OCU and UGCC get closer to Easter

This week’s Easter celebrations expectedly provoked a discussion about the correctness of calculating the date of the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection. After the successful calendar reform, which resulted in the de facto transfer of most church holidays in Ukraine to the Catholic «new style,» Easter remained the only link between Ukrainian society and Eastern Orthodoxy. However, the efforts of representatives of the OCU and the UGCC, who serve the current Ukrainian elites, are slowly shaping the public opinion of the undiscerning ordinary people, the essence of which is that «Easter should be celebrated with the whole world,» that is, by the Latin number.

In this case, the UGCC is the flagship of the discussion on this issue. The head of the Ukrainian Uniates, who until recently dreamed of some kind of «unification of Ukrainian churches around the Kyivan throne,» stopped hiding his gut and openly stated that there can be no alternatives to unity with the Roman throne in the issue of Easter (as, in fact, in all other issues). In this regard, at every opportunity, Sviatoslav Shevchuk throws a message to the masses that celebrating Easter with Catholics is the only right decision that the OCU and the UGCC should make.

It would seem that what prevents the Uniates from switching to the Latin Easter NOW? However, as with the issue of switching to the Gregorian calendar, the UGCC wants to ensure that this topic is raised first in the OCU. The numerical potential of Greek Catholics in Ukrainian society is extremely small, despite the activity of the leadership center. An ordinary Ukrainian citizen, who often does not distinguish between the OCU and the UOC, will most certainly not associate himself with the union, so if the initiative comes from the UGCC, it risks becoming a regional phenomenon, limited to three western Ukrainian regions. That is why the OCU should be the main battering ram in this matter, while the UGCC and its accompanying LOMs should conduct information training.

Although the OCU itself is mentally and ideologically ready to switch to the Latin Easter, it remains silent on this issue, observing the mood in society and waiting for some public steps or unofficial consent to such a step from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Meanwhile, the Phanar has long been discussing this possibility, which, by the way, may occur by 2028, when the Orthodox and Catholic calendars coincide. It is possible that Ukraine could become a test site for a general analysis of the perception of such a step in Orthodox communities.

Thus, there is every reason to believe that closer to 2027-2028, Ukraine will officially switch to the Gregorian calendar, including the issue of Easter. This step will be the final blow to the Slavic mentality of Ukrainians, after which the only option will be to switch from Cyrillic to Latin.

Thanks to the OCU and the UGCC, Ukrainians, in most cases unknowingly, are abandoning their history, and as you know, those who do not preserve their past have no future. Be that as it may, this year and perhaps next year will be a time of active discussion of this possibility and the expansion of the Overton Window into the subject of an even darker fusion of Ukraine’s Orthodox population with the Catholic and Protestant West.