Greek Catholics of Chernivtsi denied the information about the change of the date of Christmas celebration

Thursday, 24 December 2020, 22:43

It was reported on the Internet that the parish of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Anthony of the Chernivtsi Eparchy of the UGCC will jointly celebrate Christmas in a new style for the first time this year, on December 25. This information was refuted and explained by Father Vasyl Hasynets, dean of the Bukovyna parish.

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In a comment to the UGCC Information Department, the priest explained that the parish was not talking about changing the date of the Christmas celebration. "Since a large family, which includes three generations of parishioners, is going abroad and will not be able to take part in the Christmas service on January 7, they asked to celebrate the Divine Liturgy with liturgical Christmas texts on December 25. I addressed this request to our Bishop Josaphat Moschych, who for the good of the faithful blessed to do it once tomorrow," said Father Vasyl.

At the same time Fr. Vasyl explained that both he and his parishioners understand that the decision to change the date of the celebration of Christmas cannot be made at the level of individual parishes, and this should be done by the entire community of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

As His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC, recently said during the Open Church program of Zhyve Television, the movement for the celebration of Christmas in the new style - December 25 - must begin from below, from the laity. If the initiative for calendar reform comes from the church hierarchy, it will not have the appropriate effect.

However, the Primate stressed that in Ukraine the UGCC would like to move to a new calendar together with the Orthodox Churches. "We want to do it together with our Orthodox brothers. …It needs not a single, but a nationwide, inter-church, ecumenical discussion and movement, "said the Father and Head of the UGCC.

That is why His Beatitude Sviatoslav calls not for the transition of individual parishes to a new calendar, but for understanding this need and constructive discussions in order to preserve internal unity as much as possible in this process. At the same time, the Head of the UGCC draws attention to the fact that changing the date of Christmas means changing the entire calendar of holidays throughout the year.

The UGCC Department for Information