UOC hierarch: X-mas celebration in OCU in the "new" style is Phanar’s idea
Even the Greek Catholics in Ukraine do not switch to a new calendar style in order to preserve their flock in this way, Vladyka Anthony noted.
For Ukraine, the celebration of the Nativity of Christ on December 25 is nonsense, Patriarch Bartholomew is most likely to insist on such an idea, says the UOC Chancellor, Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanich) of Boryspil and Brovary.
“It is most likely Patriarch Bartholomew himself who insists that the newly created structure should switch to a new style. Although for Ukraine this is really nonsense, because even the Greek Catholics, part of the Catholic Church, do not switch to a new style in Ukraine. They celebrate holidays together with the Orthodox in order to preserve their flock,” the online outlet “Ren.tv” cites the words of Vladyka Anthony.
According to the hierarch of the UOC, the liturgy in honor of the Nativity of Christ, which was served on December 25, 2019, by the "Metropolitan" of the new church structure Mikhail Zinkevich is a kind of testing.
“I think this is the first touchstone in order to understand how society will react to it. Actually, of course, this is such an unclear undertaking,” Vladyka Anthony noted.
The UOC Chancellor noted that the question of the church calendar is not an urgent issue for the canonical Church.
“On the one hand, we understand that this is not a dogmatic issue. And therefore, we maintain eucharistic communion with those Local Orthodox Churches, which in due time switched to the New Julian style. But at the same time, bishops, priests, just believers do not see the need to switch to a new style,” Metropolitan Anthony explained.
We recall that the religious scholar Dmitry Gorevoy said that the OCU communities themselves must determine the date of the Christmas celebration.
