The move to Western calendar is seen as a further shift away from Moscow's influence.

Many Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are preparing to celebrate Christmas on 25 December for the first time this year.

Ukraine has traditionally used the Julian calendar, also used by Russia, where Christmas falls on 7 January.

In a further shift from Russia, it is now marking Christmas according to the Western - or Gregorian - calendar, which it uses in everyday life.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky changed the law in July, saying it allowed Ukrainians to “abandon the Russian heritage” of celebrating Christmas in January.

  • acargitzEnglish
    291·
    6 months ago

    Some missing context is that the OCU is the church that is canonically recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, as well as the church of Greece and the church of Cyprus. The celebration on December 25 is not “western style”, it is the canonical day for much of the non-russian aligned orthodox world, including in Greece.