Ukraine celebrates at Kyiv cathedral

KYIV, Ukraine — Packing Kyiv’s 1,000-year-old cathedral for Orthodox Christmas, hundreds of worshippers heard the service in that church in the Ukrainian language for the first time in decades, a demonstration of independence from the Russian Orthodox Church.

Richly decorated with golden icons and panels, the cathedral — part of the complex known as the Monastery of the Caves and a UNESCO World Heritage Site — put up a video screen outside for the overflow of worshippers, despite a temperature of 14 degree.

Overlooking the right bank of the Dnieper River, the cathedral and monastery complex has been a pilgrimage site for centuries. And for the first time in the 31 years of Ukraine’s independence, the service there was held in the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian army troops in uniform were among those singing well-known Ukrainian carols.

Ukraine’s government on Thursday took over the administration of the revered Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra from the Moscow patriarchate and allowed the Ukrainian church to use it for the Orthodox Christmas service. The move highlights the long-running tensions between the two churches exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“It’s a first victory” for Ukraine, said Oksana Abu-Akel who hailed it as a significant step in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s efforts to cut ties with Russia after it started the war more than 10 months ago. The Metropolitan Epiphanius, the primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, spoke not just about Christmas but delivered a message about the war.

“As a nation, we sought to live peacefully, having a good understanding with all our neighbors. But the enemy meanly and treacherously broke the peace and invaded our land, shedding blood, sowing death and wanting to destroy our statehood and our very Ukrainian identity,” he said.