UGCC cleric: Ukrainians want to celebrate Easter with Catholics, not with RF

Blessing of Easter baskets in Lviv. Photo: portal.lviv

UGCC cleric Yustyn Boyko said on the air of Pershyi Zakhidnyi TV that the Ukrainian people are seeking a full transition to the Gregorian calendar so that Easter may be celebrated together with the Catholic world rather than with Russia.

According to him, many Ukrainians did not realize that the shift to the Revised Julian calendar meant celebrating together only Christmas and other fixed feasts, and are now expressing indignation that they are still compelled to celebrate Easter together with Russia.

The cleric said he had conducted a Facebook poll among his followers, asking those who supported celebrating Easter according to the Gregorian calendar to leave a “plus” sign. According to him, the post received more than 5,000 favorable responses.

“I see among the people an ever stronger tendency for us not even spiritually to remain dependent on, or in any way resemble, the Muscovites. And therefore the people have such a will – to move entirely to the Gregorian calendar and thus unite in celebration with the whole Catholic, Christian world,” Boyko said.

He stated that UGCC structures outside Ukraine, including in Poland and in the Mukachevo eparchy, have already switched to the Western method of determining the date of Easter, while in Ukraine itself the Julian reckoning is still observed. According to him, the UGCC’s motivation has been to move in step with the OCU, “so as not to divide the people.” Yet, Boyko believes, both Orthodox and Catholics among the people are more progressive on this issue than their hierarchs.

He said that street polls on the matter should push the leadership of both the OCU and the UGCC toward a full transition to the Gregorian calendar, so that not only Christmas but also Easter may be celebrated together with Catholics and Protestants. Boyko also expressed hope that the joint commission of the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Pope of Rome, which discussed the issue during the celebrations marking the 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, would soon arrive at a decision on establishing a common date for the celebration of Easter.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that former head of the radical organization "Right Sector" Dmytro Yarosh had called on the OCU and the UGCC to stop celebrating Easter with Russia.

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