The Orthodox Church of Ukraine will switch to a new calendar – this decision was made by the Synod of Bishops. Earlier, the Holy Synod supported the decision to switch the UOC to the New Julian calendar. And now they voted "for" even at the Bishops' Council.
Source. This was reported by the Ukrainian BBC service.
According to the new calendar, Ukrainians will, in particular, celebrate Christmas on December 25 instead of January 7, Epiphany will be moved to January 6 instead of January 19, and Nicholas Day will be on December 6. At the same time, the date of the celebration of Easter and Trinity will not be affected by the transition to the new calendar.
They will switch to the New Julian calendar on September 1, 2023.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine radically changed the situation, notes the Ukrainian philosopher and religious scholar, doctor of philosophy, professor Iryna Bogachevska:
"Since 2019, this issue has been raised, but then only 15% of surveyed Ukrainians supported this transition. And, according to the results of sociological research at the end of 2022, it is already supported by 70%... This will be another significant difference between the OCU and Ukrainian Orthodoxy in general from Moscow Orthodoxy, because they stubbornly adhere to the Julian calendar."
For more than 100 years, secular Ukraine, like most countries of the world, has been living according to the Gregorian calendar – astronomically more accurate compared to the old Julian calendar, which the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate continues to follow. The difference between them is 13 days.
"This is the main conflict that distinguished, for example, Orthodox Ukrainians, Russians, Belarusians – those who follow the Julian calendar, from the same Bulgarians or Greeks, and from the whole world. The whole world first celebrates Christmas on December 25, and then the New Year on January 1. And in our country it turns out that we celebrate the New Year on January 1, and Christmas comes on January 7. And that is why we have such an incomprehensible custom for foreigners as the old New Year on the 14th. This is the same New Year according to the church calendar, according to the Julian calendar. And now we will have everything as it should be – Christmas is on the 25th, and the New Year comes from the first," explains Iryna Bogachevska.
In her opinion, the transition of believers to the new style will take place gradually, without significant inconvenience. It will take people a few years to get used to it, she notes.
In addition, the transition to the new calendar will be a step for the OCU to get closer to other Orthodox churches of the world and will help strengthen international contacts. But it will help to distance yourself as much as possible from the Moscow Patriarchate, says Bogachevska.
Background. It will be recalled that the Volyn Regional Council banned the activities of the UOC MP in the region and recommended terminating lease agreements with it.