Traditionally, Christmas in predominantly Orthodox Ukraine comes on Jan. 7. But some of Ukraine’s Orthodox Christians can now add Dec. 25 to the festivities
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null / basist / ShutterstockDenver, Colo., Dec 22, 2022 / 10:45 am (CNA).Traditionally, Christmas in predominantly Orthodox Ukraine comes on Jan. 7. But some of Ukraine s Orthodox Christians can now add Dec. 25 to the festivities and celebrate Jesus birth twice, Church leaders have said."We are giving people the option to celebrate on a different day," Archbishop Yevstratiy Zoria, the press secretary of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, told Politico."We are not moving the day of Christmas."For Ukrainian Orthodox parishes that make the change, Christmas in December means "an additional day of worship," he said. Celebrations will otherwise follow the official Church calendar.The new Dec. 25 observance would celebrate the Divine Liturgy "according to the Nativity of Christ." Participants in this liturgy would receive a one-day exemption to Orthodox Christianity s traditional 40-day fast before the feast of the Nativity. The Orthodox