The head of Ukraine’s Catholic Church announced on Monday a change to liturgical calendars this autumn that would see Christmas celebrated on December 25 rather than January 7, amid an effort by Ukrainian institutions to distance themselves from Russia.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukranian Catholic Church, announced that it will mostly stop using the Julian calendar, a liturgical calendar used almost exclusively by the Russian Orthodox Church and other eastern churches influenced by it.
The move means that Ukranian Catholics will celebrate Easter according to their original liturgical calendar, before the changes come into play in September, meaning that Christmas 2023 will then be celebrated on 25 December.
Shevchuk explained that the change had been asked for during a synodal meeting of the Church’s bishops on 1-2 February. In the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the synod of bishops is a policy-setting body, which governs the Church in line with the major archbishop and the pope.
Until now, all major churches in majority-Orthodox Ukraine followed the Julian calendar, which celebrates Christmas on January 7. That is also the date on which Russia celebrates the feast.
Yet for many in Ukraine, the Julian calendar has become associated with “Russian world” ideology, which has been used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify his actions, the most recent of which has been the invasion in Ukraine.
In polling conducted by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture last year, 59 per cent of over 1.5 million respondents said the country’s churches should move away from the Russian-influenced liturgical schedule. Since the start of the war, that number has gone up to 90 per cent, according to Archbishop Shevchuk.
In a resolution passed last week, the bishops of the UGCC explained that Catholics had asked for a change, and that they had consulted with clergy and monasteries about the move.
The move by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), which counts just under a tenth of Ukrainians as worshippers, was welcomed by culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko.
“This decision is appropriate to the demands of our time and public opinion,” he wrote on Facebook.
Last month, Tkachenko expressed hope that all of Ukraine’s churches would agree to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25.
The bishops decided that a changeover will happen September 1, but have allowed for parishes to transition more slowly, taking even until 2025, with permission from their diocesan bishops.
(Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukranian Catholic Church | Vatican News)
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