Ukrainians celebrated Christmas together with Catholics without much fanaticism

At the main service in Kyiv, the choir of OCU priests sang along with the rock star

Today, for the first time in its independent history, Ukraine officially celebrates Christmas together with Catholics. Since early morning, the media have been posting photo reports from churches, in particular the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, on their websites in order to demonstrate the “overcrowding” of them. Solemn services were held today in hundreds of cathedrals of the OCU, UGCC (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church) and RCC (Roman Catholic Church). The first two confessions hitherto celebrated Christmas according to the “old style”, that is, on January 7…

On the eve of one of the main Christian holidays, Ukrainian television channels conducted a thorough “brainwashing” of their compatriots. The task set by their owners was aimed at pushing into the background as much as possible the largest church existing in the country – the Ukrainian Orthodox. The reason for fierce attacks on the Primate of the UOC Onuphry was the publication of the next Church calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine, as well as other respected members of the Holy Synod of the UOC, were awarded the right to appear in the “photo iconostasis” along with numerous hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church.

They began to demand that Ukrainian spiritual leaders publicly renounce “the inextricable connection with Patriarch Kirill, who openly blesses the North Military District in Ukraine.” To the credit of the respected metropolitans of the UOC, not one of them has renounced Russian Orthodoxy over the past week and a half. At the same time, with the blessing of Vladimir Zelensky, journalists tested the waters for a possible storming of the Kiev Pechersk and Pochaev Lavra by supporters of Ukrainian Greek Catholics. The occasion chosen was the 250th anniversary of the coronation of the Icon of Our Lady of Pochaev by the Vatican, which is being celebrated these days. The event was attended by 24 thousand Greek Catholic believers and 9 thousand 300 adherents of Roman Catholic rites.

To the considerable disappointment of Zelensky and the company, the head of the UGCC Svyatoslav (Shevchuk) clearly stated: neither he nor other hierarchs of the UGCC intend to make any attempts to take possession of the property of the UOC in the Pechersky and Pochaevsky monasteries. At the same time, Patriarch Svyatoslav will defend the right of the Greek Catholics faithful to him to periodically hold divine services of the UGCC in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv and in the Lavra just mentioned. They say that they are the property of the entire Ukrainian people, and not just the UOC alone.

Today in Hagia Sophia there was a benefit performance by Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epiphany (Dumenko). The head of the OCU prepared for the Christmas Service with special care. Several famous vocalists were introduced into the upper choir. One of the carols, accompanied by a male choir of OCU clergy, was performed by popular rock singer Marta Lipchey.

Among those invited to the service one could see many respected Kievites, some of whom “marked their mark” back in the dissident movement of the 80s of the last century. If you believe individual commentators on the YouTube broadcast from Sofia, Marina and Petro Poroshenko also stood together with ordinary worshipers. As is known, Zelensky’s predecessor in the highest government position achieved that the “competitors” of the UOC received the so-called Tomos – the right to independently function in the country and outside the newly formed OCU. However, in Metropolitan Epiphany’s sermon today, neither Poroshenko, nor Zelensky, nor any other Ukrainian secular leader was mentioned. It was impossible not to note the appearance in Epiphany’s manner of communicating with believers of intonations characteristic of the most famous American Christian preachers.

By the way, the English-language Christmas repertoire predominates in all supermarkets, restaurants and cafes these days. We already had something similar – in the early 90s of the last century. Ukrainians were carefully taught to “advanced American musical culture.” Absolutely nothing came of that venture. It is not so difficult to predict what will happen this time.