Ukrainian Baptists switch calendar

04-07-2022

Eastern Europe

Starting in December, Ukrainian Baptists will use the Gregorian calendar, which is used in most countries. Christmas now comes 13 days earlier for Ukrainian Christians.

The Council of the Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists decided on Thursday, June 23rd, to switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. Although several union churches already celebrated Easter on the new date, this decision was not yet made in all churches.

According to the Ukrainian platform Christians for Ukraine, this move is a positive, "because it is the beginning of a good trend towards the unity of Christians in the celebration of significant dates".

As a country, Ukraine switched to the Gregorian calendar on February 16th, 1918. Then, the date immediately became March 1st. However, for the Russian Orthodox Church, a more precise calendar was heretical, because it was associated with Catholics and Protestants. Following the dominant Orthodoxy, all other denominations, except Roman Catholics, adopted this order.

Today, most Eastern Orthodox churches still use the Julian calendar to mark holidays. At the moment, this Julian calendar is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. This is why Christmas is celebrated in Russia on January 7th.

Ukrainian Baptists will not be alone in adhering to the Gregorian calendar. Their Roman Catholic and Reformed countrymen have long used it.

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Galicia Sviatoslav Shevchuk. Photo EPA, Balazs Mohai

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