Christmas in Ukrainian a first for reclaimed Kyiv cathedral
KYIV, Ukraine — Packing a 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 temperatures in the teens.
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 carols.
Ukraine’s government on Thursday took over the administration of the Dormition Cathedral at the Kyiv-Pechersk monastery and allowed the Orthodox Church of Ukraine 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.
The cathedral, built about 1,000 years ago, then rebuilt in the 1990s after being ruined in World War II, had been under control of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which formerly had ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.
“It’s a first victory” for Ukraine, said Oksana AbuAkel, who hailed it as a significant step for Orthodox believers to cut ties with Russia after it started the war Feb. 24. “This is the first time in 300 years that there is really our own service here. Every person feels this joy. It is a victory for all Ukrainians.”
In 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine received recognition from the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Moscow’s and most other Orthodox patriarchs refused to accept that designation that formalized a split with the Russian church.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, or UOC, which remained loyal to the Moscow patriarch since the 17th century, declared independence from Moscow’s Patriarchate after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The UOC gave Moscow a liturgical cold shoulder by dropping the commemoration of Moscow Patriarch Kirill as its leader in public worship and blessing its own sacramental oil rather than use Moscow’s supply.
Metropolitan Epiphanius, the primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, spoke not just about Christmas but delivered a political 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 during the service.
“Those who held us in captivity could not endure our achievements and our success,” he said. “The devil’s malice and envy prompted them to make war, but they are sure to be defeated.”
On Friday, the Church of Moscow Patriarchate condemned the Ukrainian plans to hold a service in the Kyiv cathedral as “an attempt to forcefully seize ... the cathedral by means of blackmail and misinformation of society.”
Prominent UOC leaders have rejected the allegations of ties with Moscow, insisting that they have loyally supported Ukraine from the start of the war and that a government crackdown will only hand a propaganda coup to Russia.