The head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav, in the program "Open Church" on "Live TV", expressed the Church's position on preserving the current Easter and celebrating Easter according to the Julian calendar. He emphasized the importance of remaining united with Orthodox brothers in Ukraine ащк the UGCC, and the issue of Easter reform requires deeper consideration.
This was reported by the Information Department of the UGCC.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav noted that there are two versions of Easter: the new one (used by the Roman Catholic Church) and the old one (used by all Orthodox Churches worldwide). "For us Greek Catholics, this is a certain challenge," acknowledged the Head of the Church. He noted that most UGCC parishes outside of Ukraine celebrate Easter according to the new Easter.
"We in Ukraine want to celebrate Easter with our Orthodox brothers," said His Beatitude Sviatoslav. "We understand that our Orthodox brothers will not make Easter reforms in the near future." He noted that no Orthodox Church in the world uses the Latin Easter, and the joint celebration of Easter is a symbol of unity for the Orthodox world.
Therefore, when asked about switching to the Gregorian calendar Easter, the Primate replied, "Today, we are only at the beginning of this difficult journey."
"Priority is currently given to local unity because universal unity cannot yet be achieved. Therefore, at the local, regional level, we have taken such a step to make a calendar reform based on the ability or inability of our Orthodox brothers to follow us," said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
At the same time, the Head of the UGCC assured that preserving the current Easter does not harm the unity of the UGCC with the Apostolic See: "This unity, this participation, does not impose uniformity. It is always unity in diversity," he explained.
His Beatitude Sviatoslav expressed hope that all Christians in Ukraine will be able to contribute to the common reform of the church calendar but emphasized that it will be a long and difficult path: "We in Ukraine - Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Roman Catholics - must be the catalysts for these processes."