Orthodox Church

• A reformed calendar was first disseminated in 1582 on the authority of Pope Gregory XIII.
• While most of Europe has come to recognise the Gregorian calendar for both religious and civil purposes, a number of eastern Slavic churches – both Orthodox and Catholic – have retained the Julian calendar in their liturgical life.
• A recent consultation by the Greek Catholic bishops indicated that a majority of the faithful now favoured a switch to the western calendar.
• As Father Andriy, a young Orthodox priest, told the BBC, this is simultaneously perceived as a “returning back to Europe, where we belong.”

Costs and benefits

• It necessarily sows division within families whose members belong to different Orthodox churches, celebrating Christmas on different days.
• In 2023 there was no public holiday on December 25 due to martial law, while January 7 2024 is a holiday because it falls on a Sunday.
• If citizens enjoy a public holiday on the December 25 but continue to take days off work to enjoy private celebrations two weeks later, the change will have economic costs.
• Symbolic costs and benefits are harder to quantify.

Chris Hann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) has announced the appointment of international lawyer Robert Amsterdam of Amsterdam & Partners LLP to assist the international response to escalating attacks by the Government of Ukraine.
• The retention of Amsterdam & Partners LLP was approved by the Holy Synod of the UOC in late September and is being announced publicly today following media reports that the controversial Draft Law 8371 is close to passage by the Ukrainian Rada.
• Draft Law 8371 seeks to amend the Ukrainian law “On the freedom of conscience and religious organizations” in certain respects, allowing the legislature to selectively punish religious communities and interfere with their rights to worship freely.
• Amsterdam & Partners LLP is an international law firm with offices in London and Washington DC.

• The law firm of Amsterdam & Partners LLP has been retained by Vadym Novynskyi, a Ukrainian citizen, religious figure, former Ukrainian parliamentarian from Mariupol and founder of the Smart Holding Group, to defend against a series of politically motivated attacks by the Ukrainian government.
• Although last year Novynskyi relinquished his ownership of Smart Holding Group, the Ukrainian authorities are continuing their corporate raid against the industrial and investment group, under the premise that Novynskyi’s religious beliefs justify doing so, according to Robert Amsterdam, founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP.
• “Unfortunately, for some Ukrainian officials the war with Russia represents an opportunity for extortion and corporate raiding,” according to Robert Amsterdam, founding partner of Amsterdam & Partners LLP.
• He is instead being ruthlessly targeted for his religious beliefs and subjected to blatant corporate raiding by the state.

• Their sons are being sent off to fight – and some have died.
• Meanwhile, the cross-border raids from Ukraine on Russia’s territory and drone attacks on Moscow suburbs during the past few months have bolstered the Kremlin’s argument that Russia is fighting to defend itself.
• To be patriotic, for many ordinary Russian citizens, is to “do your bit” to support the war effort.

Comfort and safety

• By December it was estimated that the organisation had raised more than US$58 million (£46 million).
• Typically, volunteers and fighters correspond before to agree on a meeting place, and photos are taken, confirming that deliveries happen.
• They have knitted thousands of pairs of socks and sewn balaclavas for troops – but also crowdfunded drones.

Why Russians are rallying round

• Wealthy oligarchs are conspicuous by their non-involvement – perhaps concerned at burning their bridges with the west where many still have money and property.
• And there are those who feel that in this pivotal time in Russia, they should not be passive.
• Many commanders feel embarrassed that they have to appeal to volunteers for help with basic necessities, requesting soap, socks and underwear.
• One typical message from a soldier at the frontline reads: “You are our gold, we would have been doomed without you.”

Total war

• The war has transformed Russia – as it did Ukraine, where civil society has performed the function of security provider.
• It has inspired civic activism and showed that a civil society has emerged, albeit of a different sort than the west – which was hoping for grassroots opposition to the war – had aspired for.
• This shows that the war has activated social forces in Russia – though it is yet not clear where this activism will lead.