Head of the DESS on the “new” church calendar: “People are tired of living in the old and new styles”

The head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, Viktor Yelensky, commented on the pace of Ukrainian society’s transition to the so-called New Julian (essentially Gregorian, ed.) church calendar. The official believes that Ukrainians are very quickly adopting the “new” calendar because they want to live the same way as Christians around the world. He spoke about this in a comment to the publication Ukrinform.

«I expected this transition to be much more painful. Because church life is very traditional, nothing is done quickly in the church, all changes happen very slowly. And I expected this transition to be much more painful. But this did not happen because, to put it simply, people are tired of living in what is called “small Orthodoxy,” that is, when the new and old styles are indicated. And they want to be Christians in the same time and space as they live their everyday lives. This is a very important change and a very important aspiration. And I think that it is happening in Ukraine much less burdensomely than one might expect,» — Yelensky believes.

It is worth noting that discussions on various calendar innovations often flare up in the OCU. A special place in this matter is given to the celebration of Christmas. Despite the fact that the organization decided to celebrate Christmas on December 25, there are those within it who did not support this decision. For example, the head of the Kharkiv diocese of the OCU, Afanasy Shkurupiy, stated that the real “Ukrainian Christmas” is January 7, as indicated by God himself this year (referring to the snowy weather on January 7, 2024).