faithful was confirmed.
The New Julian calendar is used by 9 of the 15 local Orthodox churches in the world and by some parishes of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
At the same time, other local churches, as well as the UCHC, use the Julian calendar. The New Julian calendar until 2800 coincides with the Gregorian, except for Paschal, which coincides with the Julian calendar.
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Source: korrespondent
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