Song and Dance Ensemble performs in Lavra's Refectory Church

Performance by the Kalyna Ensemble in the Lavra's Refectory Church. Photo: Instagram "Kalyna"

On December 15, 2024, the Refectory Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra hosted a folkloric-academic concert titled Christmas – New Style. This was reported by the State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Artistic Education on its Facebook page. Participants in the concert included the Ukrainian Academic Folkloric-Ethnographic Song and Dance Ensemble "Kalyna" and the "Blahovist" Ensemble.

According to the agency, the project was directed by Nazarii Tarasenko, one of the choir directors of the Transfiguration Cathedral of the OCU in Kyiv. The performers "presented the folkloric heritage of our people in original arrangements by contemporary composers and classics of Ukrainian music."

The Facebook post received negative comments from Ukrainians.

"Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Aren’t there enough stages for dancing, that you now prance in a church like goats?" wrote Ostap Barsukov.

"They say... Christmas... new calendar... new style... Dancing instead of prayer? This 'style' was known to John the Baptist 2,000 years ago," commented Leonid Liapych.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that a culinary show had been held in the Refectory Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

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