OCU cleric: Bolsheviks forced Ukrainians to celebrate Christmas on January 7

Vladimir Pedko. Photo: press service of the PCU

One of the organizers of the seizure of the UOC’s St. Michael’s Cathedral in Cherkasy, OCU cleric Volodymyr Pedko, claimed that the celebration of Christmas on January 7 had been imposed on Ukrainians by the Soviet authorities.

“Celebrating Christmas on January 7 came to us in the twentieth century together with the Bolshevik coup, together with yet another annexation of our country, which at that time was already an independent state,” the OCU cleric said.

Pedko went on to assert that “Muscovy came and, with its boot, imposed its own rules, ordering us to celebrate Christmas precisely on January 7.”

He further claimed that the parents and grandparents of today’s Ukrainians celebrated Christmas on January 7 because “the Bolshevik regime destroyed and killed tens of millions of people, starved them to death, so that there would be no one left to pass on the primordial traditions of the Ukrainian people.”

It should be noted, however, that the Gregorian calendar was introduced in Ukraine by the Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1918, not by the Bolsheviks. The transition to the new style was enforced by decision of the Central Rada. At the same time, the Church refused to adopt the new calendar and continued to live according to the Julian calendar. As a result, a difference of 13 days emerged between the new and old styles. In particular, Christmas, which the Church celebrates on December 25 according to the Julian calendar, was shifted to January 7.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the OCU "priest" is concerned that in Chernivtsi, the UOC might “steal Christmas” from children.

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