what is the situation in the lavra and is it possible to find a language with representatives of the ukrainian orthodox church of the moscow patriarchate? let's listen to the conversation with him further. father , my first question is this: christmas in 2023, will it be different, or in your opinion, has the attitude towards this day changed, taking into account that the date is now different and unusual for ukrainians. greetings, first of all, of course, we are in the last war, the war continues, and a lot has changed in our country, a lot, and in particular, it is in the church environment, and of course that on november 15, with the blessing of our holy archimandrite, the st. ospansky kychar lavra, or earlier metropolitan epiphanius, came to new julian. gift, it means that there was

a great record of society for us to celebrate christmas and other holidays, with the whole civilized world. what does this say? that we are not introducing something new, we are returning to our history, which, unfortunately, we lost at the time, so now we are only restoring and restoring this historical justice. how do you think they react on these changes and parishioners, and in general, people who are believers in ukrainian society, come to churches there, maybe only once or twice a year, for example, what kind of reaction do you observe? the reaction is extremely positive in what we can say by the example of our lavra, because for some time we were on the old style, so was the orthodox church of ukraine on september 1.

switched to a new style, and until november 15 we were and celebrated all church dates according to the old style, but people did not accept, and of course, when some holidays took place, they recognized that we were following the old style, well, we did not visit the lavra as much as now, father, if we talk about that, and how in ukraine nowadays, during the great war, they follow such christian... traditions on so important, especially church holidays, do you observe certain changes here? despite all the fact that we really have a war, there is a lot of every ukrainian, ukrainian woman, limiting the opportunities of such people, even observing fasting, because we understand that those people who are under occupation, who are during various hostilities,

the russian aggressor shows every time in relation to us, but still people still try to at least somehow observe these traditions and in particular fasting. have all the parishes of ocu switched to the new julian calendar? we can say that a small number remained on the old calendar, but this is again... the blessing of the blessed one, so that for a certain period these people were able to gradually switch to the newlian calendar, that is , no one forces anyone, the community chooses itself, but as we can see, the result in because almost everyone parishes of the orthodox church of ukraine switched to the newlian calendar. how does the church feel about it, if people want to celebrate christmas either twice, or exactly in january, that's it.

there is no problem at all, because it is possible to celebrate twice, and of course the celebration itself is of great importance, the essence of everything that happens in this sacred event, but in particular we see in the fact that society in general is all preparing to celebrate christmas on december 25, about what this says, it again says that our society... society as it is at the moment active and united in what people understand, celebrating christmas on december 25 with almost the entire civilized world, and moreover, i want to note that 11 local churches celebrate christmas according to the novilian calendar, so we join the celebration with the majority. father, if

we talk about traditions and the importance of christmas, what can you tell ukrainians to pay attention to, and what traditions are there that may be important? more important and how to properly celebrate this holiday? well, of course, what is the first holiday to celebrate, every ukrainian, ukrainian woman should visit the temple of god, the birthday of christ, give thanks for everything that happens in the life of every person, even despite the difficult difficulties that our nation is going through. and try, despite all that is happening, all these horrors, still not to lose this god's favor, still to be human, to remain human, to try to overcome all these temptations that arise in

our lives, and in particular, how we see that our so-called brother, who treacherously invaded our country, is trying to make us quarrel, is trying to make some differences between us misunderstandings and everything else, it is very important not to lose this, this unity, it is very important to be united now more than ever, and of course, the victory is only ours, and of course those traditions, good traditions, as we know, our ukrainian holidays the evening, when the whole family gathers at the table, eats 12 dishes, carols together, glorifies the birth of christ, and... at the same time, at this table, we will also remember our defenders, who are not with us, who gave their lives for each of us, about this we must never not to forget, and of course, to remember their

great contribution to our country, the fact that they gave their lives for us, so that we would have a peaceful sky, family traditions, the opportunity to be at home with relatives and have that home is now. .. for ukraine and for many in ukraine, this is actually such a dream, for some, unfortunately, it is impossible. if we talk about the ukrainians who are defenders of ukraine today and are at the front, what would you wish them and how in such situations, when the soldiers are at the front, how should they celebrate and what is important to do on the day of christmas. you you know that i have a lot of friends at the front. with whom we often communicate, and of course i understand what circumstances they are in, because in the summer i myself visited the front-line zones, and i can only say one thing that it is very difficult to find words

to comfort them, but they understand and know when they see that people give aid, in particular volunteers and... in particular, our ukrainian orthodox church, among all churches , conducts an extremely large messenger aid to ensure that our fighters are provided with everything, and they have only one desire, it is not for the glories of the spirit, of course, for victory, but we will definitely win, and of course, for them to remember that god is always with them, the ukrainian church is with them, and now the ukrainian lavra is with them. father, if we talk about ukrainians who were and became refugees in the occupied territories, what would you say to them today? a special appeal to them, so that they do not lose faith in

the fact that we will certainly win, so that they understand that sooner or later they will return to their lands and these temporarily occupied territories will be ours in the future. ukrainian all this is temporary, all this is a manifestation of this malice and hatred of this neighboring northern enemy, who, i repeat, treacherously attacked us with treachery, but we must not give up, we must go forward, in spite of repeating all these horrors that are happening around us , and to understand that in this the lord gives us a great chance for ukraine to rise as it should. to be indomitable, indomitable and always overcome these difficulties that arise. i cannot, taking advantage of this situation, that you are on our air, that i am recording an interview with you, not to ask you about the current situation in

kyiv, in the kyiv-pochersk lavra, how, what is happening there, and how are they treating you and what about the parishioners, has their number changed, perhaps during this period? it is clear that for a certain period we all observed the inadequate behavior of the representatives of the moscow patriarchate, which, unfortunately, continues to this day, but... we can frankly say that the upper lavra is actually now sending god's blessing to everyone from the refectory temple, and the upper laurel completely freed itself from this russian of peace, the lower bench is currently conducting pre-trial processes, case proceedings, and we understand that all this is happening through legislation. but we also need to go through this path, it is not easy, it is not easy, because

the representatives of the moscow patriarchate, their rule in the kyiv cave lavra, were in the heart of the ukrainian people for almost 35 years, so we still have a lot of work to do, but i believe that and i already see god's action and the help of our monks from pechersk, who still cleanse. according to your estimates, according to your observations, how long is the process? you know that , of course, a lot depends on how the event develops at the front, and the representatives of the moscow patriarchate understand and observe this, because after all , they have hope and are waiting for the so-called liberators who... will come and them they will be fired, well they will be fired, this is already a question for them, from what, from whom, one can only guess what

they want, and finally, your, well, you know, we ask the experts on the air for predictions about what is happening, your maybe instructions and wishes in general on 2024 is the year for ukraine, of course we are getting closer to... the great, bright, joyful christmas of christ, because the lord who came to earth was born in a poor cave, he gives us all great hope, he gives us all great faith and gives his great love in that he shows by his example, no matter how difficult it may be, because we remember that there was not even a place for him in bethlehem, he was born in god's cave, and even now, we see a lot of people are really left without houses remained occupied

territories, our fighters left homes, families, relatives, relatives, acquaintances, what is all this for? in order to show our great love for our country, for our family, because we understand that every soldier, he protects us and gives his life, and one desire and... our prayers, which we turn to the new born christ, flemish manger that the lord will grant us the long-awaited peace, and we believe that 2024 will be a year of victory, a year of victory over the enemy and that our country will only prosper. the second christmas is not at home, but with native traditions and carols. because of the war , they celebrate one of the biggest holidays abroad, and most celebrate it on december 25, for

the second year in a row, by the way, although there are some who continue to celebrate on january 7. each country approaches the celebrations in its own way, ukrainians are happy to share their family rituals and tell kuti recipes. we asked ukrainians abroad to show our viewers how they celebrate christmas and what traditions they keep, let's see. for me, christmas is not... about the date, not about calendar and not even about the birth of christ. for me, it's about family, about warmth , about coziness, so if my mother comes to me after the new year and brings me kutya from ukraine, then of course we will cook it on january 7 and celebrate christmas on january 7, remember how we used to do it , to remember grandparents, to remember our big family, to support all our relatives at the front with thoughts, we have a lot of them and... and to hope that this year will bring us victory and that

everything will be fine. i will be in poland this year the first time to celebrate christmas only on december 25, last year i celebrated it twice, but this year i decided that i will celebrate it only on the 25th. i am also very interested in observing how ukrainian and polish traditions are combined. i am very much. there are some unique things in common that are also very interesting to me, as usual in poland at such pre-christmas gatherings, dinners, they ask us to sing... ukrainian carols, to tell us what christmas looks like in our country, how we celebrate it , what our christmas eve looks like, what we are preparing, and this year alone a polish family invited me to their town in kashubia, where we have such and such a traditional polish festive evening, to which i

also add my ukrainian traditions, i prepared a kutyu like they cook at my house, of course, it is not complete without ukrainian carols, a new joy has arisen, which has never happened, ayvert, like a clear star, the whole world has been sown, where christ was born, it is not a man’s hair, it is a god’s hair, this is how we make ears, ears are in our family of basilisks, one of the traditional dishes , in general, in general in lviv they eat, observe the tradition of all 12 things, and

dumplings, and heads, and fish, and everything, and marinated. and beans with stewed cabbage, of course kutia, and dad brings grandfather, and there is also a christmas tree, there is hay under the christmas tree, there are coins in the hay, this year in italy, of course, we are without hay and coins, but we have all the coins, eh, and we thank the guys on the front lines for holding our sky and protecting our ukraine, we pray for you, all our prayers today are about you, and this was painted by angelika the ukrainian and he in our italian christmas tree will protect and decorate. christ is born. 12 dishes on the christmas table, around which the whole family gathers and carols. each region of ukraine has its own characteristics of the celebration, the cuisine is also different, but

kutya, a traditional christmas dish made of wheat, poppy seeds and honey, remains an indispensable attribute. on galicia. and prykarpattia, it is customary to put a grandfather on the corner of the festive table, this is such a christmas decoration made of ears of corn, which is a symbol of well-being and a rich harvest. on the policy, houses are decorated with christmas spiders, this decoration is made of straws, which are connected to each other and form a diamond shape. and at christmas , a nativity scene is traditionally held, this is a musical performance with carols and biblical skits. the participants of this event are often dressed in local ceremonial clothes, and also in various characters. from christmas legends. in the west of ukraine, the christmas procession with the nativity scene is led by a star, that's what the christmas star is called, it is decorated with ribbons, colored paper and tassels. together with the star, carolers walk through the streets of a village or city. christmas carol has a special meaning in

christianity, it is believed that in this way people welcomed each other with the birth of jesus christ. the most famous ukrainian carol that sounds all over the world is shchedryk, set to music by composer mykola leontovych. later in the broadcast, we will talk about important traditions, about the roots of shchedryk, and we will talk about it with larisa lukashenko, a researcher at the lysenko lviv national academy of music, associate professor of the department of music folklore. greetings, ms. larisa, thank you for joining. christ was born. he, i want to ask you, you know, about what, so general such traditions, which we are used to there, and which are still from the pre-christian period, which are now already such, well, christian, and which are the most important for ukrainians, especially when you want to restore these traditions, or not to forget them, your children teach something that should be basic? well, it should be said that the traditions are very

diverse, ukraine is big in our country, it is one of the most ... countries in europe, and because of this , our traditions differ a little, but i won’t tell right away where in which region, what prevails, but it should be said that in for example, we are visited by such actions as carousing, giving , of course, yes, then there is lightning, then there is a goat, of course, each locus has its own and such... regional varieties of all these actions, for example, are found in the police driving a crane, driving a horse, driving a bear, also ours. the territories of western pobuzhja are not characterized by such an event as hogotukha on the new year, that is, these are all traditions, they are diverse, and of course, many of them

have pre-christian roots that have already passed to our time, well, they have already acquired some such of christian paraphernalia, and, of course , next to this there is a large parade of new christian e innovations, polish. sheder , also of such theatrical actions, these are first of all nativity scenes, which are also various, well, probably we all know the most common living nativity scenes, an example of which we have now seen when living people change into different characters from the biblical story, but there are also various doll nativity scenes, as well as so-called betleys, for example, in boykivshchyna... and there is such a tradition of betleys, well, bethlehem, bethlehem, witnesses, the etymology of this word has gone, and

children used to walk with these little boxes, yes, a kind of prototypes of the current television, these are such diverse traditions, ms. larisa, if we talk about the generous, because it seems to me that not even all ukrainians they still know in principle that shchedrik is known worldwide for english. translating its language into different languages, that it is actually ukrainian history there, and even the texts say that it was written at all, probably that in the pre-christian period, tell us a little about it, about the phenomenon , perhaps generously, well, of course, this is a work from the children's repertoire, if we are going to turn to the roots, then make such an analysis, and there are many such works in ukrainian traditional children's culture, because . .. a large part of these winter holidays, yes, winter activities, they perform these activities are performed by children, well, we can simply

draw an analogy with such well-known children's nursery rhymes, songs, like a kid, a kid, a caroler, a good one with honey further, or vasylyov's mother went to give generously, that's how they are short so-called... primitive forms, actually shedrik belongs to this form, well, of course, that leontovych from this, in fact, one chant, yes, which is repeated there a certain number of times with different words, of course, by means of harmonization, means of choral arrangement , he made a masterpiece, and thanks to this, it is really... a masterpiece, because what are the signs of a masterpiece is that this work, it has been popular for more than 100 years and is popular not only in ukraine, where he was

created where it was first sung, and spread all over the world, and it is such a main symbol of christmas in the world. mrs. larisa, i thank you for joining us, larisa lukashenko, researcher at the lysenko lviv national academy of music, associate professor of the department of music folklore, was a guest on our broadcast. in warsaw, on the eve of christmas eve, refugees gathered in a ukrainian house to carol together. ukrainians say, far from home, at this time, traditions and holidays are perceived differently, at the same time joyfully and sadly, but also with great gratitude to every defender of ukraine. how do ukrainians in poland celebrate christmas this year? see in the story of the radio liberty project. how are you? the lord was born! "warsaw platoons and scouts bring the bethlehem fire to the ukrainian home, a symbol of light, warmth, peace and harmony. everyone needs it, you and us, because

we would like peace in the world, you especially need it, just like this with purpose and faith , we brought this light today. we are actually very pleased that we can spread such goodness in the midst of our community. people."

group of ukrainians and belarusians, some of them came to poland even before the full-scale invasion, while others found refuge here after the great war. our holidays are, first of all, when people gathered together , as a family, at one table, now, unfortunately, not everyone has such an opportunity, so for us it is primarily to gather people together in one place, in a ukrainian house, where we can give them gifts , a piece of home and a sense of homeland here in poland, thanks to the armed forces of ukraine we can... be here, live in poland, in ukraine and, in principle, in all others countries of the world. i remembered my childhood , when we all went caroling, giving generously, and when a bunch of carolers come to your door and you just stand there with tears in your eyes, i don’t know, it’s some kind of identification inside you, when you hear a carol, you something so warm and tears well up. people willingly sing along, some know carols by heart, others look into their phones or songbooks. larisa from odesa has been in

warsaw for a year and a half, she came here with her daughter, the woman sings every carol. today is the day, and joy, and sadness, all in alone, and memories, and memory, that's why i'm here. anna and her son danylo are from lviv, and their father is an architect who has been defending ukraine since april last year. the woman managed to register her son in warsaw. layer. actually, we are looking for our own, and we try to hold on to our own. there are very few of us, we need to stick together, we need to share this warmth, support each other, help, share, and then we will have the strength to restore our state. i don't, i don't know many carols, so i listen first, and then i repeat that the girl has arrived. swallow

myroslava and emma, ​​cherkastians, have been living in poland for a year. this is our family tradition, my parents always took me to carols with all my friends, acquaintances, of course it was a joy for us, because we were also given money, and now of course it is not for the sake of money, not for the sake of goodies, but for the sake of to maintain this tradition, to remember that we have a very rich culture, we have very... many beautiful songs, carols, and it is necessary to pass this on to children so that they learn everything, carols and carols, on the eve on christmas, ukrainians who were driven out of their homes by the war gathered in a warm circle of compatriots and like-minded people, felt the warmth and joy of the holidays, exchanged positivity and wishes for the war to end already, and all the good, peace , peace, harmony, love, prosperity, to join

their relatives, hug and return home, stick together , support each other, do not be swayed by the provocations that are around, at every step, in every second of our lives, support in order to survive, endure, return and restore, peace, tranquility, the most important thing, and to everyone met, the whole family was together, it is the most important thing that everyone was together, in peace, in peace and... this was the broadcast of december 25, 2023, thank you for spending time with radio svoboda, me my name is kateryna nekretcha and the entire svoboda ranok team, we wish you a peaceful day and see you tomorrow at 9 a.m. on tv channels and on youtube on

the radio svoboda channel. greetings, it's news time on espresso. kateryna shiropoi works in the studio. on christmas night , ukrainian defenders destroyed 28 shaheds. in total, muscovites attacked ukraine 31 times drone air defense forces worked in odesa region, kherson region, mykolaiv region, donetsk region, kirovohrad region and khmelnytskyi region, the air force informed. also, our defenders of the sky hit two air defense missiles of russian fighter jets. yes, the enemy su-34 flew by.