Millions of Orthodox Christians around the world marked Christmas on Wednesday, nearly two weeks after most of the Western world observed the holiday. The celebration follows ancient calendar traditions maintained by certain Eastern Orthodox churches, including the Russian, Serbian and Georgian Orthodox, as well as the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and some other Oriental Orthodox communities.
The January date traces to the Julian calendar, which predates the Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholic and Protestant churches in the 16th century. The Russian Orthodox Church — the largest communion in Eastern Orthodoxy — has preserved the older system, placing its observance of the Feast of the Nativity on what the Gregorian calendar records as Jan. 7.
Two calendars, one feast day
Most Orthodox Christians agree that Christmas, or the Feast of the Nativity, falls on Dec. 25. The disagreement is about which Dec. 25.
The ancient church in the Roman Empire set its religious feasts by the Julian calendar. Over more than a millennium, that calendar drifted increasingly out of alignment with the solar year. In the 16th century, Pope Gregory XIII approved a revised and more astronomically precise calendar — the Gregorian — that shifted the date several days forward and introduced a more precise calculation of leap years. Catholic and, eventually, Protestant churches adopted the new calendar, as did secular governments worldwide.
Eastern Orthodox churches held to the Julian calendar until 1923, when an inter-Orthodox gathering adopted a revised Julian calendar that essentially mirrors the Gregorian. Most churches in the Greek Orthodox tradition accepted the change, as did those in Romanian, Bulgarian and other traditions. Those churches observe Christmas on Dec. 25.
The Russian Orthodox Church, along with Serbian, Georgian and some other Orthodox bodies, did not adopt the revised calendar and continue to mark Christmas on Jan. 7 on the Gregorian reckoning. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church and some Oriental Orthodox communities — which are theologically distinct from Eastern Orthodox but share many practices — also observed the feast on Wednesday.
One notable exception within the broader Orthodox world is the Armenian Orthodox tradition, which observes Christmas on Jan. 6.
A divided observance in Ukraine
The calendar question has taken on added dimension in Ukraine, where some Orthodox Christians have shifted their Christmas observance to Dec. 25 while others retain the Jan. 7 date, according to the Associated Press.
Observances in the United States
In the United States, Orthodox observances reflect the same calendar divide. Churches in the Greek and Antiochian Orthodox traditions observe Christmas on Dec. 25. Some congregations in the Slavic tradition — including Serbian and smaller Russian churches — mark the feast on Jan. 7.
Traditions vary across communities. In Serbian Orthodox churches, the Christmas worship service typically begins the evening before with a short outdoor ceremony involving the burning of an oak branch or young oak tree, accompanied by proclamation of the birth of Christ, the AP reported.