It is a measure that represents much more than the change of an ancient tradition. This year, Orthodox Christians in Ukraine celebrate Christmas for the first time on December 25. Traditionally, Ukraine celebrated this holiday on January 7, following the Julian calendar also used in Russia.
Thus, the adoption of this new date represents another step in the distancing between Kyiv and Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine launched almost two years ago by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
At the same time, the measure represents an approach to the West where Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25, following the Gregorian calendar – which Ukrainians already use in their daily lives.
The change was made official last July, through a law signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said the rule would allow Ukrainians to “abandon the Russian heritage” of celebrating Christmas in January.
In a message released this Sunday afternoon, Zelensky said that now all Ukrainians are together.
“We celebrate Christmas all together. On the same date, as a great family, as a nation, as a united country.”he claimed.
Following this change, Lesia Shestakova, a Catholic, and Oleksandr Shestakov, an Orthodox, are celebrating Christmas together in Kyiv.
The couple, who until now celebrated Christmas twice each year, with their respective parents, attended the Sunday morning service at the city’s Catholic cathedral.
“Finally a day has come in Ukraine when my husband and I can spend together in the cathedral and thank God that we are together, alive and in good health,” Lesia told Reuters news agency.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), a newly established independent church, also changed its Christmas date to December 25.
This institution formally separated from the Russian Orthodox Church after Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and supported separatists in eastern Ukraine.
For centuries, first Imperial Russia and then the Moscow-dominated Soviet Union attempted to fully control Ukraine.
Those attempts included impose the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) over the churches of Ukraine.
However, in 2019 Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of the global Orthodox Church, granted independence to the newly formed Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The move sparked a furious response from the Russian Church, which defends President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Until this year, the OCU, like several Orthodox churches such as the Chinese, celebrated Christmas Day on January 7, according to the Julian calendar.
