Orthodox Church of Ukraine mulling calendar switch

The hierarch touched on the issue in an interview with Gazeta.ua, Ukrinform reports.

"The implementation of this reform will, first of all, allow us to switch to a more accurate calendar and avoid further gradual displacement of immovable hidays. And although there are still some challenges on this path, I am convinced that with God's help, we will address them," Epifan noted.

According to the OCU primate, the church is already preparing to implement the relevant reform and is working on a new edition of certain church literature for parishioners. At the same time, Metritan Epifan emphasized that the calendar issue does not concern the Orthodox creed, which is “immutable.”

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He also reported that more than a thousand parishes had joined the OCU since the full-scale Russian invasion, and about the same number had done so over the past few years.

"That is, now there are more than 2,000 such parishes. This process is underway, and more news comes that in a certain region some community has decided to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine," Epifan concluded.

As reported by Ukrinform, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve announced the termination of the lease agreement with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate effective March 29, 2023, however, the audit team’s work confronted numerous obstacles in their work, including the physical locking of the buildings set to be inspected.

Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council eks Danilov said early April that “a great number” of clerics with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which continues to function in Ukraine, are in fact coerating with the Russian FSB security agency.

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On December 15, 2018, the Unification Council of the Orthodox Churches of Ukraine was held in the Saint Shia Cathedral in Kyiv. At the Council, the clergy of the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate, UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church created a single local Orthodox Church of Ukraine, approved its charter, and elected its head, Metritan Epifan of Kyiv and All Ukraine.