In Ukraine we together our orthodox brothers and sisters celebrate Christmas and Easter. And when we start changing a calendar, we will be doing this together. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC stated during a pilgrimage to Zarvanytsia, while answering questions of youth concerning a calendar reform.
The Major Archbishop mentioned that outside Ukraine the UGCC in many eparchies and parishes have been following the Gregorian calendar for a long time.
Furthermore, His Beatitude told that while being a bishop in Argentina, he revealed for himself that there our Church had never had the Julian calendar. As soon as our settlers came there, they switched to the Gregorian calendar promptly.
The same in countries of new settlements: in Italy, Spain, Portugal, where all families abide, move to the Gregorian calendar. And it is perfectly normal, since in those countries we are a religious minority and we need to keep up with that society.
“But this is a whole different story in Ukraine, - His Beatitude Sviatoslav emphasized. – Here, a matter of the calendar reform is matter of a division, rather than unity. And it is said by both representatives, Orthodox and our Church. Thus, I do not look that far ahead as making this big shift of the calendar reform”.
The Head of the Church assumes that the calendar reform it is always a durability test. “Even those orthodox Churches (Bulgarian and Greek) which made those changes had gone through church divisions. Since, there are always groups which will not share the initiative. Today we come across many divisions and separations in our society, so we try not to take these fake steps, which might cause greater disengagements”.
The Head of the UGCC compared a matter of the calendar reform to a group of pilgrims, which consists of people of different pace, someone moves quicker, some are at the back, and a leader’s task is to make all step together.
“Those, who are very eager to want this calendar reform to happen quickly, say: wait, because not all catch up with you; and those who think that the calendar is a doctrine of faith and something unreachable, say, it is so. And you, do not fall behind”, added His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
“This is how we make our pilgrimage. I assume the Church won’t lose its credibility if it doesn’t chase ideas only. We will be caring for the good of people. We will hear the first and the last ones”.