The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk does not deny the possibility of postponing the celebration of Christmas from January 7, but believes that such a calendar reform "is not ready yet."
The first hierarch said this in an interview with Radio Liberty.
"The issue of calendar reform is still divided. We had the opportunity to think thoroughly at the Synod of our bishops in Ukraine, and so far we have seen that the percentage of people who understand and are ready to do this is still quite small, there is no critical number that would allow us to do this. On the other hand, we really want to do this type of reform together with our Orthodox brothers, so that our calendar reform does not lead to another line of some kind of division between our Churches... Therefore, I do not yet see the possibility of such a reform in the near future, but we are working to ensure that our people "mature". We see that such conversations are also being held at the level of universal Christianity. We are also talking about the need to reform not only fixed holidays, but even Easter, because not only do we want to celebrate Christmas together with all Christians, but also Easter, because Easter is the greatest Christian holiday. Therefore, the Ecumenical dimension of such a reform is obvious to everyone today, and we want to be a part of this process," the head of the UGCC stressed.