Like many nations worldwide Ukraine has traditionally marked Christmas on January 7th according to the Julian calendar, but is celebrating on December 25th for the first time this year, a report notes.
Ukraine is signaling its difference from Russia in a new way, by departing from the Orthodox tradition of observing the Julian calendar and Christmas on January 7th and celebrating the ancient holiday according to the Gregorian calendar on December 25th instead. As a report on the change by British state broadcaster the BBC notes, the change was made in law by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky back in the summer.
Zelensky claimed then that by changing the date, Ukraine could “abandon the Russian heritage”.
The Metropolitan Bishop Epiphanius I of Kyiv, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, noted this change in his Christmas address broadcast on Sunday night….
