Russia’s War Brings Ukraine a New Christmas

Yesterday was what Western Europe calls Christmas Day. But that isn’t the case in much of Eastern Europe. Russians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Georgians and others—per Eastern Orthodox tradition—celebrate Christmas on January 7. Ukraine used to be among these countries. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February is changing this. Ukrainians are rethinking their cultural ties to the Russian Orthodox Church. For many, this means keeping Christmas on December 25 for the first time.

• A poll asked roughly 383,000 Ukrainians which day they would be keeping Christmas. Almost 60 percent said December 25.
• In a recent trip to Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United States Congress that Ukrainians would be celebrating Christmas on December 25.
• In 2017, Ukraine’s government made December 25 a national holiday.
• In 2021, Metropolitan Epiphanus, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine’s leader, said he would like the church to formally adopt the new day as Christmas at some point.

Religiously, this aligns Ukraine more with Roman Catholicism than other Orthodox churches. Yet this does not seem to bother many.

The Trumpet said: We have been watching for the Eastern Orthodox Church to return to the Vatican’s fold. The Plain Truth, our predecessor magazine, stated this in 1963: “The mighty problem of achieving unity is twofold. First, it involves reconciliation of the Orthodox Schism that officially commenced in 1054 and divided the churches in the East. … Second, it involves restoration to the Roman Communion all Protestantism which developed from 1517 onward.”

What to watch: Many things still divide the Catholic and Orthodox worlds. The Plain Truth’s prediction, out for decades, remains unfulfilled. But Russia’s war in Ukraine is hastening Catholic-Orthodox reunion. It could be the catalyst needed to bring Vatican City and Constantinople together again. To learn more, read our article “Excommunicating Putin.” Also see our booklet He Was Right to learn more about the Plain Truth’s decades-long accuracy in geopolitical forecasts.