Russian Orthodox Church Celebrates Christmas
Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas all over Russia on Friday with people attending the Christmas liturgy and officials addressing the faithful with a message of hope and joy for the Birth of Christ.
About 14,000 went to church on Friday in Moscow alone to receive the news of the Birth of the Son of God.
During a service conducted at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Patriarch Kiril of Russia called on the people to pray for the country and for the entire world.
The President of Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, who also attended the Christmas liturgy, congratulated all Orthodox Christians and all Russian on Christmas.
The president reminded that it is such a holy day that cultivates the best in us, the feeling and the moral value of good and love.
These values, the president added, have given the Russian people for centuries moral strength and can still be a foundation upon which to build a peaceful and creative life that will allow the development of the country as well.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended Christmas liturgy in a church in the Tver Region, where his parents lived.
Although they share a blameless dogmatic communion, the Orthodox Churches, which are self-governing bodies, have two different days for the celebration of the Birth of Christ.
Thus, East European Orthodox Churches, namely, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, the Patriarchate in Constantinople and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrate Christmas along with the rest of Europe, on December 25, while the Russian Orthodox Church, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, and the Non-Chalcedonian Churches celebrate Christmas on January 7, in line with the Julian calendar.
The explanation of this gap lies in the calendar update realized in 1923, when the Eastern Orthodox Churches adopted the Gregorian calendar, while the churches that celebrate Christmas on January 7 remained attached to the Julian calendar in force at the time.
Some communities in the churches that adopted the new calendar refused to accept it and created communities which remain in no communion with the established Orthodox churches.
