OCU explains why it intends to switch to a new calendar style
The OCU authorities said that the transition to the New Julian calendar is an accession to world Orthodoxy.
According to Dumenko's associates, abandoning the Julian calendar is another step in leaving the influence zone of the Russian Orthodox Church and Russia, reports 5ua.
"The point is put where we identify ourselves with the event and with European culture, with European traditions and distance ourselves from the post-Sovietism that Russia now represents," notes Liudmila Filippovych, vice-president of the Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies.
One of the "hierarchs" of the OCU, Afanasiy Yavorsky, noted that after the transition to the new calendar, the UOC will start "speculating" on the issue, calling them Catholics.
"We seek to join most of the Orthodox churches in the world because the old Julian calendar is inaccurate," Yavorsky added.
As reported, the OCU "synod" allowed rectors to decide themselves on the Christmas celebration date.
