More than 30,000 churches and cathedrals across Russia have held religious services as Russia is celebrating Orthodox Christmas.
The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill, has delivered the Christmas Eve Mass in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.
About 5,000 believers attended the Mass and associated celebratory services. The ceremony has been broadcast live by Russia’s major TV channels.
Christmas is preceded by forty days of Lent when people do not eat meat or dairy products. The Christmas Lent, as it is called, finishes on Christmas Eve as the first star appears in the skies. The star symbolizes the one seen above Bethlehem at the moment Christ was born.
The Russian Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar, with Christmas falling on January 7. The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C. It was later superseded by Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1582.
Christmas is also celebrated on January 7 by the Ukrainian, the Georgian and Serbian churches, as well as others who follow the Julian calendar.
"Russia celebrates Orthodox Christmas"
ReplyDeleteby Sergey Pyatakov, RIA Novosti
More than 30,000 churches and cathedrals across Russia have held religious services as Russia is celebrating Orthodox Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThe Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill, has delivered the Christmas Eve Mass in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.
About 5,000 believers attended the Mass and associated celebratory services. The ceremony has been broadcast live by Russia’s major TV channels.
Christmas is preceded by forty days of Lent when people do not eat meat or dairy products. The Christmas Lent, as it is called, finishes on Christmas Eve as the first star appears in the skies. The star symbolizes the one seen above Bethlehem at the moment Christ was born.
The Russian Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar, with Christmas falling on January 7. The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C. It was later superseded by Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1582.
Christmas is also celebrated on January 7 by the Ukrainian, the Georgian and Serbian churches, as well as others who follow the Julian calendar.