UGCC calls to get rid of the "Moscow" St. Demetrius Saturday

Uniates do not want to pray on St. Demetrius Saturday because it is "Moscow". Photo: Unian

A number of priests of the UGCC called to abandon the practice of commemorating the deceased on St. Demetrius Saturday because it is "Moscow". This, in particular, was written on Facebook by Ivan Dutka, who was reposted by UGCC theologian Yuriy (Yustyn) Boyko.

Dutka believes that Greek Catholics should forget about St. Demetrius Saturday because "the special commemoration of the deceased on this day is a Moscow custom, which got into our churches through the Orthodox Church, which was in Moscow captivity for centuries".

He points out that the mention of St. Demetrius Saturday appeared in the prayer book of the Kyiv Orthodox Metropolitan Peter Mohyla and cites the opinion of the Greek Catholic priest of the USA, Katriy, that "this custom came to us from the Moscow Church".

At the same time, Peter Mohyla was a bishop of the Church of Constantinople, and he published his prayer book in 1646, 42 years before the Kyiv Metropolitanate joined the Russian Church.

Nevertheless, the UGCC demands to get rid of St. Demetrius Saturday and tie the "general commemoration of the dead" to the commemoration of the Holodomor victims.

As earlier reported, the Uniates blamed Moscow for the reluctance of Transcarpathians to unite with the UGCC.

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