The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is mulling a switch to a new church calendar, but is waiting for the decision of the Council of Bishops, which convene in May.
This opinion was expressed by Epifaniy, the Primate of OCU, who spoke with Gazeta.ua.
The Metropolitan believes that the transition to a new style of celebration will allow the church to switch to a more accurate calendar and avoid the gradual displacement of fixed holidays. According to him, the church reform aims to testify the light of Christ’s truth as best as possible, but does not concern the Orthodox creed, which is unwavering.
“We actually started thinking about the calendar reform and taking appropriate steps in this direction a long ago. We have chosen a strategy of measured and gradual steps to prepare the congregation and not to have a church split over this issue, of which, unfortunately, there are examples across the world. Now our parishes can already choose which calendar to follow. In May, at the Synod of Bishops, we will issue a church-wide decision on this matter. The implementation of this reform will, first of all, make it possible to switch to a more accurate calendar and avoid the gradual displacement of fixed holidays in the future. And although there are still some difficulties on this path, I am convinced that with God’s help we will solve them. After all, our goal is actually good – to witness the light of Christ’s truth as best as possible. For this purpose, we make translations and editions of certain church literature and introduce corresponding church reforms. However, this, of course, does not apply to the Orthodox creed, which is unchanging,” said the Head of the OCU.
