Ukraine Catholic Church moves from Russian-affiliated Julian calendar

The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church announced Feb. 6 that that the world’s largest Eastern Catholic Church will change liturgical calendars this fall, changing the date of several liturgical feasts, as Ukrainian Christian distance themselves from the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The move means that Ukrainian Catholics will begin this year celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25, but will for now continue to celebrate Easter on a later date than most of the world’s Catholics and Protestant Christians.
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Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk announced Monday that the Ukrainian Catholic Church will mostly discontinue using the Julian calendar, a liturgical calendar used almost exclusively by the Russian Orthodox Church and other eastern churches influenced by it.
Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, announced that the change had called for during a Feb. 1-2 synodal meeting of the Church’s bishops. In the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the synod of bishops is a policy-setting body, which governs the Church in line with the major archbishop and the pope.
For a large part of Ukrainian society, the Julian calendar is perceived as a marker of the “Russkiy mir,” or “Russian world,” ideology, which has been used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to justify his invasion in Ukraine.
In polling conducted by Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture last year, 60% of Ukrainians said the country’s churches should move away from the Russian-influenced liturgical schedule.
In a resolution passed last week, the bishops of the UGCC explained that Catholics had asked for a change, and that they had consulted with clergy and monasteries about the move.
The bishops decided that a changeover will happen September 1, but have allowed for parishes to transition more slowly, taking even until 2025, with permission from their diocesan bishops.