From September 2023, the UGCC will switch to a new calendar: how will the dates of the holidays change
UPDATED. 03/05/2023, 12:27 p.m. According to the decision of the Synod of Bishops, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will switch to the Gregorian calendar for fixed holidays from September 1. From now on, the church will celebrate Christmas on December 25. This was announced by His Beatitude Sviatoslav on the live broadcast of “Live TV”. The church announced changes in the part of immovable holidays (the date of which does not change every year relative to the accepted calendar). Easter remains unchanged. According to His Beatitude Svyatoslav, taking into account the requests of believers and conducting preliminary consultations with the clergy and monasticism, the UGCC decided to reform the Liturgical Calendar, that is, to change the dates of some holidays. Photo: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church For those parishes or individual communities that feel they are not yet ready for such a step, they can leave the possibility of liturgical life according to the Julian calendar for the period until 2025. “Starting from September 1, 2023, we are switching to a new style when it comes to celebrating fixed holidays. Sometimes we call it the Gregorian calendar. It should be noted that the liturgical calendar has two cycles. Some holidays are celebrated according to the solar calendar – these are the so-called fixed holidays, which fall on the same calendar date every year,” said His Beatitude Svyatoslav. According to him, there is another group of holidays that are celebrated according to the lunar calendar. This is the so-called Easter. That is, the holidays associated with Easter are moving holidays. Easter always falls on a Sunday, the date of celebration changes. This holiday is mobile. “The decision is that we are switching to a new style only for fixed holidays. Sometimes it is called the Gregorian style, but this is not accurate. We decided to leave Paschal, that is, the second cycle of holidays, as it is today,” the clergyman adds. He emphasizes that the combination of the Gregorian calendar for fixed holidays and the old Paschal calendar, calling it the New Julian calendar. “Specialists call the terms imprecise, so we do not use this term in our decision,” says His Beatitude Svyatoslav. According to the decision of the Synod of Bishops, the UGCC switches to the Gregorian calendar for non-fixed holidays from September 1. “Accordingly, according to the Byzantine tradition, the liturgical year does not begin on January 1, but on September 1. This is according to the tradition of the first millennium, the so-called beginning of the indict. This is the beginning of the church year,” says His Beatitude Svyatoslav. He added that when the UGCC lived according to the Julian calendar, the church year began on September 14, and according to the calendar that the church uses now in civil calendars, two weeks earlier. Therefore, the beginning of this new calendar life is planned to begin on September 1. UGCC published the list of holidays according to the new style for September-December 2023. Dates of the most important holidays: September 8 – Nativity of the Virgin; September 14 – Exaltation of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord; November 21 – Entrance to the Church of the Mother of God; December 6 – Saint Nicholas Day; December 25 – Christmas. Read also: 25 or 7: according to which calendar will Ukrainian Greek Catholics celebrate Christmas
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