Orthodox Church of Ukraine to allow Christmas celebrations on December 25 as rift with Moscow deepens

CNN
–

A branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox church has announced that they will allow Cathedral celebrate Christmas on December 25, not January 7, as is the tradition in Orthodox Congregation.

The statement by the Kyiv-based Ukrainian Orthodox Church deepens the rift between the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox believers due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision was made after “taking into account many requests and taking into account the discussion that has taken place over the years in the Church and in society; predicted, especially due to the circumstances of the war, an escalation of calendar disputes in public spaces,” the Ukrainian Orthodox Church said in a statement published Oct.

Each church will have the option of holding a celebration on December 25, the date that marks the birth of Jesus according to the Gregorian calendar, instead of January 7, which marks the birth of Jesus. su according to the Julian calendar, still used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In recent years, a large portion of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has left Moscow, a movement accelerated by Russia’s conflict in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014.

That schism became more public in 2018, after Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople – a Greek cleric considered the spiritual leader of Orthodox believers worldwide – endorsed the established an independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine and revoked a centuries-old agreement given to the Cardinal. in Moscow jurisdiction over churches in the country.

The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has become closely tied to the Russian state under Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded by severing ties with Bartholomew.

Then, in May, the leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), another branch officially attached to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, severed ties with the Moscow church, led by Patriarch Kirill, who supported him. for the invasion of Ukraine and has placed his church firmly behind Putin.

In a statement, the UOC said it had chosen “full independence and autonomy” for the Ukrainian church.

The emergence of a church independent of Moscow has angered Putin, who has made the restoration of the so-called “Russian world” central to his foreign policy and his rejection of Ukrainian national identity. is illegal.

And Kirill remained outspoken in support of the invasion, declaring in September that Russian soldiers who died in the war against Ukraine would be cleansed of all their sins.

“He is sacrificing himself for others,” he said. “I am sure that such a sacrifice will wash away all the sins a person has committed.”