You seem to care extraordinarily about Ukrainians celebrating Christmas on what you call the “common” date. Well, the date of Dec. 25 according to the Gregorian calendar is NOT the common date in the Orthodox world (as proven in my post #130 — nearly every Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, from Belarus to Serbia to Ethiopia).
I have not”attacked” or made any “negative posts” about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. I feel no hostility, certainly no passion when it comes to whatever they do. I have commented that some politician upending a thousand years of Church Tradition for political reasons is questionable. You read that into my posts because apparently you are passionate about Ukrainians being “more like us” (which I find rather condescending toward Ukrainians) and you apparently are hostile toward anyone who does not agree all gung ho with your stance.
I think it’s a shame some politician overturned a thousand years of church tradition, but hey, no skin off my nose. I am not Ukrainian Orthodox, nor am I a Ukrainian Eastern Rite Catholic, so it does not affect me. So I really don’t care. Apparently you do, so ... go ahead and care. You don’t seem to have much understanding of Orthodox Christianity and its traditions, nor of Eastern Rite Catholicism.
I have lived among Orthodox Christians in areas or countries that were majority Orthodox. I’ve also attended Eastern Rite Catholic services with Ukrainians — the latter in Russia(!).
We used to have long discussions between Orthodox and Catholics (and some Protestants joined in) back in the day that were very informative; the main participants were real scholars and deep thinkers and I learned a lot from them. Some of those threads went on for thousands of posts. It was quite something.
I don’t pretend to understand the intricacies of the various patriarchates, etc., and who is “recognized” by whom as “canonical”. You might get something of an idea from this reddit thread:
You seem to care very much that Ukrainian Orthodox change their calendar to be “more like us” — again, that’s your (rather uninformed, I think) opinion. For Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Eastern Rite Catholics, following the Julian calendar was a cherished part of their tradition and identity, as it is for most Orthodox (and many Eastern Rite Catholics) around the world. I don’t see that it is particularly Ukrainian, as they have followed the Julian calendar for a thousand years.
But I am not an Orthodox or Ukrainian Catholic, so it really doesn’t affect me and it doesn’t really matter to me what they do. I do admire the Orthodox, their beautiful liturgy and churches, very much enjoyed the privilege of attending services in various Orthodox Churches (Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian) and being invited to join in charming Ethiopian Orthodox celebrations, and feel kinship with them as a fellow Christian. I certainly don’t feel it’s my place to tell them what to do, what calendar they should follow, etc. I certainly don’t think I have any business thinking they should be “more like us”.
Most of our Orthodox members left around 2011, but I see Honorary Serb is still around, so I’m pinging him in case he can clear up any confusion I might have or mistakes I may have made.
LOL, there you go again, and what a long, long, long post about you not caring as you make up stuff about me as you keep doing that opposite thing, trying to cover for your passion and hostility to their choice, and keep attacking the Ukraine church for meeting and deciding to adopt the common date which led to legislation to make it official and which their president signed.
You care, and are even pinging people to come to join you, to help you criticize Ukrainians and their Orthodox church for asking for the change.
“I have commented that some politician upending a thousand years of Church Tradition for political reasons is questionable.”
“I think it’s a shame some politician overturned a thousand years of church tradition”