OCU communities start switching to New Julian calendar

OCU parishes are switching to the New Julian calendar. Photo: Getty Images

On November 13, 2022, the religious community of the Holy Protection parish of the OCU in Mamayivtsi village (Chernivtsi region) unanimously decided at its meeting to switch to the New Julian calendar and celebrate Christmas on December 25 "as the whole civilized world”. This was reported on her Facebook page by Khrystyna Marchuk, deputy head of the Department for Regional Development of the Chernivtsi RMA. The transition was announced by OCU "priest" Ivan Chokaliuk, Epiphany's native uncle, at a community meeting.

The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (OCU) in the village of Kryvorivnia (Ivano-Frankivsk region) also decided to switch to the new style, reports Ivan Rybaruk, an OCU "priest," on kl.informator.ua.

The head of the Information Service of the Cherkasy Eparchy of the OCU, "Father" Andriy Shpunt said that this year three parishes in Cherkasy will celebrate Christmas on December 25 – the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church, the Anatoly Church near the regional hospital, and the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos, located on the territory of the cancer hospital, reports provce.ck.ua.

"It is not easy to get rid of the 'burden of traditions', but it is another step on the way to Europe, away from Moscow and the 'Russian world'," Khrystyna Marchuk commented.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to the OCU "hierarch", the Julian calendar is a consequence of the 300-year subordination of the Russian Orthodox Church.

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