OCU priest Georgy Kovalenko is confident that the absolute majority of Ukrainians will celebrate Christmas on December 25. According to him, this is a tradition of the cultural and political space that Ukraine is moving towards. Kovalenko said this during a briefing, the correspondent of UNN reports.
"There are no questions or problems here. The whole world, including most Orthodox churches in the world, celebrate Christmas on December 25. This is also, relatively speaking, a tradition of the cultural and political space to which we are moving, the Western world. The whole Western world celebrates December 25, " Kovalenko said.
He added that this is also a modern tradition regarding Christmas trees and Christmas markets. And this is not a religious basis at all.
And all this creates a festive mood on December 25. And it is very good that both the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church have made this decision, the need for which has been discussed for many years and now there are no problems with this
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In Ukraine, the celebration of Christmas on December 25 has already become an official tradition. This was done in order to move closer to the Western Christian tradition and support the European vector of the country's development.
The public reaction to this decision was mixed: some people supported the postponement of the celebration, seeing it as a step towards unity with most European countries, while others, in particular supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate, expressed dissatisfaction, emphasizing the importance of preserving old traditions. At the same time, for many Ukrainians, the new date of the celebration has become a symbol of independence from Russian influences and the restoration of their own church identity.