(CNN) – For most of the Western world, Christmas is celebrated on December 25th, according to the Gregorian calendar. However, Orthodox Christians follow the Julian calendar and celebrate the holiday on January 7th.
This year, Orthodox Christmas, and the long disputes between the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox groups, are in the spotlight on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to Temporary ceasefire 36 hours in Ukraine to allow the Orthodox to attend Christmas services.
A girl lights a candle before the start of Orthodox Christmas at St. Michael’s Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. Credit: Bela Szandelszky/AP
Soon, the Ukrainian authorities dismissed Putin’s proposal as “hypocrisy” and “propaganda”, and the bombing continued on both sides.
It is estimated that there are between 200 and 300 million Orthodox Christians in the world. Majority Orthodox countries include Russia, Ukraine, and Greece, and their churches are part of the Eastern Orthodox branch, which is also followed by the majority of Christians in the Middle East. There are also significant Orthodox communities in Egypt and Ethiopia, most of which belong to the younger Eastern Orthodox branch.
Before Russia’s war on Ukraine, Kyiv had been pushing for the creation of its own independent Orthodox church from Moscow, and the split deepened after Putin’s invasion last year. In October, a branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church announced that it would allow its churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25, instead of January 7.
Since Orthodox Christmas falls on a Saturday, here are answers to some key questions.
Why do Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 7?
Disagreement within the Christian faith over when to officially recognize the birth of Jesus Christ goes back centuries.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decided to standardize Christian holidays with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, which placed the birth of Jesus Christ on December 25th. The Orthodox Church split into its own branch of Christianity during the Great Schism of 1054, after years of simmering tensions over religious and political differences.
As a result, Orthodox Christians decided not to adopt Pope Gregory’s new calendar and continued to adhere to the Julian calendar.
Youngsters hold a diorama of the birth of Jesus during a religious service celebrating Orthodox Christmas at St. Clement’s Cathedral in Skopje on January 6. Credit: Robert Atanasovsky/AFP/Getty Images
Break between the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches
In recent years, much of the Ukrainian Orthodox community has tried to distance itself from Moscow.
The movement was accelerated by conflict stoked by Russia in eastern Ukraine starting in 2014 and became stronger in 2018, after Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, a Greek cleric considered the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox believers worldwide, supported the institution. of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and rescinded a centuries-old pact giving the patriarch in Moscow authority over the country’s churches.
In January 2019, Bartholomew signed a decree called “binders” formally granting independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This severed the ancient ties between the Church and the Russian Church.
Patriarch Cyril of Moscow, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, closely associated with the Russian state under Putin, responded by severing ties with Bartholomew. The emergence of a church independent of Moscow has angered Putin, who has made restoring the so-called “Russian world” a focus of his foreign policy and has branded Ukraine’s national identity illegitimate.
Russia’s war in Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 exacerbated the schism between the Orthodox churches of both countries and highlighted fundamental ideological differences.
In May 2022, a branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) that had remained loyal to Moscow after the 2019 schism announced that it would separate from the Russian Church over the invasion of Ukraine.
People dressed in traditional Ukrainian costumes sing Christmas carols in Lviv, western Ukraine. Photo credit: Les Kasyanov/Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images
Leaders of the branch, known as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, cut ties with Moscow after Patriarch Cyril endorsed the war and gave Putin strong church support. Even before the decision of May 27, 2022, more than 400 parishes had already left the UBC-Moscow Patriarchate after the invasion.
Cyril continues to openly support the Russian invasion, declaring in a September 2022 sermon that Russian soldiers killed in the war against Ukraine will be cleansed of all their sins. “They are sacrificing for others,” he said. “I am sure that such a sacrifice washes away all sins committed by a person.”
Kyiv rejects the “hypocrisy” of the Christmas ceasefire
On Thursday, Putin issued a surprise order to his defense minister to implement a temporary 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine. The president’s order came after Cyril called for a cease-fire between January 6 and 7 to celebrate Orthodox Christmas.
The announcement was met with great skepticism from the Ukrainian side and was immediately rejected by Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during his late-night speech on Thursday, said Russia intends to use Orthodox Christmas as a “cover” to resupply its forces and halt Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbass region.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Mykhailo Podolyak responded to Putin’s move by saying that Russia must leave the “occupied territories” in Ukraine before any “temporary truce”.
“Save the hypocrisy,” Podolak wrote on Twitter. The chancellor later called Putin’s order “pure propaganda”, adding: “There is not the slightest desire to end the war. Above all, let me remind you, only Russia attacks civilian targets with missiles/drones, including religious places of worship, And she does it specifically at Christmas time.”
The proposal for a temporary armistice also caused rejection by the international community.
US President Joe Biden expressed his skepticism on Thursday, telling reporters he was “reluctant to respond to anything Putin says. I found him interesting. He was ready to bomb hospitals, day care centers and churches on the 25th and New Year.”
The conflict in Ukraine continued on Friday after the proposed cease-fire was due to begin at noon Moscow time (4 a.m. ET) as CNN crews saw artillery fire coming in and out around Pakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
CNN’s Jack Guy and Olga Vojtowicz contributed to this report.
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