Christos Razdajetsja!

[AGBF]

Merry Christmas to any of the Orthodox Christians celebrating Christmas today. The church in which my mother grew up celebrates Christmas today, so my greeting is in the language used in her church (Slovak), but my best wishes are to people who speak any language and are celebrating Christmas today!

Deb

 

[diamonelle]

Merry Christmas

 

[partgypsy]

Merry Christmas! I am weird. I celebrate Christmas on the 25th, but Easter on the Greek Orthodox calendar.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 1/9/2006 12:08:03 PM
Author: part gypsy
Merry Christmas! I am weird. I celebrate Christmas on the 25th, but Easter on the Greek Orthodox calendar.

That's not so weird! Many Greek Orthodox churches have switched the celebration of Christmas to December 25, while leaving Easter where it was. That surprised me, but I learned it when I was friendly with a Greek Cypriot who celebrated that way. The Russian Orthodox churches (or many of them) still celebrate Christmas on January 7, however.

I think I am going to research this topic.

Deb

 

[PaulaW]

We do the same thing Gypsy, celebrate Christmas on 12/25 and Greek Easter wherever it falls. My husband just asked me why we do that the other day and I couldn''t answer him directly! I should research it too!

 

[AGBF]

I found an excellent site where one can read about this. I was very impressed with the writing; this is one site that did more than explain the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar!

When the Orthodox Church Celebrates Christmas

Here is an excerpt from the site (written in response to someone asking about when her family should celebrate Christmas).

"While some Orthodox Christians still celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord according to the Julian calendar, which places December 25 thirteen days later -- on January 7 -- most Orthodox Christians in the US observe the feast according to the Revised Julian calendar, which places the Nativity on December 25.

If one is intent on properly celebrating the feast as an Orthodox Christian -- following the Nativity Fast which leads up to the Nativity and observing the feast itself first and foremost through the celebration of the liturgical services appropriate to it -- one will acknowledge that it is not possible to celebrate 'two' Christmases, a 'secular' and 'religious' one.

With regard to your specific situation, I would consider the following:

Assuming that you are a member of an Orthodox parish, you should take into consideration the calendar it observes and the liturgical cycle surrounding the celebration of the Nativity. If your parish observes the Revised Julian calendar, which celebrates the feast on December 25, and there is no possibility of celebrating on January 7, then it is difficult, even impossible, to experience a proper Orthodox celebration in January. For Orthodox Christians, the feasts of the Church find their fullest expression in the Divine Liturgy of the feasts, of course with fellowship and social gatherings taking a secondary place in their observance. Here one not only needs to consider the situation of their family, but also the situation of their Christian family, the parish."

 

[AGBF]

Date: 1/9/2006 12:46:43 PM
Author: AGBF
"While some Orthodox Christians still celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord according to the Julian calendar, which places December 25 thirteen days later -- on January 7 -- most Orthodox Christians in the US observe the feast according to the Revised Julian calendar, which places the Nativity on December 25."

I wanted to clarify something that today''s reading has made clear to me: Christmas is always celebrated on December 25. The question is, "When is December 25?".

In the West it falls on the date Americans and Western Europeans consider to be December 25 now, since we are following the Gregorian calendar (named after Pope Gregory). This is also called the Revised Julian Calendar.

The "problem" is that some churches follow the older Julian calendar (named after Julius caesar) and December 25, for them, comes 13 days later than for Americans and Western Europeans. It falls on our January 7...but they are celebrating Christmas on what, for them, is December 25.

Deborah

 

[curlygirl]

Very interesting, Deb. I am Armenian and "our" Christmas is on January 6! I don''t know why there is that one day difference. We are very similar to the Orthodox Christians although we are called Armenian Apostolic.

I believe in Italy, they also celebrate the Epiphany (La Bufana) on January 6.