The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has changed the date of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ to December 25. Corresponding changes were made to Article 73 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, Christian Megaportal inVictory reports with reference to ukrinform.ua.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) has decided to switch to the New Julian calendar from September 1, 2023 for fixed holidays.
The OCU will celebrate Christmas on December 25, not January 7. Epiphany is January 6th, and Saint Nicholas Day is December 6th.
At the same time, the Council decided to reserve the right to use the old calendar for parishes and monasteries that wish to do so.
The celebration of the movable Easter and related events will remain unchanged. Trinity will be celebrated on the 50th day after Easter.
The decision to switch to the new calendar will be made by the OCU after the Council of Bishops in the Refectory Church of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.
Formally, the transition still has to be approved by the local council of the church on July 27, 2023. However, the Primate of the OCU, Metropolitan Epiphanius, said that the issue had already been resolved, and the transition would take place.
Recall that earlier the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) decided to switch to the Gregorian calendar. The Synod of the OCU has already allowed communities wishing to switch to the new calendar to do so according to the appropriate procedure.
The transition to the new church calendar is supported by 63% of Ukrainians. This is evidenced by the results of a survey conducted by the sociological group “Rating”.
At the same time, 18% of respondents are against such an idea, another 17% say they don’t care.
According to the survey, the majority of supporters of the transition to the new church calendar are Westerners (78%) and especially Greek Catholics (92%). Among the parishioners of the OCU, more than 60% also support this initiative.
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