OCU is ready to "work" on switching to the new calendar
The decision on when to hold Christmas masses – December 25 or January 7 – will be made in the OCU at the level of parishes, considering the wishes of the parishioners.
On October 20, 2022, "Archbishop" Nestor of Ternopil and Kremenets (OCU) said that it is enough to have a desire of the faithful for celebrating services by the Gregorian calendar (according to the new style), reports suspilne.media.
According to the OCU cleric, this question can be solved at the level of the parish "in the format of an experiment," when parishioners address the priest with a corresponding proposal. If a majority of parishioners oppose the Christmas service on 25 December, there will be no service, but if "a significant number of parishioners" favour the service, the priest "does not need any further decisions". "But he is then obliged to submit a report on the number of people who wanted specifically a Christmas service on 25 December," commented "Archbishop" Nestor on the OCU's decision. He also added that Christmas services on January 7 will be held in all the churches of the OCU regardless of whether or not a service was held on December 25.
In other words, Dumenko's supporters want to know the opinion of parishioners about the transition to celebrations according to the new calendar – to gather information about the "demand" among Dumenko's followers for this change. "If this demand is really great, then we can say that the calendar change is really relevant now and we can work on this issue," concluded "Archbishop" Nestor.
As reported, the OCU allowed the celebration of Christmas on December 25.
