JRL NEWSWATCH: “Christmas Moves to Dec. 25 in Ukraine, Another Rebuff of Russia” – New York Time
“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church formally changed the main date for the festivities, departing from the Russian tradition of celebrating on Jan. 7, according to the Julian calendar.”
“… After centuries of marking [Christmas] on Jan. 7 under the Julian church calendar, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church this year formally switched to celebrating on Dec. 25 with most of the rest of Europe — and pointedly not with Russia. … Christmas … is tightly tangled up in the country’s war with Russia. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has taken the position that the Julian calendar used in the Russian church does not have religious significance, and that holidays should be celebrated according to the calendar by which people live their daily lives. Even before this year’s formal switch, some Ukrainian Orthodox believers, in the first year after Russia’s invasion, had moved Christmas to December. Technically, the change … is a recommendation; individual parishes are deciding …. [O]f … roughly 7,500 parishes in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, all but 120 shifted the date of Christmas this year … Most eastern Orthodox churches had already taken this position. … [O]nly four of 15 eastern Orthodox denominations — in Russia, Serbia, Finland and Jerusalem — still follow the Julian calendar, which lags by 13 days ….”
There also are some religious communities known as Old Feasters in Greece, Bulgaria and Romania that follow the Julian calendar.