The Ukrainian Orthodox Church noted that, despite the law signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky and coming into force on the postponement of the celebration of Christmas to December 25, the UOC will continue to celebrate on January 7. Metropolitan Kliment, chairman of the Synodal Information and Education Department of the UOC, said this, Strana reports.

“In Ukraine, December 25 has been a day off for several years already. Every year, passing through the streets of our cities on this day, practically nothing reminds of the holiday. It is absolutely guaranteed that the vast majority of Ukrainians of various denominations will celebrate the future Christmas the way they did before,” he said.

He added that, “of course, one could count on respect for these people and their traditions. But we have what we have.”

“And as for the motivation for canceling the day off on January 7, as a departure from the Russian tradition, the authors of this idea most likely had inaccurate or incomplete information. This celebration date did not coincide with the Russian tradition, but with the calendar tradition of the church in Jerusalem. There are the main shrines Christianity, and there all the main celebrations of the Orthodox Church to this day are celebrated according to the Julian calendar,” the hierarch said.

He recalled that “on December 25, a tradition from Turkey began to celebrate Christmas in Orthodoxy. I find it difficult to answer why the deputies decided that traditions from Turkey are closer to the Ukrainian people than traditions from Jerusalem and Bethlehem.”