![\"Orthodox](\"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/DSC07153.jpg\")
Orthodox Church in Western Ukraine<\/p><\/div>\n
The Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar<\/a><\/span>, which was introduced by Julius Cesar in 45 BC. \u00a0However, most of the rest of the world follows the Gregorian calendar, which was introduced in 1582 to correct the Julian calendar.<\/p>\n What’s the difference?<\/p>\n The main difference between the two calendars is how leap years are calculated. The Gregorian calendar<\/a><\/span> does not add a leap day to most years that our\u00a0divisible\u00a0by 100. Thus the years 1800 and 1900 were not leap years although they are divisible by 4.<\/p>\n The result is that the Gregorian calendar is 10 minutes and 48 seconds per year shorter than the Julian calendar. That means that every 133 years the Julian calendar falls behind by a day. Currently the old Julian Calendar is 13 days behind the newer Gregorian calendar.<\/p>\n Now here’s were it get’s complicated.<\/p>\n The date for Easter<\/a><\/span> changes every year because it is based upon the phases of the moon. \u00a0Easter always falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.<\/p>\n For most of the world following the newer Gregorian calendar Easter can fall between March 22nd and April 25th. However, for Ukrainians and others living in predominant Orthodox countries the dates for Easter can fall between April 4th and May 8th!<\/p>\n This year our Easter falls on May 5th, that’s 35 days after Western Easter!<\/p>\n Now here’s the weird part. If the full moon occurs more than 13 days after the spring equinox then the Western and Eastern dates for Easter align and we celebrate together! This will happen in 2014 when Easter will be on April 20th for both the Julian and Gregorian calendars.<\/p>\n We’re not celebrating Easter this week, we’re not even planning to celebrate it next month!<\/p>\n Why?<\/p>\n In most of Eastern Europe religious holidays are dictated by the Orthodox Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,31],"tags":[49,254],"class_list":["post-2457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ukraine-2","category-writing","tag-easter","tag-orthodoxy"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/DSC07153.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-DD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4870,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/why-ukraine-celebrates-christmas-on-january-7th\/","url_meta":{"origin":2457,"position":0},"title":"Why Ukraine Celebrates Christmas on January 7th","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"January 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is January 7th and it's Christmas day here in Ukraine. I've received a few questions about why Ukraine doesn't celebrate Christmas on December 25th, so here's an explanation for you. Religious holidays in Ukraine are determined by the Orthodox Church, which follows the Julian calendar, introduced by Julius Cesar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/10893317_10152534286352405_417121065_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/10893317_10152534286352405_417121065_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/10893317_10152534286352405_417121065_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7739,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/ukrainianrussian-orthodox-easter-traditions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2457,"position":1},"title":"Ukrainian\/Russian Orthodox Easter Traditions","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"April 19, 2017","format":"video","excerpt":"On Easter morning I visited our local Orthodox Church, which is just across the street from our place. This church is part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), which claims the largest number of adherents of any church in Ukraine. As I say in the video, they have their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ukraine"","block_context":{"text":"Ukraine","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ukraine-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/DSC07732.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/DSC07732.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/DSC07732.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/DSC07732.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/DSC07732.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2023,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/why-we-celebrate-christmas-on-january-7th\/","url_meta":{"origin":2457,"position":2},"title":"Why We Celebrate Christmas on January 7th","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"January 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm still surprised by how many people don't know that December 25th is not Christmas in Ukraine! When I tell them that we celebrate on January 7th the usual response I get is, \"Oh,\u00a0so two weeks later?!\" Then I say, \"No, we celebrate 50 weeks earlier than the West!\" That's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family"","block_context":{"text":"Family","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/family\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DSC02165.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DSC02165.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/DSC02165.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1665,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/benefits-of-celebrating-christmas-2-weeks-late\/","url_meta":{"origin":2457,"position":3},"title":"The Benefits of Celebrating Christmas 2 Weeks Late","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"January 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"If you already took your Christmas tree down then today would be a great day to grab it out of the trash and put it back where it belongs! Just because December 25th is now 2 weeks behind us doesn't mean that Christmas is over, especially if you're \u00a0from Ukraine.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ministry"","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/soldiers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/soldiers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/soldiers.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/russian-orthodox-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":2457,"position":4},"title":"Russian Orthodox Church","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"March 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I believe this probably one of the largest Orthodox Church buildings in Ukraine.","rel":"","context":"In "General Updates"","block_context":{"text":"General Updates","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5370,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/why-the-orthodox-church-sprinkles-everything-with-water\/","url_meta":{"origin":2457,"position":5},"title":"Why the Orthodox Church Sprinkles Everything with Water","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"April 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"On\u00a0Easter morning I decided to visit the Orthodox temple, which is just down the street from our place. Every holiday people come to worship and to be sanctified with holy water and Easter is the biggest of all the holidays! Here's what I saw. In Orthodox tradition Easter services start\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DSC03486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DSC03486.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/DSC03486.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2461,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457\/revisions\/2461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Want to learn more about the Orthodox Church? Check out my book “Church, Tradition and Scripture”.<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"