www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Orthodox Church of Ukraine adopts Gregorian w/ Julian Paschalio

from here [risu.ua]
OCU transitions to the New-Style Calendar
24 May, 14:02


On May 24th, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) decided to switch to a new calendar. The decision was made at the Hierarchical Council of the OCU held in the Refectory Church of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv. This was reported by the Ukrainian service of the BBC.

One bishop voted against the transition, while another abstained. Formally, the transition still needs to be approved by the Local Council of the Church on July 27, 2023, with the participation of laypeople.

However, as stated by the Head of the OCU, Metropolitan Epifaniy, and a number of other bishops, the matter has already been resolved, and the transition will take place from September 1st. The shift to the new calendar is a significant step that has not been taken for decades.

The difference between the old Julian calendar and the new Gregorian calendar is currently 13 days. Christmas will be celebrated on December 25th instead of January 7th. Other holidays such as the Intercession (October 1st), Epiphany (January 6th), and St. Nicholas Day (December 6th) will also be adjusted.

However, this change will not affect Easter and some other holidays, including Trinity.

"This decision is awaited not only by the majority of our Church faithful but also by the majority of Ukrainian society. It is not an easy decision; we have been moving towards it for a long time, step by step, and we are making it thoughtfully. But it is as necessary as the decision to introduce the Ukrainian language into worship instead of the traditional Slavic language or to establish autocephalous governance of the Church instead of centuries-long subordination. Not everyone has accepted these decisions. Not everyone has supported them, but they have been faithful and vital. The decision to transition to the updated calendar, which is more astronomically and ecclesiastically accurate while preserving the traditional Pascha, is equally faithful and vital for us," said Metropolitan Epifaniy, commenting on the historic decision of the Council.

Pardon the sarcasm, but the ongoing war and Russophobia had nothing to do with whatsoever.

Believe that and there is a bridge I'd like to sell to you.

Christ is in our midst!!

Father Deacon Thomas,

Your post is one way of looking at this development. Another way is to take the historic look. Ukraine has been under both Russian and Western governments in its long history. While under Western governments, the people picked up western attitudes and incorporated them into their unique culture. Their movement into the Catholic Church in some areas was as much about keeping their young people in their culture and religious expression as anything else. Their attempts to form a unique Ukrainian Orthodox Church was another attempt to be culturally and religiously free of outside influence. This war may have just been the last straw--the final event that made it impossible to remain under Russian domination, religiously, culturally, and administratively.

To say that this was a huge step is an understatement. The calendar has been a big controversy for Orthodox Christians, even in this country. I remember the arguments in the OCA not so many years ago. Lots of passion.

But the Ukrainian need to separate themselves from the Russian yoke is one of self preservation. The Russians have always tried to erase anything in Ukraine that did not mirror Russian culture, religious practice, or any other aspect of daily life. That's not to mention the Holodomor where the Russian tried to starve them into submission--akin to what they are trying to do now and which their media commentators have called for.

Russophobia may have been the reason for Finland joining NATO but was it also the reason for the Greek Church's calendar change?

Russia's actions of the past 10 years have minimized the risk of any calendar-related schism and have thus accelerated the calendar change in Ukraine.



Including letters of the alphabet!

As I have maintained, the calendar is not some panacea that satisfies a passion or fashion but is theology, specifically liturgical theology. I do not question Metropolitan Epifaniy's good intentions but his knowledge of the calendar and traditional Pascha interaction, how they are supposed to function orderly, rationally and spiritually.

What is the benefit of mixing a corrected calendar, the Gregorian or Orthodox New Calendar, and the traditional Pascha that is uncorrected and thus conflicts with the corrected calendar's non-movable feasts? And the traditional Pascha, which is always what is retained, is uncorrected and does not conform to the scriptural prescriptions on which it is wanting to be based.

What is the rationale for the so-called mixed calendar? Surly it is not the end in itself. As an incomplete, partial reform It is a flawed resolution. What is the final (Orthodox) goal for a properly functioning Calendar-Paschalion?

Bless, Reverend Father Deacon and Doctor!

The issues you, correctly, raise involve not only Ukraine but the entire Orthodox world, apart from that great Christian nation of Russia and a few others, the "Reformed Julian Calendar" or, as you put it, the "mixed" calendar.

And now the UGCC has adopted it as well as have Ukrainian Protestants including Lutherans (I did not know they were on the old calendar!).

However, this will apparently be ameliorated in 2025 when as I understand what little there is to understand at present, a Paschalion will be announced by both Rome and the Orthodox (save and except for the exemplary bearers of the Gospel of Christ currently inhabiting the Kremlin and the Moscow patriarchate) in honour of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council that should settle the matter once and for all (save and except - please see above).

In fact, in one of our parishes, the vote was almost even between the Gregorian and the New Julian (Mixed Up) calendars! For all intents and purposes, next year should be the last time we mark a separate Pascha.

As for the issue of "Russophobia" - I can only speak for myself and my relatives and friends who have personally born the brunt of the realities on the ground as a result of the (I don't want to overstep the bounds of what might be called Eastern Wokeness here, _ the Special Military Operation where they and millions of others saw their homes destroyed, many women raped repeatedly by Orthodox Christian soldiers sporting icons on their helmets and beautiful three - bar crosses around their necks (I have some nice photos), children shot dead by same for their crime of being Ukrainian and so on.

So, Deacon Thomas (one day I might be able to give you the prefix "Father" but not today) excuse me for dismissing your dismal disinformation regarding "Russophobia." Why don't you take a leave of absence and get your bishop to send you over there for some chaplaincy work. That way whatever ails your understanding and what-not would be cured in a hurry.

For me, the problem with attributing " Russophobia" as a catalyst for the calendar decision is that it casts the compromise in a negative light. It is equal to writing off something important  by inferring that "it's all political anyway". This line of thinking demeans the whole issue and process. 

That said, the positive spin is that the calendar decision represents a quest for greater Christian unity. Even if has technical problems, this effort far outweighs efforts toward division.

In the end, I doubt we will be held accountable for some miscalculation of date or doctrine. I do not doubt that we will be held accountable for how we treat our brothers and sisters. 

Very well put Bob, Hutsul and Roman!

Russophobia could mean more than one thing. In the context of Putin's aggression against the Ukrainian people and his acts of genocide, many Ukrainians just want to turn away from the evil that is trying to destroy them. It is as simple as that. There is no room for any "kumbaya" in this - it has come down to "Us or Them."

Along with that is the Russian World ideology which is especially promoted by the Moscow Patriarchate. Hundreds of formerly UOC-MP parishes have left that patriarchate and it has become more a matter of waiting for the final push of the Russian military out of Ukraine before the remaining UOC-MP priests and bishops begin to consider their "realpolitik" options.

But the calendar issue among the Ukrainian people has ALWAYS been about cultural identity rather than anything "Eastern" and the like. I grew up hearing that when the Mother Church decides to move to the new calendar, so will we. Staying on the old calendar was a way the diaspora had to keep solidarity with Ukraine, the Orthodox especially. There was also a lingering suspicion of the West and of Latinization which was considered "bad" only because it historically led to denationalization.

Not any longer. Ukraine knows who its real enemy truly is and it is in a struggle now for its very existence. May victory over the enemy be granted soon!

I add that it has to be an effort to a correct end. Repeating my analogy, it's like two groups in two boats that decide they should combine their efforts and sail together in just one boat. The group in the defective boat that is taking on water refuses to leave, so the group in the good boat abandons it to join those in the sinking boat, unity being paramount.

I disagree absolutely regarding doctrine. And "accountable for some miscalculation" and "how we treat our brothers and sisters" are noncomparable. We can and should -- and must -- both calculate and treat correctly.

Quote...."And "accountable for some miscalculation" and "how we treat our brothers and sisters" are noncomparable. "


Really?

The two are non- comparable only in a compartmental study of the faith, but not when one considers the larger philosophical context- the big picture. Seems to me, this is what our Lord showed at every turn. He constantly admonished those who are pre- occupied with nuances of the Law, yet neglected, or despised their neighbor. We can readily find instances and parables using this theme in the Gospels. It remains a major theme.

 Sometimes we examine the leaves in such micoscopic detail that we lose sight of the tree and the difference in the leaves becomes more important than the tree......just as the boats can become more important than the passangers. After all, were boats made for passangers or passangers for boats?..............and there is my poor attempt at a reciprocal analogy to your good and defective boats......

My general comments were meant, in no way, to detract from your fine work. I am in admiration of your unbelievable efforts to decode the information pointing to a greater understanding of the calendar and the Pascha date. I just wanted to contribute a little philosophic perspective.

I agree, and thank you. I did not feel you were detracting in any way. Noncomparable is an awkward word but I was avoiding the double negative, not incompatible, and should have opted for good calculations and good treatment of others are compatible.

According to this article, written by Rutgers professor Motyl,
Russophobia Has Become a Moral Obligation [themessenger.com]

Yes, it is unfortunate - as Fr Deacon Thomas has himself demonstrated here - that Putino-phobia and hatred of all things Russian have lost distinctiveness.

Putin, the Kremlin and all those who believe that Russia's genocidal attack on civilians in Ukraine - and they do the same thing elsewhere - can, in some moral universe - be justified because of an assortment things like "the threat of NATO," or "the Minsk agreement," and so on.

This is nothing more than justification for the current Russian government's desire to reclaim an empire which is lost to them THANKS to the defensive protection of NATO.

There are conservative Westerners who do see in Putin their "club" with which to beat the moral turpitude of Western civilization. Putin and his cronies understand the conversative movement in the West very well. He himself was the head of disinformation for the KGB/FSB. He knows which buttons to push with the American Right. There are also those North Americans who don't believe what they are seeing on TV - it's not so bad, they say, or turn away from those liberal TV news stations . . .

That is all beyond reproach. We should also remember that Hitler himself had his supporters in Western fascist movements.

Orthodoxy is today in a state of tremendous crisis and, yes, schism. Orthodox priests I've spoken with tell me the Moscow patriarch is "self-excommunicated" - we know from Soviet archives that he is a KGB agent as was the patriarch before him.

With respect to the calendar issue, I wish to reiterate that it was ALWAYS a matter, in the Ukrainian Churches, of being in solidarity with Ukraine. The Ukrainian people reaffirmed their commitment to the old calendar because, initially, the Soviet regime tried to impose the Gregorian calendar on them - so it was seen as an atheist thing to be opposed. Then later the versatile Soviets allowed the old calendar as a church calendar.

That Ukrainians, Georgians, Poles, the Baltic peoples etc. etc. have an aversion for Russia . . . ladies and gentlemen, that is a fact of life. I deal with relatives who are displaced from their homes, who are all half-Russian in terms of ethnic background. But they are full citizens of Ukraine and they fight against the Russian "Orcs" coming at them to destroy them. There are also Chechen Orcs and other groups in the Russian forces.

As one person close to me, who was repeatedly raped by Russian soldiers, related, her assailants all wore Orthodox neck crosses and had icons on their helmets. And they made the Sign of the Cross all the time too.

Yes, there is a strong Orthodox culture in Russia. The question is, "How actually Christian is it?"

Christ is in our midst!!

Alex,

Are you familiar with wood furniture that people call "solid hardwood," but which is really "veneer"? Same thing--"strong Orthodox culture in Russia." After the years of Soviet persecution, how deep does it go? A man who rapes a woman while wearing his Baptismal cross and wearing an icon on his helmet does not "get it." It's little different from the rock star who wears a cross and chain as his "look" while doing all sorts of unChristian things as part of his act.

But taking a look at our own situation, we ought to remember that our Christianity must be renewed each day by our commitment and practice. It is all one generation from extinction in family after family.

Dear Bob,

You are absolutely right, as you always are. (Don't you ever get tired of being right all the time?)

The issue of how the Byzantine mindset (not only the imperial Russian one) used religion in conjunction with state objectives is a highly problematic one.

We must give Mr Putin at least this - whatever else he is, he is not stupid. He has thought the whole Church-state thing through to the nth degree.

It is also what has allowed him to count supporters among the Western Christian Right. But again, this is all politically calculated. I think he now wishes he had not gone into Ukraine . . .