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.

  • RediphileEnglish
    28·
    11 months ago

    Thought this was going to be onion for a sec until the second paragraph. My initial thought was yes, I too am celebrating Christmas for the first time this year on Christmas…

  • acargitzEnglish
    291·
    11 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.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

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

    In the capital Kyiv, married couple Lesia Shestakova, a Catholic, and Oleksandr Shestakov, who is Orthodox, are celebrating Christmas together.

    The pair - who until now marked Christmas twice, with their respective parents - attended the Sunday morning service at the city’s Catholic cathedral (pictured above).

    “There is finally a day in Ukraine which 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.

    It formally broke away from the Russian Orthodox church over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.

    In the western city of Lviv, which has been little damaged by the war, children in traditional costumes sang carols and took part in festive processions on the streets.

    The original article contains 293 words, the summary contains 151 words. Saved 48%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!